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The Cleveland Cavaliers expected to take the next step in their bid to compete for a championship in the 2023-24 season. After all, they added Max Strus, a battle-tested, three-point marksman who helps improve the team's greatest weakness last year, to a rapidly improving core led by Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.
Alas, the Cavs have already gone through so much adversity in the season and it's not even past its midway point. They began the season without Allen, Garland routinely missed games due to recurring knocks, and Mitchell was also a common visitor on the injury list. And then circumstances proceeded to go from bad to worse. Garland suffered a broken jaw, and Mobley underwent surgery on his ailing knee.
As a result, the Cavs are now fighting for their playoff lives — a stark contrast from their 50-win 2022-23 season. They currently have an 18-15 record, and with two of the team's best players still out for the foreseeable future, it's unlikely for the Cavs to escape the treadmill of mediocrity they're currently on. They are every bit as good as their 0.0 net rating says they are, and it's looking likely that they'll be finishing the season in a play-in spot.
Nevertheless, the Cavs don't have to shoot themselves on the foot by playing suboptimal lineups, especially when they have a few pieces on the bench who deserve a few more minutes. Here is the player whose minutes the Cavs must cut.
Cavs player who should lose minutes: Isaac Okoro
The Cavs organization had high hopes for Isaac Okoro when they selected him with the fifth overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. Okoro is a livewire 6'5 wing who projected to be a fill-in-the-gaps two-way athletic forward for a Cavs team that needed an infusion of talent on the wings at the time.
And for a while, Okoro showed flashes of being an impact player on the defensive end. He shuffles his feet quite well, and his athleticism helps him cover a lot of ground on the perimeter. It was clear that his offensive game was going to need a lot of work, with his three-point shooting being his make-or-break skill.
Alas, it's year four in Isaac Okoro's career, and he hasn't quite emerged as the three-and-D weapon the Cavs have needed. Simply put, the Cavs roster has outgrown him. He is a low-volume three-point shooter, and he doesn't shoot them well enough to warrant more shots (he's currently at 34.9 percent on the season — which is below-average.
As a slasher, he can make use of his quick first step to slice into the lane. However, he doesn't provide nearly enough playmaking to justify more touches on the perimeter. So what remains of Okoro is a low-usage, subpar floor spacer who provides a bit of offense via cuts and drives to the rim and yet he's not the kind of lockdown defender that warrants heavy minutes for someone with an underdeveloped offensive game.
During the Cavs' latest game, a 124-121 loss to the Toronto Raptors, Isaac Okoro became a point of frustration for fans. He took a few suboptimal three-pointers during crunch-time; Okoro is not exactly the player fans would want to see take shots with the game still hanging in the balance.
The numbers also show that Isaac Okoro may not be the best fit on the Cavs' current starting five. According to NBA.com stats, the Cavs' current starting lineup of Okoro, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Dean Wade, and Jarrett Allen has a dreadful -4.9 net rating in 62 minutes, putting them at an uphill climb to begin games.
That lineup has bled points, allowing 126.7 points per 100 possessions, and it remains a marvel why head coach JB Bickerstaff is rolling with that unit for as much as he has. Perhaps more minutes for Craig Porter Jr. or Caris LeVert could do the Cavs a world of good.
Porter just looks the part of someone who will have a lengthy career in the NBA. He just knows how to play winning basketball; Porter is a major contributor on the glass, he is a disruptor in the passing lanes, and he can dish the rock as well. There's a reason why he's already one of the best stat-sheet stuffers in his rookie class.
Meanwhile, amid Darius Garland's injury, the Cavs should also give LeVert more minutes. LeVert has his inefficiencies, but it's clear that there's a playmaking void whenever Donovan Mitchell is the one functioning as the team's lead guard. LeVert can help shoulder that burden in ways that Okoro can't at present.
This is not to say that the Cavs should bench Isaac Okoro completely. He is only 22 years old after all, and he could very well take his game to the next level with more reps. But the Cavs' aim is to win now, and giving the likes of Craig Porter Jr. and Caris LeVert more minutes at his expense could help in that regard.
