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

[TyGuy]

Jimmy Butler is a guy with a weak wingspan that has a lot of success as a defender.

 

[Jordan]

Jimmy Butler is a guy with a weak wingspan that has a lot of success as a defender.

I feel like Jimmy Butler is the best world for Okoro. I’m not sure that he gets there, but the similarities are clear.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

I feel like Jimmy Butler is the best world for Okoro. I’m not sure that he gets there, but the similarities are clear.

Wasn't Butler more of a scorer coming out of College? I remember he was pretty damn good at operating from the top of the key @ triple threat. He had a pretty good good mid range from the get go.

But it's tough to compare as Butler was a Junior coming out and Okoro a freshman. And as a freshman Okoro is clearly better. It did take Butler a few years to grow into his role as a scorer in the NBA, but he still had it in him prior to his emergence. He took a back seat.

 

[Jordan]

Wasn't Butler more of a scorer coming out of College? I remember he was pretty damn good at operating from the top of the key @ triple threat. He had a pretty good good mid range from the get go.

Butler really took off as a scorer in his second season. He had more time in college, though, so he was less raw overall.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Butler really took off as a scorer in his second season. He had more time in college, though, so he was less raw overall.

I edited my post.

 

[TyGuy]

Okoro is a much weaker rebounder than Butler. In college Butler has the advantage and here in the pros so far Okoro has been even worse than the worst rebounding two guard that comes to my mind right away in Allan Houston.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Okoro is a much weaker rebounder than Butler. In college Butler has the advantage and here in the pros so far Okoro has been even worse than the worst rebounding two guard that comes to my mind right away in Allan Houston.

Okoro's rebounding numbers are indeed really low. Something to track I suppose.

 

[Cavatt]

Okoro's rebounding numbers are indeed really low. Something to track I suppose.

He leaks out constantly

 

[Kiddo]

Okoro's rebounding numbers are indeed really low. Something to track I suppose.

Could be a result of Drummond grabbing everything in sight.

 

[Adam]

I'm not worried about his rebounding numbers. When you guard the best perimeter player you are often near the shot, which tends to be a perimeter shot as they can't beat you off the dribble. So you leak out after the challenge.

I do think he might be the best defender I have seen for his age. So composed and just knows how to contain and challenge.

 

[tristan+kyrie=$]

I just keep thinking how good defensively he will be once he bulks up and matures physically as he gets older and also after he earns respect from the refs and learns the tactics of players around the league via film and experience.. offense will slowly come around as well... really excited we got this guy in a weak draft overall

 

[rastamon87]

I just keep thinking how good defensively he will be once he bulks up and matures physically as he gets older and also after he earns respect from the refs and learns the tactics of players around the league via film and experience.. offense will slowly come around as well... really excited we got this guy in a weak draft overall

I don't know about bulking up as he is already built like a tank... I wish he get a little taller though, he's nit 21 yet so there is a slim chance he gets a inch or two

 

[RedBlackAttack]

I just keep thinking how good defensively he will be once he bulks up and matures physically as he gets older and also after he earns respect from the refs and learns the tactics of players around the league via film and experience.. offense will slowly come around as well... really excited we got this guy in a weak draft overall

The combination of offense (Sexton/Garland) and defense (Okoro/Allen) we now have in our young core seems almost a perfect balance. An argument could be made the Cavs now have one of the most intriguing foursome of under 24yo players.

Collin was obviously on a different planet last night, but I was just as excited about what Okoro was doing against Harden. All of his usual tricks which lead to him getting layups, wide open threes and/or ridiculous numbers of free throws? Isaac was *really* making him work for everything he got. And in instances when Okoro got switched onto Kyrie and even Durant a couple times, the results were usually extremely impressive even when they scored or made a play. For a guy to step in at 19 and be this composed against guys like that? You just do not see it.

I love the way these guys project together. It just screams chemistry and none of the three seem to have the Kyrie "this has to be my team or I'm leaving" ego.

Really exciting.

I was about to go into a long rant about how Iguodala has a freak wingspan that Okoro does not possess, but I should just stick to the script here.

Okoro had the toughest one on one matchup for a rookie defender in the NBA, and passed with flying colors. Instead of Harden playing his usual game, drawing fouls and scoring, he turned Harden into a distributor. Sure Okoro eventually fouled out, but there are a lot of veterans still getting in foul trouble in the first quarter trying to contain Harden. Okoro passed a heck of a test defensively.

Heh, I came into this thread specifically to make this point. All the national talking heads who just look at the box score are killing Kyrie today for "taking double the shots" of Harden. The part they're missing and you'd actually have to follow the game to understand is that the Cavs best perimeter defender is the teenager attached to Harden's hip all night long.

Kid is composed as it gets.

 

[Kouki]

Rebounding has got to be one of the sillier counting stats...contingent on so many things that are out of the player's control.

Is he guarding the best wing? He's probably on the perimeter and the gameplan is probably for him to NOT pursue defensive rebounds.

To that point, what IS the gameplan? Do we have a designated number of people we try to leak out vs. crash the glass and where does Okoro fit in that?

Who are your teammates? If you have exceptionally good rebounding teammates, your rebounds are going to go down.

Is there rebounding deference? Famously Steven Adams always ceded easy rebounds to Russ to pad his triple doubles. I think in general there is rebounding deference to vets, and in our case, Drummond.

What kind of shots is your defense forcing the opponent into? This changes the types of rebounds available.

Is the opponent crashing the offensive glass? If not then yeah your center is going to clean up a lot of uncontested rebounds and the rest of the team should be getting to the other end of the court.

He has had some really good rebounds this year, like "know where to be at the right time" rebounds. Most famously the pre-season game winner.

I don't know what it was like for him in college though.

 

[foucault87]

I love the Jimmy Butler comp, but how about another Butler? Caron Butler had a similar build as I recall and eventually developed a really well rounded offensive game