Okoro was MVP of pickup football game at training camp

Okoro shined in low-intensity practice on Thursday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers training camp on Thursday was lower intensity than the previous two days. The group warmed up by playing a chaotic pick-up football game before transitioning to four stations for offensive and defensive walk-throughs.

Here’s a rundown of what happened on the third day of camp in Florida.

Isaac Okoro dominated the touch football game

Playing seven-on-seven football on a basketball court is chaotic. Everyone was an eligible receiver, but Isaac Okoro was the only one consistently making plays.

He picked off Darius Garland and caught three touchdowns of his own in a 15-minute game. The opposition had no answer for him.

Okoro wasn’t officially named MVP by his teammates, but he certainly was head and shoulders above his competition.

“People have too much pride on this team,” Okoro said when asked if his teammates recognized him as MVP. “They ain’t going to say that.”

This probably doesn’t mean much, but it was interesting to see that Okoro was far and away the best athlete in this setting. Translating that athleticism to the basketball court has been a challenge at times throughout his career. This coaching staff believes there’s more to his basketball game than he’s shown thus far.

DG the PG is not DG the QB

Darius Garland doesn’t lack confidence in his quarterback skills even though he should. He threw an interception, unleashed multiple medicine balls, and had some questionable decision-making. On the off-chance he threw a good pass he would yell “dart” as loud as he could to make sure everyone saw it.

Garland joked afterward that he had an “A” performance on the hardwood-turned gridiron.

“I just need better receivers,” Garand said. “I was looking like Mahomes out there. I just need Tyreke Hill, Just Jefferson, Jamar Chase, and give me a good tight end I’m straight.”

Garland at least made up for it on the defensive side of the ball as he picked off Georges Niang who was looking decent at quarterback until throwing it straight to Garland.

Kenny Atkinson has emphasized fun this offseason. Last week they played wiffle ball. This week it was football. It was clear everyone was enjoying themselves out there. None more so than Garland. That’s ultimately what’s important.

A possible glimpse at rotations

The Cavs did also do some basketball activities. They were split into groups of four. One group for the starters, another for camp invites and Charge players, and then two bench units. The first bench group was Okoro, Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and JT Thor. The second was Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill, Jaylon Tyson, Dean Wade, and Tristan Thompson.

It’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from these groupings. LeVert and Okoro are guaranteed to be in the rotation. You could use that as evidence that Niang has a leg up on Wade for the backup power-forward slot for now. I wouldn’t go that far.

I think it does however show that the second group will be fighting for minutes. Jerome, Merrill, and Tyson can’t all be in the likely ten-man rotation every night. Only one or two can get consistent minutes depending on whether or not Niang is a fixture in the rotation.

Atkinson has repeatedly said he likes the depth on this team. There’s reason to believe the rotations will be fluid at the start of the season. Not much is set in stone yet.

Luke Travers was the last player on the court

Luke Travers stayed well after practice to get extra reps shooting. He was working with director of player development, Alex Sarama, on shooting with the constraint of someone hitting the ball before he goes up with the shot. Sarama is known for his unique constraint-led approach.

Camp is different than it was under J.B. Bickerstaff

This was Okoro’s first NBA training camp under a new coaching staff. An increased attention to detail is one of the things that has stood out to him about Atkinson’s camp.

“Attention to detail,” Okoro said when asked about what’s different. “[We’re] working on specific things and [they’re] telling us why we’re working on it.”

Okoro says that there wasn’t a lack of attention to detail under Bickerstaff. Still, things are different under Atkinson.

“Kenny and the staff are very analytics-based,” Okoro said. “They really tell you why. ‘There’s reasons we want you doing this’ and they give you facts and studies behind it.”

Garland sees this come through in a lack of scrimmages.

“It’s not as much playing in Kenny’s training camp,” Garland said. “We just build up all of the things we need to learn and get all of the kinks out before Tuesday starts. So it’s not as much playing.”