Shooting, Toughness Are The Needs For The Cavs

The NBA playoffs have reached the second round, and there is a percentage of fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers pointing out that the two teams they lost to in the play-in tournament went 1-8, validating their opinion the Cavs are better off with the lottery pick.

Our point continues to be a seven game series would have shown them the type of ball being played in the playoffs, and they would have grown as a team by it.

We didn’t think going in the wine and gold could have beaten either Miami or Boston, but the experience would have done them a whole lot of good.

We felt too many times during the regular season that the Cavs wilted against more physical teams. In the NBA, sometimes this happens with young teams. Instead of matching the physicality of the opponent, they wilt, they change the style of play that helps them win.

That’s not a recipe for success.

Sometime this month, the annual draft lottery will be held, and unless the Cavaliers are extremely lucky, they will have the 14th pick. Still, this pick is a trade asset and that’s probably the best use of it, since the team is already one of the youngest in the NBA. We don’t see how adding another inexperienced player helps next season.

Cleveland needs players who can make shots on the perimeter, particularly from beyond the three point line. They had a respectable percentage from long range, ranking 15th in the league, but their attempts ranked 22nd in the Association.

The players who took the most threes, Kevin Love, Darius Garland, and Lauri Markkanen, all made them at a better rate than the league average of 35.2%. But the latter was just barely over that mark.

So, the only real three point threats were Love and Garland. They get Collin Sexton back, and he can score, but he really isn’t a long range marksman. Perhaps they will get some improvement from him in that area next season.

Beyond those three, the next most threes were taken by Cedi Osman (35.7%) and Ricky Rubio (33.9%). A couple of players who supposed are on the roster for their shooting, Dean Wade and Dylan Windler, seem hesitant to take the shot. That doesn’t help the floor spacing.

So GM Koby Altman needs to find a consistently good outside threat, and one who has the confidence to shoot when he is open.

They also need toughness, as we alluded before. You would have to think this comes from a veteran player, someone who isn’t going to let his younger teammates get pushed around.

While the Cavaliers have height, they don’t have much bulk. They need some of that, not only inside, but on the perimeter. Some of that will come from the younger players getting older, their bodies maturing.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff talks a lot about “grit” and “fight”, and early in the season, the Cavs had that, but there is something to be said about physical play as well, and many nights, particularly late in the year, Cleveland seemed to fall short.

Again, the draft pick is nice, but it would be a surprise if Altman found someone in the middle of the draft who can make an impact on this team next season.

That leaves the trade market, but would the Cavs give up the assets that other teams want?

Can’t Figure Out Barnes Over Mobley For RoY

It was announced over the weekend that Toronto’s Scottie Barnes was named the NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

We think the voters got this one way wrong. The award should have went to the Cavs’ Evan Mobley, who made a huge impact on the wine and gold, and was a main reason the team doubled its win total from the 2020-21 campaign.

This is not to slight Barnes, who looks like he will be a terrific player. He averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Raptors, and shot 49% on the year. And we know, Toronto played very well down the stretch and would up winning 48 games, 21 more than the year prior.

For the record, Mobley averaged 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists for the Cavs, shooting 50.8% from the floor. So, the numbers are very similar. Neither is a three point threat, Barnes making 30% and Mobley, who spent most of his floor time closer to the basket, made 25% of his long range attempts.

So, why was the award given to Barnes? It seems that it’s because the Raptors got hot down the stretch and the Cavs faded. Mobley did miss some games because of an ankle injury, but he only sat out five games.

Barnes did score more down the stretch, averaging 17.1 points after the All-Star break, compared to 14.4 before, but that just points out how consistent Mobley was for the entire season.

After scoring 13.4 points and 7.6 boards in seven October games, the Cavs’ big man averaged between 14.5 and 15.7 points a night in each succeeding month, and his rebound totals were also consistent, between 8.0 and 8.6 per game.

We don’t know the criteria for the individual voters, but it appears they put more emphasis on the second half of the season, the playoff stretch. If they need, that’s unfair to Mobley.

First of all, Cleveland was missing starting players in pretty much every game after the break (yes, we know Toronto had players, notably all-star Fred Van Vleet missing too), and that was partially the reason for losing 17 of their last 26 games.

Second, the award isn’t for the most valuable rookie or the best rookie for the second half of the season. It’s based on the entire season, and from the first game of the year, Evan Mobley made a huge impact.

We didn’t think he would be this good right away because of his build. We figured he would have to play between 20-24 minutes a night at the beginning of the season to preserve his stamina.

Man, we could not have been more wrong. He played 34 minutes per contest, and certainly didn’t fade as the season went on, we already covered that.

We hope that Mobley winds up having the same type of career as two other notable Cleveland athletes who were snubbed for rookie honors had, namely Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez.

Again, this is not a slight at Scottie Barnes, who is a very good player. But Evan Mobley made a huge difference for the Cleveland Cavaliers, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, where the Cavs made a huge leap forward.

The voters didn’t get this one right.

Cavs Should Be Looking At Top Four Spot in ’22-’23.

Now that the Cleveland Cavaliers did not advance to the real playoffs, which started Saturday, it’s time to look towards the 2022-23 season, and there will be expectations for J.B. Bickerstaff and his squad.

It will no longer be a nice story to get close to the playoffs. The expectation by most observers, will be making one of the top five seeds in the Eastern Conference.

The question is how will that be accomplished.

Cleveland has to get better offensively. They were 20th in offensive rating this season and seventh defensively, although that ranking declined after the midway point of the campaign.

The Cavs should have Collin Sexton healthy heading into training camp, barring a trade. We say that because what assets does GM Koby Altman have to try to improve the wine and gold?

Kevin Love’s contract is now expiring, and that used to have value, but in the past few seasons, it has been less and less important. And Caris LeVert has one more year on his current deal. Does the front office want to extend him?

They have a lottery pick, which will likely be the 14th overall pick barring some extreme luck in the draft lottery. We feel the Cavaliers would be better off moving that pick for a veteran who can contribute immediately.

The team is young enough right now, and to us it is obvious someone with more experience would be a bigger help.

Altman and Bickerstaff have to decide what kind of team they want going forward. Early in the year, it used size, playing slower, and playing defense. It was an old school approach.

Is that the way they want to continue? We asked because in the second half of the season, they seemed to get away from that style. We know injuries played a big factor, but the Cavs did go 9-17 in their last 26 contests.

Can they play two smaller guards together and be effective on the defensive end?

One thing is for certain, the team needs some wings that can shoot the basketball, someone in the 6’7″-6’9″ range. Yes, Love does that, but good teams have more than one player like that, and with guys like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley inside, having shooters will make them more effective.

Speaking of Mobley, no doubt he will get stronger in the off-season and be more of a force next season and beyond. With so much discussion about Garland’s improvement and being the team’s best player, he is just renting that title because next year, Mobley will likely be the Cavs’ premier star.

Altman also has to make the roster deeper. Coming into the season, he filled two spots, Kevin Pangos and Ed Davis, with players who can’t play in the NBA. That can’t happen this off-season.

And decisions have to be made on Dylan Windler, who either can’t be a rotation player on a good team or needs a fresh start somewhere else and Cedi Osman, who ended the year not in agreement with the coach.

Osman is another guy who plays much better in international competition, when he is used as a playmaker, a drive and dish guy. He’s not used that way with the Cavs, so other teams may have an interest in him.

Lamar Stevens played his way into having a future here, but can the same be said for Isaac Okoro? Okoro has not developed any kind of offensive game, and the question is can he? He’s another player who may have value for a young, developing team.

The Cavaliers are not that any more. They won 44 games in the regular season, double last year’s total. They should be thinking about a home series in the first round of the playoffs and advancing.

In many ways, this is a bigger off-season for Altman and management that the last three summers.

Cavs Season: Encouraging And Disappointing.

The Cavaliers season came to a disappointing end Friday night, when they lost 107-101 to Atlanta in the NBA’s dumb (we thought this before the Cavs lost) play in tournament.

The game was kind of a microcosm of the wine and gold’s performance since the all-star game. They took a sizeable first half lead, 14 points was the largest, and then didn’t make any adjustments to what their opponent did defensively.

They started out shooting well from behind the three-point line, and when the shots stopped falling, they kept taking them anyway. They hit six threes in the first quarter, just seven in the last three periods.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff tried to go defense in the second half, trying to protect the lead, but because the defensive players he used provide no offense, the Cavaliers scored just 40 points in the second half. Had they mustered 50, the Cavs would be playing today in Game 1 of a seven-game series against Miami.

Isaac Okoro and Rajon Rondo, the two players the coach went with, combined to go 2 for 6 from the field, 0 for 3 from distance and scored six points. Meanwhile, Kevin Love, perhaps the team’s best outside shooter outside of Darius Garland, played just 10 minutes and scored three points.

Darius Garland, Cleveland’s best player down the stretch, played poorly, hitting just 9 of 27 shots, including 1 of 7 from three. The Hawks started pressuring Garland as soon as he crossed half court, and the Cavs didn’t do anything to counter.

And after Hawks’ big man Clint Capela was injured late in the first half and did not return to the game, Cleveland didn’t really try to exploit this by getting the ball inside to Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen.

And of course, Love wasn’t used until late in the fourth quarter.

The Cavs based their early season success on playing three seven footers on the back line, playing at a slower pace, and defense, they ranked in the top three defensively early in the year.

As the season went on, injuries forced them to use a smaller center/forward combination, the pace quickened, and the defense slipped, finishing seventh for the season.

Why didn’t the style and attitude sustain itself? That’s a question for Bickerstaff. It could have been because the early success made the players think they could take short cuts, but there was a definite difference from how the team played early in the season and how they played at the end of the year.

Yes, the Cavaliers had plenty of injuries this season. Everyone of their starters missed at least 10 games during the season. Evan Mobley led the team in games played with 69, and only Garland played more than 65. We are sure that was a major challenge for the coaching staff, but it makes even more sense that Bickerstaff needed to emphasize the core values.

The organization has a big summer ahead. They get to keep their first round pick, which they dealt to Indiana for Caris LeVert, but it was lottery protected. They need to make the roster deeper, and they need to evaluate players like Okoro, Dylan Windler, and even Cedi Osman to see if they are worth keeping.

Collin Sexton will be back, but where and how does he fit in?

And we know Bickerstaff just signed an extension, but his coaching in the two play in games had to raise some eyebrows.

The Cavs took a strong step forward this season, but still, it can be considered a disappointment because of a 9-17 finish and not getting to a seven game playoff series.

That will take some honest evaluation. Here’s hoping a self-audit will be successful.

Cavs Need To Regain Early Season Style This Week

It is okay to change expectations of your favorite team once a season starts.

Before the 2021-22 NBA season started, we were projecting the Cleveland Cavaliers would take a jump from their 22 victories last season to around 30 wins this year. They far exceeded that number, piling up 44 wins, double last year’s total.

And that’s great. The organization seems to be headed in the right direction, with a young core of players, all-stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, and a player who is a favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors in Evan Mobley.

However, on February 11th, the expectations were far greater. After beating Indiana, the Cavs were sitting at 35-21 and a first round home playoff series was in sight.

Perhaps we were all being naïve. After, many younger NBA teams start the season well and the veteran teams catch up as the season progresses. But it seemed like the young guys wearing the wine and gold had a formula for winning. They were a defensive first team that played with what their coach, J.B. Bickerstaff called “grit” and “scrap”.

Then the all star break hit and so did the injuries.

All three of the star players missed parts of the second half and the style of play changed. The defensive mindset seemed to wane, the grit and scrap weren’t as prevalent. The latter should not have departed with Garland, Allen, and Mobley.

GM Koby Altman swung a trade before the deadline to bring in Caris LeVert, but he was injured too, and when he came back, it didn’t seem like he fit in. There were games where he was a key part of the offense, and others were it felt like he was an outsider.

So the Cavs fell into the “play in” tournament and as the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, they have two shots to get into a seven game series, and to us, this is a needed step for the future of this group. They need to experience what the playoffs are like and apply that to how they prepare for the 2022-23 campaign.

Their best hope to win one of these games, and if they lose at Brooklyn tonight, they will play either Charlotte or Atlanta at home on Friday to be the 8th seed, is to get back to the style that brought them to that 35-21 record.

Slow the pace, play defense, and run when you get the opportunity. All of these teams have dynamic point guards that need to be controlled. They have to be kept out of the paint where the interior defender have to provide constant help.

Supposedly Allen will not be available tonight against the Nets, and if he isn’t, we would start Moses Brown at center with Mobley and Lauri Markkanen on the front line. That’s how the Cavs played most of the season, especially when they were winning. Size.

It also allows Mobley to provide weak side help as a shot blocker and to be able to concentrate on Kevin Durant on the perimeter.

Playing like they have over the last six weeks seems like a recipe to go home at the end of the week. Hopefully JB can get that message across to his young squad before tonight’s game.

The Okoro Dilemma

In the 2020 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a player with a defensive reputation with the fifth overall selection. Isaac Okoro was just 19 years old then, and he’s only 21 now, but we didn’t like the selection at the time.

Why? Because at that spot, you need an all around player. Defense and defensive instincts are easier to teach at the NBA level than developing an offensive game. As the great John Wooden said, the same skills that make a player good offensively can be used to play well on the defensive end.

We think GM Koby Altman took Okoro that high because the Cavs were a terrible defensive team the previous two seasons. Again, that had more to do with a lack of defensive philosophy from the coaching staff. We feel if the coaches would have told the team we must defend to win in this league, they would have been better defensively.

So, it sounded really good to bring in a defensive player high in the draft, but fans don’t usually see the problems with this.

First, your defense is only as good as your worst defensive player. You can have Bill Russell in his prime at center or Dennis Johnson at guard, and if the rest of the players on the floor couldn’t guard their own shadow, you will not be a decent defensive unit.

Conversely, having a player who is not a threat on the offensive end causes problems too. What do you think happens to the opponent assigned to guard someone who isn’t an issue when your team has the ball? He’s free, within the rules, to double team a better player, or position himself near the lane to discourage players from driving.

Too often Okoro isn’t a factor on the offensive end. Since the all star break, a span of 21 games, the second year man out of Auburn have taken five shots or less seven times. His high in field goal attempts is nine.

It’s not like he is a great passer either. His high in assists over this time frame is five, done twice.

His numbers after the break are similar to what they were before: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, but his defensive rating has fallen from 111 to 120. And he’s playing three more minutes per game after the break (almost 32 per night)

Compare that to Lamar Stevens, an undrafted free agent, who also has a defensive mindset.

Stevens is scoring 8.5 points and 3.3 boards since the all star game, and he’s getting just 19.5 minutes per game.

Right now, to our eyes, Stevens is the better player, and if he were the fifth overall pick, he’d be getting 30 minutes per night.

This is not to write off Okoro. As we mentioned earlier, he’s just 21 years old, and has time to improve his game. But he has to contribute on the offensive end. Stevens can. He has a nice mid-range game, and he doesn’t settle for threes (most times).

For the record, we would have taken Obi Toppin with the fifth pick, and we still think he can play if he ever gets out from under Tom Thibodeau.

Who else was available? How about Tyrese Haliburton or Saddiq Bey or Tyrese Maxey. Of all the players in that draft, Okoro has the second lowest VORP (value over replacement player). And that includes the players taken on the second round.

That’s why you don’t take a defensive specialist that high in the draft, you take players who have an all around game. But until Isaac Okoro can make himself a threat offensively, it’s tough to make a case for getting the playing time he is receiving.

No Time To Settle For Cavs Now

The Cleveland Cavaliers have already clinched the opportunity to play additional games after the regular season ends. However, injuries continue to plague the young Cavs.

In addition to Jarrett Allen being out, Evan Mobley went down with a sprained ankle Monday night, and hopefully will be back later this week. At 20 years old, he should be a fast healer.

With all the injuries, we are hearing it would be best if the wine and gold would lose in the play in tournament, and thus keep their first round draft pick.

That’s a losing, defeatist attitude.

While it is true no one thought Cleveland would finish with an above .500 record at the beginning of the season, the team isn’t satisfied with that, and neither should the fan base.

Even if the Cavaliers lose in the first round, and quite frankly, it is likely they will, because the top four teams in the East, Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia, are very good, the experience they will gain will be a huge benefit next season.

And they should also do everything they can to get into the top six in the Eastern Conference, so they don’t have to go through the mini tournament.

No doubt it will be difficult with the injuries, particularly if Mobley misses a handful of games, because much of the success the team had was because of playing the two big men together.

In order to succeed without two of their three best players, the Cavs need to return to the “grit and scrap” they played with earlier in the season. Monday night against Orlando, coach J.B. Bickerstaff went with Lamar Stevens and Dylan Windler down the stretch, and it worked because they played solid defense.

It won’t be easy with games on the road against Atlanta and New York this week, and three of the remaining four games after that trip are against the Sixers, Nets, and Bucks. And only two of the games left will be played at home.

And the Cavs will need players to step up. Moses Brown figures to get some time, perhaps Cedi Osman will emerge from Bickerstaff’s doghouse. They will also need offense from Lamar Stevens and Isaac Okoro.

It would also be nice if Windler A). Wasn’t afraid to shoot and B). Made a couple of shots. His attitude right now seems to be he can’t miss a shot if he doesn’t take it.

We also have to take exception to criticism of Caris LeVert. Yes, we know he isn’t averaging 18 points per game and he’s only shooting a little over 40%. But the other night, he kept taking the ball to the basket, and that’s a welcome sight at times, because too often lately, the Cavaliers start settling for the three point shot.

It’s particularly maddening when they need a hoop to stop the opponents’ run. That’s when you need to work for a good look. LeVert tries to get that good look. It hasn’t gone in often, but we think it will soon.

With six games left in the regular season, this isn’t the time to be complacent or settle for just a winning record. Use the toughness the Cavs had early in the year and gut your way through until Allen and Mobley are back.

We are sure that’s what Bickerstaff wants.

Time For Cavs To Get Back To Defensive Mindset

Two games before the NBA All Star weekend, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Indiana to improve their record to 35-21. They lost the next two games leading up to the break, both on the road to Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Since that victory over the Pacers, the wine and gold have gone 6-10.

Injuries have certainly been a problem. Lauri Markkanen and Darius Garland both missed some time, and most recently, Jarrett Allen has missed the last eight games with a broken finger.

After the first two games of the season, when the Cavs allowed 132 and 123 points, the new philosophy of defense took hold, and Cleveland became one of the better defensive teams in the NBA, with a front line featuring three players 6’11” or taller.

Prior to that game against the Pacers, the team’s high water mark of the year record wise, the Cavs had held opponents under 100 points 23 times. Since the all star game, in 14 games, Cleveland has only does this twice, and they haven’t done it since Allen went out against Toronto on March 6th.

Granted, Allen is a very good rim protector and blocks 1.3 shots per game in addition to grabbing almost 11 rebounds per night. But really, that’s not where the defensive issues have been.

While Cleveland is scoring almost four points per game more than they were before the break, they are also giving up almost 11 points more. That’s frightening.

Before the all star break, the Cavs allowed 34% shooting from behind the three point line. Since, that percentage is up to 38.6. They really have not defended the long range shooting well after resuming play.

Now, you could say luck is a factor, but in watching the games, it is disturbing to see the wide open looks opposing shooters have beyond the arc. In Monday’s terrible loss to the Lakers (terrible because the Lakers are not a good team), veteran D.J. Augustin came into the game and it appeared Cleveland didn’t notice because he had several wide open shots immediately after checking in.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff established, after those first two games, a defensive, gritty mindset. His players bought in to that. But lately, we see more attempts to play up tempo, and right now, the Cavs only have a few players who can thrive in that style.

With the playoffs on the horizon, the Cavaliers need to get back to the defensive, slow it down mindset they had previously.

We aren’t saying not to push the ball up the floor when the opportunity presents itself, you have to take advantage of easy offense.

But there are too many possessions lately in the half court game, where there is just one or two guys touching the basketball. They need to make their opponents play harder on the defensive end.

And tonight’s game at Toronto would be a good time to start. A win would essentially put them three games up on the Raptors for the sixth spot, and it would also put the wine and gold in a decent spot to move up to the fifth seed in the East.

The Cavs need to get back to the style that put them in this spot to begin with. With just 10 games remaining, it’s not too late.

Bring Back LeBron? Not That Simple.

Ever since the All Star Game in Cleveland and the comments made by LeBron James about his home area during the festivities, there have been rumors or speculation that James would consider coming back to the Cavaliers, especially now that the wine and gold are playing winning basketball.

James is 37 years old, but is still playing at an amazingly high level. He is currently averaging 29.4 points per game, the highest since the end of his first tenure in Cleveland, way back in ’09-’10.

He poured in 56 points on Friday night against Golden State, and you can still make an excellent case that he is the most dominant talent in the NBA, even in what figures to be the twilight of his career.

Adding James to the current Cavaliers’ roster would make them the favorites to hang a second NBA title banner from the rafters of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

However, it isn’t as simple as that. It never is when it comes to LeBron James.

First, James is owed $44 million next year on the last year of his contract, so even if he told the Lakers he wanted out, the Cleveland would still have to make the numbers work in terms of the salary cap.

And of course, the Lakers would want something in return, a very good player more than likely to pair with Anthony Davis.

Would Koby Altman want to part with either of his new “Big Three”, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, or Evan Mobley to get a player, even a player with James’ greatness, who will turn 38 years old.

We know James keeps himself in pristine shape. Still, Father Time is undefeated and no one knows when age will creep up for The King. So, let’s say the Cavaliers are willing to give up Allen to the Lakers, and they only get one great season out of James?

That would be throwing away the rebuilding done by the front office over the last four years.

If James were to come back and just be a player and fit in with the current corps, there wouldn’t be any problems, correct? James can do whatever is needed on the court. He can score. He’s just around 1600 points from becoming the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.

He can rebound, averaging 8.1 this season, and the last time he was under 7.5 for a season, the Cavs won the 2016 championship.

And we all know he can pass. Two seasons ago, he led the league in assists. People who know the game say, he is a pass first player and is going to wind up as the greatest scorer in history.

We know James and his people wouldn’t just join the team and fit in. He would start making suggestions about adding veterans to the mix, he would rather play with guys who have been in the league.

He might start second guessing J.B. Bickerstaff or perhaps Altman. And he might put some burdens on the salary cap that will remain long after he is gone.

The latter might be a problem since the core of this team figures to be here for a while.

While bringing LeBron James back would make the Cavs instant championship contenders, they might be in the same position in two or three years without bringing him.

As we said earlier, it’s just not as simple as getting him and plugging him in. And it’s Koby Altman’s job to figure whether or not it’s the right move to make.

Don’t Panic On Cavs, And A Discussion On Okoro

Because the Cleveland Cavaliers have been struggling, losing six of their last seven games, the fans and media are trying to a scapegoat for the lack of winning.

In reality, a big part of this losing skein is the injuries. We understand J.B. Bickerstaff doesn’t want to use this excuse, no coach does, there is a next man up theory for any team sport.

But for a team like the Cavs, without a deep roster, it because pretty simplistic.

We have written about this before; Cleveland has nine solid NBA players. The balance of the roster can be effective on certain nights, but consistency is a problem for them. We are talking about players like Dean Wade, Lamar Stevens, and Brandon Goodwin.

For the last month or so, the wine and gold have been missing a combination of these players: Lauri Markkanen, Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, and Rajon Rondo.

Two of them start, and in reality, when he returns LeVert will get starters minutes, and another proven ball handler and defender in Rondo.

If LeVert and Rondo return and the Cavs are still playing poorly, then it might make sense to have a touch of panic about this team.

Remember, the Cavaliers got a lot of notice by other players and the national media with the All Star Game being played in their house. It is only natural, especially for a very young team to get a little caught up in the hoopla (no pun intended).

Hopefully, Friday night’s performance and effort in Philadelphia signals a return to the way the Cavs played prior to the event at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

For the most part, the Cavaliers’ best players are pretty consistent. There is one exception, and it stands out with all the injuries. Bickerstaff needs a more even offensive stat line on a nightly basis from second year pro Isaac Okoro.

Okoro is a very good defender. Their lone victory in the last seven games is due to his lockdown of Kyle Kuzma against the Wizards.

Offensively, especially when Garland and LeVert were out, they need more games like last Friday when Okoro put up 22 points.

Now, they don’t need 22 all the time, but in the previous half dozen games, last year’s fifth overall pick scored 4, 6, 6, 11, 6, and 5 points.

We were critical of taking a defensive first player that high in the draft and this is why. At that spot, you would like to get a more complete basketball player. Opposing teams are clogging the middle to stop Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and they are doing it by leaving Okoro open.

On the other hand, the second-year pro just turned 21 years old, so there is plenty of room and time to improve. That doesn’t help them right now.

In his last 10 games, the most shots he put up was the eight he took vs. Philly. He’s had three games where he took five attempts or less.

We aren’t saying he should just start heaving up shots at will, but he needs to make himself someone who the defense has to guard. He’s not exactly filling up the box score either.

In that same span, he’s had a high of five rebounds (twice) and his assist best was four. Again, we know not everything is included in the stat sheet, but in watching the games, there are long stretches where he disappears offensively.

And the Cavs need more from him on the offensive end. Basketball is the one sport where a player has to contribute in both aspects, and transition to it immediately.

With people down, others need to step up. The Cavaliers need Isaac Okoro to do more on the offensive end and do it within the frame of the offense.

That’s not too much to ask for a player picked in the top five a year ago. He can’t be regarded in the same class as Wade and Stevens.