Kyrie Irving

[The Human Q-Tip]

kyrie's scoring is great but it freezes out his teammates when he goes hero ball for a quarter. would love to see more point-guard play from him at this point of his career because we all know he can score. hubie observed several missed opportunities for kyrie to pass the ball to his teammates; one with the waiters back door play and a kevin love cut in a semi-break situation.

It's like Kyrie has two different playing modes that he switches between. He almost never starts off a game in "hero ball" mode. It's like he starts off thinking "I'm the PG, so I'm going to distribute and see how that goes". And if it works, great. But if he sees that it is not working, and the team is behind, then he thinks "okay, I better start scoring or we're going to lose." So rather than flowing between distributing and scoring depending upon what the defense is doing on a given possession, it's like he's made up his mind at the beginning of the possession whether this is one where he's going to score, or this is one where he's going to distribute.

It's good in the sense that he's not trying to be selfish, and is doing what he thinks is best for the team at a given moment. Usually, "hero ball" comes when we're in an offensive lull otherwise, so it's not so bad. But the downside is that it makes it difficult for his teammates, and means that he misses opportunities when he's in that "hero ball" mode.

Fortunately, I think it's a flaw that happens because of good intentions, and he needs to learn how to go distribution or hero ball based on what is happening within each possession, not based on what happened 30 seconds ago, or what the scoreboard says. He should get better at that with more experience, because I think he really is trying to do the right thing.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Why would the Cavs be screwed? Part of the advantage of having LeBron on your team is that you don't need a traditional point guard, as LeBron is basically your point guard at that point. He's a better facilitator and passer than Kyrie too. Kyrie is the exact guy you want at the point with LeBron with his shooting talent and ability to beat anyone off the dribble, as the defense is going to focus on LeBron more than Kyrie. If we have LeBron on the team and someone else is scoring more than him, I'd call that a good thing

Kyrie is a good scorer, but he's not a more efficient scorer than LeBron. The team is better off with LeBron leading the way on the offensive end since he has the greater impact.

I know some of y'all want to see LeBron take a step backward on the offensive end, but in comparison to Love and Kyrie, he's the only one who has shot 50% and above from the field in a season. Any head coach would want a guy who shot 57% from the field last season to take more shots than a guy shot 43% from the field.

LeBron will get everyone involved, he's more of a pass first player than Kyrie is and ever will be, but that doesn't mean he has to defer a lot and sacrifices his own offense when he's clearly the more impactful and efficient scorer.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=truehoop&id=70886&src=desktop&rand=ref~{"ref"%3A"https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F"%7D

 

[Kizzle]

Why would the Cavs be screwed? Part of the advantage of having LeBron on your team is that you don't need a traditional point guard, as LeBron is basically your point guard at that point. He's a better facilitator and passer than Kyrie too. Kyrie is the exact guy you want at the point with LeBron with his shooting talent and ability to beat anyone off the dribble, as the defense is going to focus on LeBron more than Kyrie. If we have LeBron on the team and someone else is scoring more than him, I'd call that a good thing

Lol at that sig

Laker fans were so unbearable the last couple years

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Why would the Cavs be screwed? Part of the advantage of having LeBron on your team is that you don't need a traditional point guard, as LeBron is basically your point guard at that point. He's a better facilitator and passer than Kyrie too. Kyrie is the exact guy you want at the point with LeBron with his shooting talent and ability to beat anyone off the dribble, as the defense is going to focus on LeBron more than Kyrie. If we have LeBron on the team and someone else is scoring more than him, I'd call that a good thing

It would only be a good thing if that someone else is shooting 50% or more from the field like Wade did in his last four years that he played with LeBron. If that someone else is shooting like AI and Westbrook from the field, then he has no business taking the most shots and leading the team in scoring.

 

[Simon]

If he will lead us in PPG, sorry but we are screwed. He needs share ball more all I want from him and some defence

Kyrie in his career so far is averaging around 6 assists per game. He does share the ball. And oh, defense*.

Kyrie will improve on defense this year. He should it during Team USA.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Kyrie in his career so far is averaging around 6 assists per game. He does share the ball. And oh, defense*.

Kyrie will improve on defense this year. He should it during Team USA.

6 assist per game for an elite starting PG isn't all that impressive. Wade's career assist is 6 and he has averaged 7.5 assists in two seasons before. MJ once averaged 8 assist in a season. Those guys aren't even PG's.

Kyrie is a good playmaker, but he's not an elite one and he doesn't deliver the ball on time. He just lack the intangible to know where his teammates are on the court the way CP3, Rondo do and even a prime Deron Williams used to. He just lacks timing and general court awareness.

 

[BimboColesHair]

6 assist per game for an elite starting PG isn't all that impressive. Wade's career assist is 6 and he has averaged 7.5 assists in two seasons before. MJ once averaged 8 assist in a season. Those guys aren't even PG's.

Kyrie is a good playmaker, but he's not an elite one and he doesn't deliver the ball on time. He just lack the intangible to know where his teammates are on the court the way CP3, Rondo do and even a prime Deron Williams used to. He just lacks timing and general court awareness.

6 assists per game with the trash Kyrie has been playing with and for ever since he has been in the league is very impressive. But then again, you wouldn't know that, would you?

 

[Simon]

6 assists per game with the trash Kyrie has been playing with and for ever since he has been in the league is very impressive. But then again, you wouldn't know that, would you?

This. Kyrie's assists will go up this year. Kyrie hasn't had the talent around him like he will this year.

 

[Garland1]

I get that Kyrie is going to try to score because that's his game, but when he brings the ball down the court and doesn't attempt one pass is when I get annoyed. He should always make at least one pass to run the offense. If the ball come back to him within the offense then I would have no problem with him trying to take his man off the dribble. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

6 assists per game with the trash Kyrie has been playing with and for ever since he has been in the league is very impressive. But then again, you wouldn't know that, would you?

LeBron and Wade have played with trash before and they still averaged more assist per game than Kyrie. Trashy teammates or not, most elite PG's usually average more than 6 assist per game in their third year.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

I get that Kyrie is going to try to score because that's his game, but when he brings the ball down the court and doesn't attempt one pass is when I get annoyed. He should always make at least one pass to run the offense. If the ball come back to him within the offense then I would have no problem with him trying to take his man off the dribble. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while.

That's exactly what i am trying to say. Dion and Kyrie are always in a bit of a rush to score the ball. It's like they're always playing in hero-ball mode and by the time they try to pass the ball to an open teammate, the oppossing team recovers on the defensive end and forces the open teammate to take a desperate out of rhythm shot.

They're just inconsistent at delivering the ball on time. It's the reason that I'd hope to see LeBron and Love have the ball on their hands more because they have great timing and will deliver the ball to an open teammate on time and in rhythm. They don't have the same mindset of wanting to score on every possession like Kyrie and Dion seem to.

 

[shoes22]

I get that Kyrie is going to try to score because that's his game, but when he brings the ball down the court and doesn't attempt one pass is when I get annoyed. He should always make at least one pass to run the offense. If the ball come back to him within the offense then I would have no problem with him trying to take his man off the dribble. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while.

I actually don't mind it, as long as he gets a good look. I'm far more forgiving when Kyrie does this than when Dion does it. And the reason why I'm okay with it is if he's bringing the ball down the court in transition, it really wears out the opposing defense to run back and forth sooner than if a pass was made.

 

[Tornicade]

I dont know how many times the Kyrie assist average is based on lousy teammates myth has been debunked but it has been debunked on multiple occasions but facilitating has been something that Irving has worked on and while he may be better this season aat it. I am not sure his assist will go up that much as Lebron will also be acting as a facillitator on the court as well. Kyrie will be however the primary option every time he brings the ball down then the offense will kick in if nothing is open.

I think what we will see is less forcing the ball and Kyrie staying engaged in the play after his initial pass.

so I made a Chart and did a ranking of the 22 facilitators with 6 or more assist per game.
Assist
1.Chris Paul Assist 10.7 FGA 14 Assist% 48.8
2.Rajon Rondo Assist 9.8 FGA 11.7 Assist% 47.7
3. John Wall Assist 8.8 FGA 16.3 Assist % 40.5
4. Ty Lawson Assist 8.8 FGA 13 Assist% 38.2
5. Kendall Marshall Assist 8.8 FGA 7.8 Assist % 44.3

Outside of John Wall none of these guys take more than 15 shots a game. and all of them outside TY Lawson are accounting for over 40% of their teams field goals as assist.

Is Kendall Marshall and Ty lawson Elite because they are effective Facilitators?

Not at this point.

Irving is considered elite because of his scoring.

Scoring wise Irving is set up to just blow away the point guard position in offensive efficiencies. now on the other end
FGA of players with 6 or more assist per game. Ill go with True Shot
1. Stephen Curry FGA 17.7 TS% 61
2. Lebron James FGA 17.6 TS% 64.9
3. Kyrie Irving FGA 17.4 TS% 53.3
4. Russell Westbrook FGA 17.2 TS% 54.5
5. James Harden. FGA 16.5 TS% 61.8
6. John Wall FGA 16.3 TS% 52.4

James harden and Lebron James dont play point. so looking at the actual point guards

Wall broke out last year. not sure he can make anything but modest improvements going forward. However Kyrie had a down year and is now surrounded by all star caliber talent.

I look for Irving to post near Curry levels offensively. even if his FGA per game came down and that will make him truly elite even if you think Kendall Marshall and rajon rondo are better point guards because they have higher assist totals.

 

[JSS2306]

My worry with Irving continues to be his lack of basketball IQ. LeBron keeps saying Kyrie is going to lead the offense yet time and time again during the Memphis game Kyrie was pounding the ball, missing Andy on cuts, ignoring wide-open Love, and all around not running any type of offensive system that involved the rest of the team.

I will say that he made almost every shot he put up but when playoff time comes around he's going to need to understand the offense because teams will plan for him. He's still extremely young and there's lots of time to shore up some of these issues but he looks a lot like he did these last few years in terms of playing within an offense.

By that I mean he's not very good at it, yet.