An NBA season is usually filled with surprises because unlikely rotation players emerge who become staples of a team. Draft status has nothing to do with this; it’s all about desire.
Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors took the starting power forward spot because David Lee got hurt in camp. Now he’s got four rings. Max Strus, now on the Cleveland Cavaliers, emerged from an unknown to perimeter flamethrower for the Miami Heat, assisting the club in reaching the 2023 NBA Finals. Gabe Vincent, another underlooked prospect, became the starting point guard for the same Heat team prior to leaving for the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency.
Going back further, there weren’t many expectations set on Kurt Rambis, the Showtime Lakers’ hustle man, who was told by head coach Paul Westhead that a job was not promised after coming back from Greece. The same can be said for Herm Gilliam, known as the Trickster, who played his last season for the youngest NBA team ever to win a championship, the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers.
Heading into the 2023-24 campaign, the Cavaliers are loaded with depth at the guard position but thin in frontline reserves.
We’ll begin with one of the Cavaliers’ two-way signings.
Craig Porter Jr.’s three years of hooping at Wichita State under head coach Isaac Brown seasoned him well for the NBA. His reliable handle and burst off the dribble make him a threat to absorb an extra defender when getting inside the paint, and at 6-foot-2, is a master at using his shoulders to shield defenders away from the rock. When off-ball, Porter looks to attack the baseline on backdoor cuts or curl around picks, intending to dive straight towards the cup, or, if the defense drops back, pull-up.
He may be a score-first point guard, but he quickly identifies mismatches and can feed rollers well. In his last season at Wichita State, he averaged 4.9 assists per game in 33.6 minutes a night.
Porter shines in the open court, too. Porter wants to boat race opponents for easy buckets, which is something the Cavaliers didn’t have much of in 2022-23, as they were the slowest squad in the NBA and 24 of 30 teams in fastbreak points.
He also gets bonus points from me for rebounding well at his position (6.2-2022-23) and denying rivals extra opportunities.
He’s not just an ‘in case of emergency, break glass’ option. As the veteran, Tristan Thompson’s impact will be important behind the scenes, but after Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the Cavaliers don’t have many reliable options at power forward and center, so TT will likely earn minutes. And those minutes will be as precious as cartridges during a revolution because he has the motivation of staying in the league instead of being outside of it racing through his veins.
He does have 22,084 minutes on his résumé, but that doesn’t make him a fossil. Thompson’s rebounding prowess is a tool any squad can use, and he can disrupt ball handlers with a switch out to the perimeter. His ability to cover a lot of ground defensively could allow for hiding the backcourt on some weaker offensive players or place them in the corner.
Thompson is not the type of enforcer that Maurice Lucas was, nor do the Cavaliers need him to be. But when he’s on the court, a dirty player might think twice before poking out an elbow on an illegal screen or sticking a foot in the landing space of the main guys.
I’m old enough to remember Thompson shoving a ball in Draymond Green’s face, standing in the pocket ready to rumble, just because things got chippy at the end of a Finals game. Green has retaliated with a whole lot more for less. Ask Jordan Poole. There was also that time when he was a Chicago Bull, Milwaukee’s Serge Ibaka tried to play football on the court, but he wouldn’t back down.
Season four is starting for Okoro and he didn’t get his extension, or at least not yet. Here are the players picked after him in the 2020 Draft who already got their payday: Tyrese Haliburton, Desmond Bane, and Isaiah Stewart. Others like Tyrese Maxey should have gotten their money, but the Philadelphia 76ers wanted to save cap space, but management is taking a considerable risk. And New York’s Immanuel Quickley should have been extended, too, and if he isn’t soon, will be a restricted free agent next summer.
Okoro is not close to impacting a game like any of those players. Yet, I’d wager that in 2023-24, Okoro will have a much stronger season than the last. Not just because of experience but because his time in Cleveland could be coming to an end if he doesn’t contribute more. The Cavaliers overpaying (had to be done) for Max Strus and signing Georges Niang is an indication they needed more help on the wings. There is no reason to keep Okoro if he is the same player as last season.
At his best last season, Okoro was playing solid defense and hitting 3-pointers. In the 2023 Playoffs, he was exposed and couldn’t stay with the ball. Improving on that assuredly would buy him more minutes. But he also needs to take more than 2.3 triples a game, as he was converting at a 36.3 percent clip. A stat that provides optimism for Okoro’s offensive future is that his effective field goal percentage (one of the most reputable efficiency stats) was at 58.2 last year.
Offensively, he needs to constantly stay moving on the perimeter and make baseline cuts or gashes through the middle. Okoro is also big enough to deliver punishment on a screen, so he should be used often for it.
The Cavaliers have the personnel next to him so that he thrives. Okoro will need to finish at close range and hit deep shots at a higher volume and it is perfectly possible. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland can attract extra help outside. Evan Mobley is developing into the type of player that will require doubles in the paint.
This season, Okoro will have to capitalize on all of it.
Every team needs contingency plans. The Cavaliers are stocked with Porter, Thompson and Okoro in case the season experiences turbulence.