pr26
All-Star
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2008
- Messages
- 3,903
- Reaction score
- 8,627
- Points
- 113
Well, this article is specifically about the team's defense, so focusing on Irving's defense seems completely fair.
As has been pointed out by others, the issue seems to be less his ability to be an adequate defender than his willingness to work at it. From the article:
“I’m probably a C right now,” Irving said. “Maybe I do need to climb on board.”
"Maybe"? I don't think there's really any maybe about it. Now, nobody is saying they want to get rid of Irving, or denying his talent on the offensive end. But there isn't anything wrong with holding off on his beatification until he shows a willingness to work defensively. As great as LBJ was offensively, even he got regularly criticized early in his career for a lack of defensive intensity. I'm not sure why pointing out Irving's lack of effort on the defensive end should be off limits. Or is it just worry that his feelings are going to be hurt or something?
My response wasn't to the article at all. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. The article was very fair and I agree completely. My post was in regard to some in this thread and other game threads where people are truly overreacting over kyries defensive play. He's not a good defender yet, or even an adequate defender yet. I don't expect him to be. He's a 20 year old guard who is eight games into his 2nd year, one of the top 5 scorers in the league up to this point. I'm not going to be "dissapointed" when his defense looks like it's not there yet. Kyries play has set some unrealistic expectations on this board on what to expect from a sophomore pg.