The league’s hottest team has plenty of star power – with Donovan Mitchell making his fifth appearance in the mid-season classic this weekend, surrounded by former All-Stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, along with All-Defensive First Teamer Evan Mobley.
But you don’t get to where the Cavaliers have gotten – alone in the East’s 2nd seed within 5.5 games of the Celtics – without guys willing to do the dirty work; guys whose values aren’t measured by offensive numbers. Dean Wade averages 5.6ppg and no one can say his absence wasn’t felt as the Sixers snapped Cleveland’s nine-game win streak and shot 55 percent from the floor.
While Wade does his work in the trenches, the Cavs’ junkyard dog on the perimeter is Isaac Okoro.
His numbers are solid – averaging 8.8ppg this season, shooting a career-best .385 from long-range in his 4th year out of Auburn. But his numbers will never tell the story of Okoro’s overall contribution to winning.
“He's Isaac, and he's a gem,” said Coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “And if you don't love the game of basketball or study it or pay attention to it, you can easily miss his value. But if you know the game of basketball and you understand what it takes to make a winning team, you know just how valuable he is, especially in this league.”
Okoro has bounced in and out of the starting lineup this season, starting 24 games of 47 games this season – with Cleveland going 17-7 in those games. (Over the past three years, the Cavs are 77-54 with him among the starting five; 47-23 in the past two seasons.)
Right now, Okoro is coming off the bench again – and the Cavaliers have kept right on winning. And the 23-year-old sees the benefit to both roles.
“I mean, it's harder (to find your rhythm) of course because you come into the game and the guys are already fresh out there and you're still trying to work your way through. But there's benefits to it too. You're on the bench, you're able to watch things, able to see what they're doing and able to come into the game and correct those things.”
Okoro’s tallied double-digit scoring in 18 games this season, with a season-high 22 points in an excellent two-way performance in a road win over Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. And there’s that 39 percent three-point percentage, 47 percent over his last five games.
The improvement’s been due to hours in the gym. “Just my work ethic,” said Okoro. “I mean, I've always been working on (three-point shooting) since I came to the league, so right now it's starting to show. I always knew it wasn't going to show in one year or two years. It's a process. So, I just keep working.”
But since being taken No. 5 overall back in 2020, the Atlanta native’s calling card has always been his skillset on the defensive end. J.B. Bickerstaff
described his commitment to detail “robotic” to the point where teammates tease him about it.
He’s had too many outstanding defensive performances to list this season alone. The aforementioned effort against Luka in Dallas. Helping hold Damian Lillard to 34 percent shooting over the last three meetings. Holding the Wizards second-leading scorer, Jordan Poole, without a single field goal in two straight games.
After that most recent shutdown, Okoro said, “(I try) just shutting him down, just like that. Trying to take 'em out of the game. I try to make (opponents) use different players on their team, but also not just focus on that one player the whole game. Also, I still try to be a team defender too.”
The Cavs have risen through the league’s defensive rankings as the season has progressed. Right now, they’re the league’s 2nd-ranked defensive rated team, ranking in the Top 10 in opponent PPG (2nd, 109.3), opponent FG% (4th, .455) and opponent 3FG% (11th, .357).
And one of the biggest contributors to those numbers is Isaac Okoro.
Last year, Evan Mobley became the first Cavalier to be named to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team since LeBron James. This year’s team has been every bit as good as last year’s squad, and Okoro has been arguably its best perimeter defender. Is there a chance he finds his way onto the All-Defensive team at season’s end?
“Oh, yeah – that's definitely one of my goals, to make the All-Defensive team,” admitted Okoro. “This year, I feel like I’ve presented a good case for it. But I mean, I'm going to keep playing the way I do, and hopefully I'm able to make it.”