Cavs: Isaac Okoro may not be the 5th best rookie but he’s earned his spot

Isaac Okoro may not be the fifth-best rookie but he’s earned his spot with the Cavs.

Full disclosure, I wasn’t a fan of the Isaac Okoro pick. Truthfully, there are much better prospects who were taken after him. He wasn’t worth the fifth overall pick, but he’s more than earned his spot on the team. If he were the 20th pick, the Cavs would have the best value pick in the draft, that’s not the case. Okoro was undoubtedly taken too high.

That said, he’s more than earned his spot with the Cavs. The problem is too many people have viewed him as a prospect when he’s actually a project. He’s not the immediate lock-down defender that many had expected him to be, but when you’re playing next to Collin Sexton and Kevin Love in the lineup, you just gotta do the best you can.

That’s one thing that has never been said about Okoro, that he’s ever given up or taken a possession off. He’s always put forth the best effort possible and that needs to be commended, especially on a team that has had issues with things just like that. Not only is that a great highlight to focus on for the future but Okoro is actually farther along than people may realize.

For Isaac Okoro, the numbers don’t lie.

Compared to Collin Sexton and Darius Garland’s rookie year, Okoro is actually playing significantly better. Sexton finished his rookie season with RAPTOR scores of -2.8 for offense, -5.5 for defense; equalling out to a -8.3. Garland had a -2.6 offensive and a -3.9 defensive score for a seasonal total of -6.5.

Not great but rookie numbers that aren’t awful. Not for non-franchise players, that is. For Okoro, he’s already ahead of the curve, with a -2.7 offensive score, a -1.7 defensive score, for a total of -4.5. RAPTOR metrics don’t lie.

While Okoro’s field goal percentage isn’t great, he’s doing things that even guys like Sexton aren’t doing. For instance, Okoro is shooting more three-point attempts than both Sexton and Garland. He’s right behind Sexton in free-throw rate, while having played more minutes than Sexton.

Yes, Okoro isn’t going to be seen as the best rookie out of the 2020-2021 class, but at this rate, if Okoro continues to improve, he may just be the best player the Cavs have drafted over the last three seasons.