Is Isaac Okoro an Upgrade Over Lonzo Ball & Patrick Williams? | Chicago Bulls Debate

Is Isaac Okoro an Upgrade Over Lonzo Ball & Patrick Williams? | Chicago Bulls Debate

All right, Pat. So, getting getting more into this article that came out here uh in regards to Isaac Akuru. Um he mentioned uh how Isaac Akuru fits into this roster saying this. Last year we played pretty fast. I think we can play even faster. A roster is built for it and you saw with Indiana and OKC in the finals that playing that that pace is so important. We’re going to get after it on defense, force turnovers and and then get out and run. that suits Modis and Noah as our young forwards and all of our guards as well as we think that Isaac Akuru will benefit in a more uptempo style too. There’s untapped potential there and that came from a Bulls coach. A lot there in regards to the Bull style even how they see Modis and and Noah as the forwards of the future. But that key part at the end that they think that they got a player with untapped potential in Isaac Auru. How you feeling Pat? I mean, listen, I don’t know if I’d go as far as, you know, the the sidebar here where it says uh viewed as a major upgrade. I think he is healthy. That’s an upgrade. I mean, that is a major upgrade. Yeah, I guess theory, right? That could be 70 games in five years, Pat. You could get 70 in one season. Listen, Isaac Aura has been fairly healthy. You could get 70 in one season. Um I I think here’s the thing. the the three-point shot is improving. I don’t know if people are paying attention to that or not, but now it’s not on a ton of volume threes. I’ll bet you Isaacuro probably shoots more threes here than he’s ever had an opportunity to shoot in his career. Um, I think that Isaacuro is is not only Lonzo Ball replacement, but possibly future Patrick Williams replacement. I know the size is very different there, which is hilarious because you could have just drafted Isaacuro. I know the size is very different there, but um you know like he’s he’s knocking down to three. He’s been as as good as 39% in his career. Last season uh he was 37% from the three-point line and that was in basically going from being a player who was playing 30 minutes a game to to 19 minutes a game. So the shot selection is very different for that player. Um, but I the one thing about Auro that I love is the defensive ability and you can throw him out there and he can guard one through three well. Depending on the four, he can get after the four well. Um, like he there’s a lot that he brings to the table. I think that you could talk about it as an upgrade over Lonzo, over Patrick Williams, over a guy like here’s the thing. You don’t have a primary defender on this team. Maybe I Dumu can be that guy and that’s probably who you would say it is. But you don’t have a guy that can guard like Lonzo could. Like that’s the hope here for Isaac Crow. And if he can do that and be a little bit more efficient offensively, although Lonzo got incredibly efficient by the end of his tenure here with the Bulls, like I I think that that could be viewed as an upgrade. Now, that’s yet to be seen, but he’s still a very young player. There’s still a ton of opportunity for you. And I mean like if you’re talking about somebody who gives you everything that Lonzo gave you but also can give give you that for 76 69 67 games a season. You just had to say the 69 69. Yes. Okay. That’s what you want to get from a player. Here’s the thing. Uh I I don’t know if you got the chance to see the video that the Bulls dropped the interview with Isaac Akuru today in which he talked about that he wants to lock up the team the opposing team’s best player for the Bulls next year. And if he can do that, great. Um I think when you look at Aoru, he is he’s going to be one of those point of attack defenders that we need. We only got a few of them on the team. One of them in Patrick Williams that was a former point of attack defender has completely fallen off the cliff defensively over the last couple of years. So you you need that and I I think that he does fit in with how the Bulls like to play, what the Bulls are going to need him for. And you one of the first things you touched on is the biggest thing I’m watching for Auroru next season because I think Isaac can guard. That’s not a problem there. I’m looking at how can you keep the three-point percentage the same with slightly higher value, right? Maybe an extra three and uh one and a half threes, two threes per game next season. If you can do that and keep the percentage the same, like you said, like not you’re you’re Patrick Williams replacement at that point in time. You’re bringing us exactly what we wanted for PE. Listen, let let’s not get it twisted. His three-point shots are about to probably double at least. I think he’s averaged over his time. I think there’s one season with the with the uh Cleveland Cavaliers where he’s averaged three uh uh three-pointers a game. Isaac Curl is going to be the a five to six three-pointers per game type of guy because what he’s going to become for this team is you’re on the wing when Giddy is cutting down to the basket. You’re going to be standing out there. What what literally what we were asking P will to be just knock down these wide open shots that everyone keeps giving you. And if he can do that on a consistent basis, there’s a job for him. Listen, Kevin Herder was kind of that player uh at points throughout last season and the second half of that season, but it wasn’t consistent enough. You need somebody who can give you that consistency. I think that Isaac Curl can be that guy. I think what that does for Kobe White is it allows him to kind of move around the court a little bit more and be more off the ball, but still be able to get involved there because he doesn’t have to be the guy now taking up that spot in the corner. I think kind of with where Noah Essenay and Modis Buzzelis are with their three-point shots, right? You don’t have to rely on Vouch andor one of your other bigs being that guy. There’s a lot that a curl can take advantage of here. And it’s just about does he really fulfill the opportunity that they’re going to give him. I think that he’s going from being a guy who kind of was viewed as an end of bench nice piece. Yeah. Yeah. We got better players for you. Cuz Donovan Mitchell is not giving you those threes. Donovan Mitchell’s taking those threes. I think he goes from being that dude at the end of the bench to basically being the guy that’s like, “Yo, you legitimately are the three and D wing we need. You got to go out there and be efficient.” Let’s hope so. He’s going to definitely have the opportunity here. That’s for That’s for damn sure. Um, one last quote here that that I want to get into in regards to this. Uh, Modest Boozel. You know, we like to talk about Modest. Uh, he says, uh, he’s going to be really, really good. He wants he wants it so damn bad. The kid pushes himself so hard and you see that on the floor, too. But it’s the quiet moments when you see him work. He’s wildly intense about getting better and improving that just solidifies what we’ve already seen about Misella so much, man. Yeah. Listen, y’all know how I feel about Modest. I think there’s going to be a big uptick in in um the the Bulls giving him the opportunity this year. Um whether the production comes, I think that that would be great to see and I’d be very excited. I I there’s so many people around the league that look at Modis’ game and go this kid’s got it. It just got to click for him. Mhm. Like, and it’s not I think the biggest difference is right like where we look at P Will and me and you can say he’s got everything. He ain’t got the brain for it. For us, it was like Modis has is way too smart and and knows this game way too well and wants to be good way too much. He almost needs to slow himself down a little bit so that the game can come to him easy. Cuz Mus is like, I’m going to drive into four people and dunk on all of y’all. It’s like, all right, Mis, hold on. You don’t need to do that. Let Giddy set you up for this wide open dunk underneath the bucket. Take this easy three over here, right? You don’t need to take the contested shot. Like Mis when when people say, you know, that the Modis has that drive to go out there and and be one of the best. Like he’s done nothing this off seasonason work. And it took I think people looked at that first game were like, “Ah, here we go in summer league.” After that, Modus was basically filleting Mugs on the court. They was just like, “Go sit down. We know you can play.” All right. Well, you’re done. You’re done. We’ll see. We’ll see. I I Modis is the the the type of player that, and you know, we said it multiple times. I don’t know what else to say about Modest. Like, he’s the type of player you feel comfortable betting on him maximizing on whatever potential is there, whatever that’s going to be, because he’s going to work. He’s going to put in the work. He’s going to he’s going to want to to be great, and he’s going to take everything as a personal challenge. like everything. Every time somebody beats him defensively, he’s going to take that as a challenge and he’s not going to want to let that happen again. You need players like that, right? Like we’ve talked about Pwell and his passive nature. Um that it it that it it it has hurt him because PE will just taking it taking everything in stride. Benching, okay, cool. I’ll just come off the bench. Modest isn’t going to do that. Modest is going to take everything as a as a a a motivating factor to be better and take it to the next step. A lot of times we say you got to roll with the punches. Modest is like, “Nah, I’mma just take that punch to the face.” And while I’m trying to punch you back, he will gonna roll with the punches. Ah, I got bitched. Oh, I’m down. All right, bet. I’m on the bench now. Ah, y’all y’all taking some minutes away. That’s cool. I got 19 mil. I’m down. Like, he’s just going through whatever he got to go through to get to this next level. Modest is like, “Hey, man. You hit me in the face. Try that again. I’mma punch you three times. and then I’mma try and punch you some more. Like it’s it’s relentless with him. And I think that’s the that’s the mindset and the mentality that I’ve talked about a couple times. You have to have with the young dudes that’s coming up in this NBA. If you don’t, how you going to compete against Anthony Edwards? How you going to compete against J? How are you going to compete against Shay? How are you going to compete? Like these mugs are different. This ain’t the friendship league no more. LeBron’s on his way out. Maybe. I don’t know. He might play till at least 50 at this point. Yeah. Well, we’ll see. We’ll see. But hey, we got to talk about doubling down on the play style here.

The Chicago Bulls made a move for Isaac Okoro — but is he truly an upgrade over Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams? In this episode, we break down Okoro’s defensive upside, shooting development, and potential fit next to Coby White and Zach LaVine. We also compare how he stacks up against the injured Lonzo Ball and the inconsistent Patrick Williams.

Is this the two-way wing the Bulls have been missing, or just another role player?

👉 Let us know in the comments: Would you rather roll with Okoro, Lonzo, or Pat Will?

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