Kyrie Irving

[Bballguy4]

Clutch situations is clutch situations...fact that the Cavs lost a bunch of games by double digits the last few years is totally irrelevant to Kyrie's performance in the clutch.

It's not irrelevant, it basically means Kyrie wasn't good enough to overwhelm the other team or make his teammates better. That's the biggest difference in LBJ's approach and Kyries. Kyrie only goes for himself whereas lebron can score and/or dominate with passing.

 

[gourimoko]

Clutch situations is clutch situations...fact that the Cavs lost a bunch of games by double digits the last few years is totally irrelevant to Kyrie's performance in the clutch.

This.

Those clutch stats posted upthread show Kyrie to be a great 4th quarter scorer.

Blaming him entirely for the team loss is a joke, especially during seasons where the team was outright tanking for a pick.

 

[Bballguy4]

Wrong. Dead wrong. Kyrie is amazing, but he cannot carry a team. LeBron can. That difference separates the two players by a FAR margin.

Some people are acting like this didn't happen when LBJ was resting..

View: https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/554485514158362624

Cleveland (19-17), however, has scored 89.6 per game on 39.3 percent shooting while losing six of seven with James sitting the past six due to knee and back injuries.

They were 4th in off eff prior to that

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cavaliers-warriors-preview-045149711--nba.html

 

[Jon]

This.

Those clutch stats posted upthread show Kyrie to be a great 4th quarter scorer.

Blaming him entirely for the team loss is a joke, especially during seasons where the team was outright tanking for a pick.

The bottom line is always winning.

Kyrie's groups outscored their opponents 28 times last season, and were outscored 43 times for a Win% of 39.4.

During "clutch time" it was 13-20 for the exact same Win% of 39.4.

The team's winning % on the season was 40.2!!!

Why should anyone care how many points he can score if it doesn't actually lead to more wins for his team?

 

[metalman213]

And yet, I've never said that Kyrie Irving was a rich man's Boobie Gibson. Some inferred that from what I did say, and I corrected them. But you were there, right? Surely you remember that too? right?



I don't need to "convince the world". I was correct. Kyrie was not a top-5 PG in the league, 3-weeks in to his rookie season or whatever it was. rofl

The exact post can be found here http://realcavsfans.com/community/index.php?posts/1260930/

Not that it matters considering what you posted back in 2012 is irrelevant today.

Moving on...

ESPN's NBA Forecast just ranked the top 30 point guards in the league (very different from the rankings they released which were put together by a combination of league personnel).

Kyrie came in at 9th (behind Tony Parker…really?)

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...point-guards-no-1-chris-paul-no-30-dante-exum

Honestly, just further confirms that these ESPN rankings are an absolute joke.

 

[MalTalm]

Some people are acting like this didn't happen when LBJ was resting..

View: https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/554485514158362624

They were 4th in off eff prior to that

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cavaliers-warriors-preview-045149711--nba.html

There was so much more going on at that time than just LeBron sitting, and it's unfair to act like Kyrie and Love deserve the entire onus of the poor performance for that stretch.

We had 0 other options at SF at the time... LeBron out meant we were giving significant minutes to Marion and Mike Miller... Joe Harris was seeing a sizable amount of burn, and Dion Waiters was doing his best impersonation of Dion Waiters...

Dysfunction was palpable, players were in a funk, and Blatt was highly ineffective in corralling the personalities involved. We had holes all over the roster, and yes, the best player in the league taking a quick breather to refresh himself.

If you want to argue the importance of James, by all means go for it, I wouldn't argue. But if you want to use the 6 game losing streak and the lack of a Cavs identity halfway through the season as an indictment on Kyrie, you're being absurd. He shouldn't be the fall guy for an entire roster's dysfunction.

 

[Frank Stallone]

Kyrie at #9...

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Kyrie, clutch god and team leader.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

ESPN's NBA Forecast just ranked the top 30 point guards in the league (very different from the rankings they released which were put together by a combination of league personnel).

Kyrie came in at 9th (behind Tony Parker…really?)

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...point-guards-no-1-chris-paul-no-30-dante-exum

1

Chris Paul - Clippers
Overall: 9.09
Leadership: 9.29
Defense: 8.42
Playmaking: 9.61
Scoring: 8.77
2

Stephen Curry - Warriors
Overall: 8.66
Leadership: 8.61
Defense: 6.48
Playmaking: 9.03
Scoring: 9.97
3

Russell Westbrook - Thunder
Overall: 8.48
Leadership: 7.84
Defense: 7.45
Playmaking: 8.52
Scoring: 9.87
4

John Wall - Wizards
Overall: 8.18
Leadership: 7.9
Defense: 7.58
Playmaking: 8.87
Scoring: 8.1
5

Mike Conley - Grizzlies
Overall: 7.76
Leadership: 8.35
Defense: 7.71
Playmaking: 7.65
Scoring: 7.35
6

Damian Lillard - Trail Blazers
Overall: 7.74
Leadership: 8.1
Defense: 5.61
Playmaking: 7.55
Scoring: 9.29
7

Kyle Lowry - Raptors
Overall: 7.63
Leadership: 7.94
Defense: 7.39
Playmaking: 7.39
Scoring: 7.81
8

Tony Parker - Spurs
Overall: 7.31
Leadership: 8.52
Defense: 5.06
Playmaking: 7.61
Scoring: 7.52
9

Kyrie Irving - Cavaliers
Overall: 7.17
Leadership: 6.16
Defense: 4.71
Playmaking: 7.84
Scoring: 9.26
10

Jeff Teague - Hawks
Overall: 7.16
Leadership: 7.06
Defense: 6.68
Playmaking: 7.19
Scoring: 7.58

@warriorsz32 You do realize I didn't make these rankings, right? I disagree with them too.

No reason Kyrie shouldn't be at least Top 6 in my opinion. Arguably fourth best.

 

[Art Of War]

These pretzels are making me thirsty.

 

[Chris]

I think Kyrie should be around #4 or #5...I'd put Paul, Curry, and Westbrook ahead of him for sure, and Wall is debatable. Lowry and Parker? I feel like the latter is above him just based on his career.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Some people are acting like this didn't happen when LBJ was resting..

The majority of that was also with a pretty crappy roster of players outside Kyrie and Love(pre-trades), and both of those guys themselves were banged up as well(Kyrie missed that Philly game, Love had some back soreness) (plus Andys injury killed us at the time).


That stretch without LBJ was not a fair measurement of the team outside of LBJ. A lot of bad things were going on besides LBJ being hurt.

 

[Simmy]

They can put Kyrie at whatever number they please. There's barely a single other point guard I'd want to replace him with. And when he turns it on in the Playoffs and puts up game-changing performances and numbers many have doubted he ever could in such 'high-intensity' in-game moments, we'll be the ones sitting with a smirk on our face and a twiddle in our thumbs.

 

[Jscc]

The only point guards i'd confidently take over Kyrie from that list is Chris Paul and Stephen Curry. And that's because they are polished products.

Once Kyrie polishes, I wouldn't take any of them over him.

 

[Snarly]

These pretzels are making me thirsty.

Thus is the fate of any message board.