Bulls hoping addition of Isaac Okoro will change defensive mindset

Some news is bigger than a hot Pilates class.

Some.

That’s the situation Isaac Okoro found himself in late June, finishing up a hot Pilates class but noticing a call from his agency, Excel Basketball.

Decisions had to be made, and hot Pilates would have to wait.

“I came out the class and I had a call from my agent, so at that point I knew I was getting traded,” Okoro recalled on Tuesday, when discussing how his change of ZIP code went down. “I had a good class and a good opportunity to come here to Chicago, so it was a great day for me.”

Maybe even better for the Bulls.

Yes, Okoro needed a change of scenery after the top-seeded Cavaliers flamed out in the second round of the playoffs last May, and the Bulls needed a culture change on the defensive side of the floor.

Too little resistance, too many blow-by instances, too damn soft.

Lonzo Ball was beloved as a two-way player, but was far too often unavailable, so the deal was made. The hope now is that Okoro can do what Alex Caruso did when he was a Bull — put the defensive side of the ball on his shoulders and play savior.

“I take a lot of responsibility in bringing a lot of physicality to this team,” Okoro said, not shying away from it. “My first five years in the league that’s typically what I did for Cleveland. Pride myself on the defensive side and being physical, just guarding the team’s best player and trying to cause havoc on that end.”

A job description that is already playing out.

The Bulls have been running open gyms for weeks now and started official camp scrimmages on Tuesday. What’s already stood out? Okoro throwing his body in front of screens, players, and anything else headed in his general direction.

“He definitely is going to help us in that area — physicality,” Bulls guard Coby White said. “Also, him coming from a Cleveland organization that’s built up to where it is now, I think his perspective can really help us a lot and using his voice can really help us a lot.

“Obviously, from playing against him, he’s very physical, he’s a menace defensively. From seeing him playing pickup these last two or three weeks, he’s taken like two or three charges. Last year, we were in the bottom half of taking charges, so that’s another aspect he can help us in. I’m excited to share the court with him. He’s a really talented player and highly valued.”

Not that Okoro needed to hear that from a teammate, but it definitely didn’t hurt.

While he would love to expand his offense in the up-tempo Bulls run-and-gun, Okoro knows exactly why he was acquired.

“It’s definitely contagious,” Okoro said of his defensive mindset. “If you see one of your teammates dive on the ground and go for a loose ball, they’re playing hard, you don’t want to be the guy that is out there looking like he’s not playing hard, so it’s kind of a contagious thing. Like if I see Matas (Buzelis) take a charge, I want to be the next guy to take a charge. Coby, Ayo (Dosunmu), wanting to be the next guy to take a charge. Little things like that are very contagious.”

Whatever it is, Buzelis has already caught it.

“Isaac Okoro has been really speaking about the physicality, battling through the screens, fighting, and I think it kind of helps all the other guys,” Buzelis said. “They see that and they want to do it too. So he’s been a great leader on that.”

The question now is will he be a starter.

Coach Billy Donovan is well aware of the starting unit of Buzelis, White, Josh Giddey, Nikola Vucevic and Kevin Huerter went 7-1 down the stretch and had a lot of success playing off one another. He also knows what Okoro is about and the defensive lulls the team had.

Look no further than the play-in game against Miami, when the Heat came out and punched the home team in the face over and over again in the physicality department.

That’s why Donovan will be watching everything the next few weeks.

“We’re going to have to use our whole roster and last year was probably the first year that we rotated 10,” Donovan said. “I think I would be open and being around these guys they’re pretty much open to doing what’s best. Maybe it’s starting Kevin, maybe it’s starting Isaac, I’m not sure yet. Certainly, defensively with Isaac being out there, just on his body of work you would say, ‘OK, there’s that guy that anywhere probably one through four he can guard those kind of guys, right?’ But there’s evidence out there that Kevin was pretty good too. I think it’s going to be probably something we’re going to have to look at.”

All fine by Okoro. In his world he will do what Donovan asks him to do. He doesn’t know any other way.

“At the end of the day, you look at every team in the NBA there are guys on winning teams that have to sacrifice,” Okoro said. “Everyone in this league wants to score 20, they probably can score 20. They’re coming from being the best player on their high school team, college team, but people have to make sacrifices. In Cleveland I played my role of guarding the best player on the other team, being the hustle guy, and I don’t mind that. At the end of the day I want to win, so if that’s sacrificing that’s the role that I will play.”

Plus, there’s a more pressing issue for Okoro these days.

“I’ve been trying to find a good hot pilates class since I got here in Chicago,” Okoro said. “So I’m still looking for that.”