CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – From the moment Ochai Agbaji walked in the door, he knew something was different.
“I just felt that home feeling coach J.B. (Bickerstaff) and Koby (Altman) and Mike (Gansey), you know, they gave you that home feeling, you know, the first second I walked in here,” Agbaji said.
Make no mistake, Bickerstaff has established a culture within his team. He’s preached about its features ad nauseum: defense, rebounding, chemistry and accountability.
The media has written about it. His players have clearly bought in. It’s a kind of old-school, scrappy approach to the game that is turning heads.
But this is perhaps the first time that someone from the outside has recognized it, too.
“Being successful on any team is, you know, the chemistry.
It kind of does sound cliche, but the chemistry really, really does pay off and on the court,” Agbaji said. “Hearing about the Cavaliers and their organization, their team now and how close they are, it just makes me be more excited to meet the team and meet everybody.”
Agbaji hasn’t had a chance to mingle with his new teammates yet and has only exchanged pleasantries over the phone with Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro. But the opportunity for the 14th overall pick in the NBA Draft to the brains of Garland, Okoro, Sexton as well as the likes of Kevin Love, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is one he’s looking forward to.
“We did a lot of due diligence when we look at a lot of different players, (things like) character work ethic and guys that really want to be in Cleveland were a big part of our process, “Altman said. “We know we're bringing tremendous character and work ethic and winners to the table, including a national champion as well.”
The Big 12 Player of the Year has endured a whirlwind couple of months after cutting down the nets in New Orleans back in April. He received a warm welcome from a horde of fans at Burke Lakefront Airport upon touchdown in Cleveland.
“Waking up this morning a Cavalier, getting on a plane and getting here and being welcomed by all those fans really, really set in for me, you know, that I am here, that I am in the league and playing for the Cavaliers.” Agbaji said. “Winning a National Championship and then getting drafted the first round is a dream come true for anybody.”
It’s no secret that Bickerstaff and his coaches place a premium on defense, but Agbaji fills out a scoring void for the Wine and Gold. Shot makers are a premium in the NBA, and the Cavaliers desperately could have used a weapon who can create their own offense.
Agbaji shot over 47-percent from the field including above 40-percent from 3-point range. He averaged 18.8 points per game during the Jayhawks title run.
“He has the ability to put the ball in the basket. And it's not the ability to just stand in the spot and make a shot,” Bickerstaff said. “We watched him play, it was his ability to move and catch and shoot all the screens off of handoffs where he knew how to make himself difficult to guard.”
Agbaji changed his mindset heading into his senior season at Kansas and committed to taking his work ethic to a different level. But if there are any rumors about him being a finished product, he isn’t listening.
“Not everything is going to be perfect,” Agbaji said. “You're going to have off days, but your off days, you know, you want them to be better than some other people's off days in a way.”
Bickerstaff won’t commit to where Agbaji might play on the floor. Whether that’s at the 2 or 3, he opted to “not put boxes” on guys and or positional numbers. For Bickerstaff, it’s about finding groups of guys who display chemistry about it. That evaluation starts in summer league practices next week.
“Figuring out how we put the best five-man groups on the floor is the only thing that matters to us,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve played small before, and we've played big. We played Jumbo. Whatever it may be, it doesn't matter to us. We're going to try to put the best five-man lineups on the floor.”
Regardless of what that lineup might look like, Agbaji has a vision of his own.
“I'm really excited for the first dunk at home and for the fans to go crazy,” Agbaji said.
His coach? Old school, of course.
“I'm old would just take the two points,” said Bickerstaff.