The Cleveland Cavaliers have a solid 13-8 record, which is the third-best mark in the Eastern Conference, and while Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland have been playing very well, they haven’t had enough support.
A few of their role players have been struggling, and these two men are perhaps the biggest liabilities on the team thus far this season.
They also highlight what is a problematic rotation at the small forward position for Cleveland.
Isaac Okoro
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Okoro showed some improvement last season, shooting 48.0 percent overall and 35.0 percent from 3-point range.
But so far this season, those numbers are down to 37.5 percent and 18.8 percent, respectively.
Coming into this season, he was a candidate to win the starting small forward spot, and although he has started four of his 21 games, he has done nothing to prove he deserves that spot.
Okoro has scored in double-figures just twice this year, and he has even gone scoreless four times despite playing 19.3 minutes per game.
He has been unable to sustain any good stretches of basketball thus far this year.
Isaac Okoro came into tonight’s game shooting 22.2% from three this season and is 1-10 from the field and 0-4 from three, he’s completely unplayable against good teams.
This tweet is straight propaganda. pic.twitter.com/rtIkAgUkV8
— Andrew Zelman (@AndrewZelman) November 29, 2022
Caris LeVert
LeVert won the starting job at the 3 when the season started, and although he shot well from 3-point range over the first week or so of the schedule, he has played poorly otherwise.
Through 17 games, he has hit 35.7 of his shots, despite starting 14 contests and getting 32.1 minutes per game.
LeVert clearly isn’t the answer at the wing spot, either offensively or defensively, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is looking for answers.
A trade to upgrade the Cavs’ small forward depth could be the solution, but until then, they will continue to be vulnerable at that position.
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