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“Every time you step on a court, you should be blessed that you’re actually in this position, so you can’t coach effort. “(If) you coaching effort then…” Isaac Okoro pauses, chuckling in disbelief. “Then you’re just not in a good place. You have to have that competitiveness.” Energy is the bare minimum for a young team. Baby-faced rosters must learn plenty: how to communicate, how to synchronize, how to carry themselves, how to win. This part is expected. “You should be playing harder,” Okoro said. “The old guys are the ones that don’t play hard. I’ve played on teams with older people; those are the ones that kinda relax. … If you’re young, you should be hungry.”
K.C. Johnson: Isaac Okoro didn’t practice but may play Weds in Milwaukee. Tobe Awaka banged his knee vs. Memphis and, after not playing in Denver, also didn’t practice. Zach Collins and Nic Claxton remain out, all per Tiago Splitter. Collins is progressing. Claxton will be “out awhile”
Joel Lorenzi: Tiago Splitter said Isaac Okoro is “probably our best perimeter defender, so he’s definitely gonna play a lot of minutes for us. “He’s gonna help us win basketball games.” Called him relentless, strong, bulky. Sounds like Okoro is still their best at navigating screens.
Isaac Okoro – It’s easy to forget what Okoro brought to the Bulls last season, usually assigned the task of trying to slow down the opposing team’s best scorer. Now he will get a chance to do that for the second unit, becoming a leading trade candidate because of his expiring contract.
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The NBA season could end this week in a way that it hasn’t in 53 years – with the New York Knicks as league champions. The Knicks won the first two games in the best-of-seven title series against the San Antonio Spurs, with Game 3 on Monday night. Former Auburn standout Isaac Okoro’s NBA season ended two months ago, and he expects this offseason to be much like the last few: He’ll be tuning out speculation about where he’ll be traded. “I think I’ll just control what I can control,” said Okoro, who was traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Chicago Bulls last offseason. “I’ll go into the offseason and try to figure out how I can be a better player for next season. It’s the NBA, it’s the business, and I can be traded again somewhere. I love being here, and I love the culture we’re trying to build, so I just have to try and control what I can control. “But I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve only been traded one time. But in Cleveland, come every offseason, I felt like I could have been traded.”
Lonzo Ball never looked right after the Bulls traded him to Cleveland for Isaac Okoro last offseason, leaving the Cavs no choice but to finally move off of him with a trade to Utah in February. The Jazz promptly waived him as he now sits at home hoping to get another chance in the NBA. “I loved him as a player and a guy, and he was so cerebral,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of Ball on Thursday, reflecting on the frequently-injured point guard. “He was so selfless, that’s really one of the things I admired. To see him have to go through what he went through, to fight to get back, see what he’s going through now, that’s tough for me because it’s almost like what could have been, how good could he have been?” The big what if with Ball after a serious knee injury back in 2022 cost him over two-and-a-half seasons. Even when he returned, he only showed glimpses of the player he was before the knee betrayed him.
K.C. Johnson: Isaac Okoro out again, per injury report. Collin Sexton questionable vs. Grizzlies.
Joel Lorenzi: Isaac Okoro (knee soreness) is OUT. Lingering effects from banging knees in Denver.
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Joel Lorenzi: The core players Karnisovas listed: Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, Isaac Okoro, Noa Essengue, Jalen Smith. Says “we’re intentional about surrounding these core pieces with players who have real NBA experience, along with upcoming draft picks.”
According to league sources, the Lakers have been linked to virtually every defensive wing on the market, including Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga, the Clippers’ Derrick Jones Jr. and Chicago’s Isaac Okoro. Kuminga and Jones are currently injured, though. Okoro and Jones also carry contracts that would cut into cap space next summer, while Kuminga’s contract includes a team option for next year.
KC Johnson: Bulls 125, Heat 118 Shorthanded Bulls snap 3-game skid Monster game from Dosunmu and solid minutes from many, including Yuki Kawamura Dosunmu 29 pts, 9 assists, 8 rebs Okoro 20 pts
Joel Lorenzi: Bulls end their skid with a 129-126 win in Charlotte, their first since Nov. 21. Massive overturned call there to decide the game. Okoro with 15 in his return, Collins with 16 & 8 as he comes close to returning to form.
