Isaac 3 & D Okoro - A Two Way Playing Basketball Savant

From Fedor's last question-and-answer column:

Altman spoke about “unlocking” Okoro more on the offensive end. He is heading into his third season. That’s the famed leap year for youngsters. But at this point of his career, Okoro -- most effective in the open floor and cutting to the basket -- lacks the diverse offensive skill set to threaten opposing defenses. Starting or coming off the bench, that’s a problem.

Without beating mismatches or knocking down open jumpers, it becomes tougher to justify so much playing time -- even when making an impact elsewhere. Okoro knows it. That’s his offseason focus.

I don't know about the third season being "the famed leap year for youngsters". Has anybody seen evidence of that? But hopefully that will be the case for Isaac.

I assume he will be in the gym every day working on his offensive game. The addition of LeVert, the return of Sexton, the improvement by Stevens, Markkanen showing he can play the 3, and the possible addition of another wing in the draft means Okoro will face more challenges than in past years for playing time. I agree that without a more diverse skill set he won't be able to continue getting the minutes he has been getting. There are too many other options.

If Okoro wants to remain in the NBA, he will breathe, sleep, eat, and live Jimmy Butler film.

Jscc said:

If Okoro wants to remain in the NBA, he will breathe, sleep, eat, and live Jimmy Butler film.

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Jimmys alway had an edge to him that’s more mental then talent. Don’t think you can adopt that from watching film unfortunately

First few pages of this thread are brutal in hindsight

Wham with the Right Hand said:

The addition of LeVert, the return of Sexton, the improvement by Stevens, Markkanen showing he can play the 3, and the possible addition of another wing in the draft means Okoro will face more challenges than in past years for playing time.

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I’m guessing for the first time in his life he would need to earn his playing time…..

Gotta believe Okoro has his highest trade value this offseason. He could be buried on the bench next year.

ChicagoCavFan said:

Gotta believe Okoro has his highest trade value this offseason. He could be buried on the bench next year.

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Good teams routinely develop their prospects off the bench.

Marcus Smart started all of 48 games his first two seasons in the NBA.

Jaylen Brown started 25 out of 74 games his third year in the league (he wasn't really *good* until his fourth year).

Dejounte Murray started 8 and 28 games his first two years.

Jimmy Butler started 22 games his first two years .

Tyler Herro has started 35 games his first three years.

Very few prospect enter the NBA ready to start, and if you're drafting a player who you know is a project on one-side of the ball, and you don't give them at least three full seasons, then that's a problem with the team.

Now, a player can have off the court issues, injuries, or just be unmotivated, but Isaac has none of those problems. If he can continue to improve his three point shooting, and gains confidence, he'll be a legit 3&D player. But the Cavs were able to hide Garland defensively against most teams, and will be able to hide Sexton off the bench if Okoro is playing next to him. He's not a miss. He adds value.

But if we draft (2) wings this year, where do you find playing time for Okoro? Hence why his value might be at its highest right now. I'd take a high end backup PG and run.

We are closing in on a win-now mentality, and we have to be real with player development and pieces that help us to win. Okoro is expendable, as his window to success is years away. I can see him being serviceable at 24/25 years old, but do we have 3 years to wait?

ChicagoCavFan said:

But if we draft (2) wings this year, where do you find playing time for Okoro? Hence why his value might be at its highest right now. I'd take a high end backup PG and run.

We are closing in on a win-now mentality, and we have to be real with player development and pieces that help us to win. Okoro is expendable, as his window to success is years away. I can see him being serviceable at 24/25 years old, but do we have 3 years to wait?

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Okoro is more ready to play than anyone we can get at 14. Unless you get a top 3 talent at 14... Even most top picks aren't positive players.

I get how everyone is dissapointed with Okoro's offensive development, but he is part of one of the best 5 man lineups in the NBA and it isn't a fluke.

He's not a 0, he's slightly positive and he has seemingly improved his shooting. HE has a lot of work to do, but not as much as the rookies coming in.

The coach also loves him and he is the best point of attack defender on the team. He will get minutes, but I don't know how many.

ChicagoCavFan said:

But if we draft (2) wings this year, where do you find playing time for Okoro? Hence why his value might be at its highest right now. I'd take a high end backup PG and run.

We are closing in on a win-now mentality, and we have to be real with player development and pieces that help us to win. Okoro is expendable, as his window to success is years away. I can see him being serviceable at 24/25 years old, but do we have 3 years to wait?

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We can worry about all that after the draft. The reality is that there's a Gleague and there's plenty of run to be had in that setting. Players can practice with the squad. But the Cavs shouldn't be giving a lot of playing time to 19-year old prospects (especially those drafted at 39) at this point anyway. They're too good as a team for that. I might trade the Spurs pick for future seconds tbh. This team is plenty young.

I wouldn't worry about stopping to develop players as we pivot to look to the playoffs. Great teams are able to develop players in smaller roles while pushing for the playoffs. The Spurs are the golden example, but you can go to consistent playoff teams all over the place from GSW (Poole, Looney, others), Miami (All their bench guys), even Boston (Smart). Can't really do that when you are a LeBron team, but we aren't on the LeBron timeline now. I have been cautioning against short-sighted win now moves, and dumping who is going to be our number 3 option without a real return is beyond short sighted.

Might be a case of some holding out hope for development because of where he was picked. There are hundreds of top 15 picks that teams hoped they could develop that just never grasped the NBA game. Isaac might be one of those. I'm confident any of the guys we pick at 14 will be head and shoulders better all-around than Okoro is.

I just don't see him being in a rotation for a playoff-caliber team.

ChicagoCavFan said:

Might be a case of some holding out hope for development because of where he was picked. There are hundreds of top 15 picks that teams hoped they could develop that just never grasped the NBA game. Isaac might be one of those. I'm confident any of the guys we pick at 14 will be head and shoulders better all-around than Okoro is.

I just don't see him being in a rotation for a playoff-caliber team.

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He doesn't seem like he doesn't grasp the game though. He is smart and a good passer. Like I said he has flashed plenty. People are more impatient with him because they have seen he can do things, but he doesn't do them all the time. It is closer to Garland as a rook than say Ben Mclemore.

He makes the right play a lot, he is reluctant to call his own number. I'd say he isn't lost out there, he is too passive. That's different than looking like you can't play in the NBA.

I think he already cleared bust status, it is good roleplayer on offense that he has to hit next

ChicagoCavFan said:

I'm confident any of the guys we pick at 14 will be head and shoulders better all-around than Okoro is.

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Prepare to be disappointed. The probability of Pick 14 being as good as 3rd year Okoro (let alone "head and shoulders better") is probably about 5%. But fans tend to be enamored with "shiny new objects."

ChicagoCavFan said:

Gotta believe Okoro has his highest trade value this offseason. He could be buried on the bench next year.

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You're probably going to end up technically correct about his trade value only going down from here, but I bet his trade value is already to the point where the slight possibility that the light turns on for him with us outweighs anything we would get for him in a trade.

I feel like a lot of the trade scenarios thrown out there involving him are basically premised on the idea that the hypothetical trade partner's GM will only be aware of where Isaac was drafted but hasn't watched basketball in a couple years and doesn't have access to film or the internet. Certainly there could be some FO guys out there who believe that Okoro could be a nice buy-low candidate with some untapped juice still in there, but part of that is specifically about buying low. So what are we going to get for him? I don't see us getting a FRP for him and it's doubtful there's a team looking to trade us their wing-sized wing for our Okoro-sized wing.

I feel like Okoro's value for us now is basically like some weirdo one-off crypto investment from a little while back that will probably continue to shrink into nothingness, but at this point we might as well ride him out just in case redditors randomly decide to send him to the moon or whatever, plus we're doing well enough in our other investments that we don't need to sell off everything just to put food on the table tomorrow.