The Utah Jazz are in rebuild mode, and are looking to add young, talented players to their roster however possible. The free agent pool, while most likely not yielding top end talent for a small market team like the Jazz, has some intriguing players that would certainly help the Jazz to improve this offseason. One such player is Cleveland’s Isaac Okoro.
Isaac Okoro is a solid shooter, shooting 49% from the field and 39% from three in the 2023-2024 season, albeit on relatively few attempts. His shooting improved throughout the season, with him shooting 41.5% on 3.6 three point attempts per game in the second half of the season. (From the 41st game on) He would be a reliable floor spacer for the Jazz and has the strength to work inside and finish through contact when the opportunity presents itself. Where Okoro shines, however, is on the defensive end, being regarded as one of the best point of attack defenders in the league. He is often relied on by the Cavaliers to guard the opposing team’s number one option, and does a respectable job doing so.
Okoro is a restricted free agent, so Cleveland would have the ability to match any offer the Jazz make. And although he would be a good piece for the Jazz, he is not a franchise altering talent like the team is apparently in the market for this offseason. That being said, there are a few reasons it might be a good idea for the Jazz to take a chance on Okoro anyway.
Table 1 shows the difference in the Cavaliers team stats in games when Okoro played and games when he didn’t for the past two seasons. As you can see, field goal percentage and free throw percentage were down when Okoro played, but three point percentage, three point attempts, rebounds, steals, assists, and blocks were all up, pointing to his ability to shoot the three and his defensive impact.
Applying the analysis found here, adding Okoro to the Utah Jazz roster, the team would be expected to have a better three point percentage, steals would be expected to increase, turnovers would likely decrease, and field goal attempts would go down slightly. (A decrease in field goal attempts is associated with more wins all else equal. Likely because it captures the effect of slowing down the other team’s offense.) These improvements would result in between four and eight additional wins next season, depending on whose minutes Okoro takes. With this increase in wins, the Jazz would still be 12th place in the west, so this move alone wouldn’t move the needle for the team. It would, however, increase their talent level and move them a step closer to being ready to go all in when the opportunity to obtain a top-end talent presents itself.
At 23 years old, Okoro likely has not yet hit his prime, and still has plenty of time to develop. He fits the timeline of many of the Utah Jazz players. He’s a similar age to Walker Kessler, and only a couple years behind Collin Sexton and a couple years ahead of the 2023 rookie class. He’s shown that he can be a lockdown defender, and his shooting and attacking flashes on offense show that he could develop into a reliable scoring option on offense. The Jazz may need to overpay Okoro for his current level of production, but if he continues to develop over the coming seasons, the price will be more than worth it.
Positionally, Isaac Okoro would fill a pressing need for the Utah Jazz. The team is short on wings after trading Simone Fontecchio and Ochai Agbaji. At the end of the 2023-2024 season players such as Brice Sensabaugh and Johnny Juzang were receiving significant time on the wing. Okoro would be a definite talent upgrade over either of those players. Playing Okoro at the three would also allow Markkanen to play primarily at the power forward position, which seems to be his more natural position. It is yet to be seen if Brice Sensabaugh and Taylor Hendricks will develop into viable NBA wings, and if they do, having too much young talent is a good problem to have.
Defensively, the Utah Jazz were the worst team in the league for the 2023-2024 season. Adding Isaac Okoro along would be a definite step towards a better defense. The only reliable defensive players on the Jazz roster currently are Walker Kessler and Kris Dunn. If the Jazz were to move on from John Collins and start Kessler and Okoro, the Jazz could go from one of the worst teams defensively to possibly becoming an above average defensive team. And with Kris Dunn coming off the bench, the Jazz would always have a reliable stopper to put on the other teams number one option on the floor. This is where Isaac Okoro would likely have the biggest impact, and with defensive impact often being undervalued in the NBA, he may be worth the higher price tag the Jazz would have to pay to get him.
Overall, the Jazz have the cap space to take a chance on Isaac Okoro, and he would fill a pressing need for the team. And if the Jazz make a high offer and Cleveland decides to match it, all the better. It will only make the Cavaliers that much more hamstrung financially, with Donovan Mitchell being due a pay raise as well. Those financial issues could cause some problems with team construction moving forward, and could cause Cleveland to lose some players and slide back in the eastern conference standings next year. That is all the better for the Utah Jazz, seeing as they own multiple of Cleveland’s first round picks in the coming years.
Isaac Okoro isn’t the highest profile or most impactful free agent available, and the Jazz may have to overpay him for his current level of production to get him, but he is currently a useful playoff rotation player and is young enough and has shown enough growth over his time in the league that he will likely only get better. The price tag will likely be high, but Isaac Okoro might be the perfect fit with the Utah Jazz. And if the Jazz were able to go “big game hunting” as well and add a top end talent, Okoro would be a great piece to have on a playoff team.
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