Kyrie Irving

[trap]

when anthony davis has been interviewed it sounds like kyrie and him are close, he respects kyre..they're clearly the two best young players on the team. we know all to well when players get together on USAB they can talk about the future. 3-4 years from now if the pelicans dont get it together, kyrie has a few rings, lebron is in the tim duncan role, love is still in his prime.... i saw these pics from nba today...im happy about this little bromance

nothing happens as we're well over the cap & I don't see AD turning down his first big contract.

 

[Adam]

nothing happens as we're well over the cap & I don't see AD turning down his first big contract.

Agreed the young crop going through the new CBA wont jump ship, if they are worth the max offer they will accept it, to move would cost them dearly. Those pelicans will be interesting this year, they might put it all together, but the west is such a meat grinder

 

[Cavsengland]

Agreed the young crop going through the new CBA wont jump ship, if they are worth the max offer they will accept it, to move would cost them dearly. Those pelicans will be interesting this year, they might put it all together, but the west is such a meat grinder

Defensivley they could be great with ad, holiday and asik. They got a good coach too. I'm not sure about small forward and scoring guard. Though.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Anthony Davis #FutureCav

Go tweet all your Laker friends.

 

[aaronr]

Amin Elhassan has some interesting analysis on Kyrie on ESPN today--


Revisiting my Kyrie prediction
Can Cavs' point guard become NBA's best at the position by 2015?

Two years ago, I wrote that Kyrie Irving would be the NBA's best point guard by 2015. I felt the combination of his incredible skill level and exceptional poise set him apart, particularly at his age, and this opinion was shared by other scouts around the league.
While we still have a season to go before that prediction can ultimately be confirmed or disproved, the past two years have not exactly followed the upward trajectory we expected of Irving back in 2012. What went right and what went wrong? Here's a look at whether Irving can complete his ascension to prominence.

What went right
My scouting report on Irving wasn't that far off. Some excerpts from the piece written in 2012:
"His timing is impeccable, and he delivers one-handed pocket bounce passes with the ease and accuracy of a wily veteran. Not only does he make all the right reads out of the pick-and-roll, but he also knows how to create new opportunities after initial action has stagnated."
Irving does not disappoint as a passer; he's able to squeeze passes through tight spaces and make less-than-obvious reads that make it difficult for defenses to play the passing lanes. Despite the large amount of time spent with the ball in his hand and the high assist rates he posts, Irving remarkably does not turn the ball over often. In fact, he had the second-lowest turnover percentage of any player with an assist percentage greater than 30 percent, behind only Mike Conley and just ahead of Chris Paul.
"Irving excels going either direction, using either hand and going off either foot...He is an excellent perimeter shooter, shooting at above 40 percent from 3-point land in his NBA career. His in-between game has improved tremendously, and he actually attempts a fair amount of left-handed runners and
floaters, which will one day make him that much harder to guard. He finishes at the rim through contact, but is also extremely aware of baseline cutters."
Again, he's continued to show the ability to operate ambidextrously, which keeps defenders off-balance. Although his 3-point shooting percentage took a
dip last year, he's still a deadly shooter, particularly against opponents who choose to go under on pick-and-rolls. The in-between game is still a work in
progress, but he continues to show improvement.



What went "wrong"
It's no secret that Irving's biggest downside thus far has been his lack of fervor on the defensive end:
"Irving will often 'conserve' energy on the defensive end. He is overly reliant on help defense when guarding the ball, often taking a liberal interpretation of 'send him to the help' with an open stance that not only allows but encourages blow-bys."
Two years later, he's not just conserving energy on defense, he's practically a spokesperson for Greenpeace! His effort, attention to detail and execution all leave a lot to be desired, and opponents often will try to scheme him into iso situations on an island to take advantage of his liabilities as a defender.
Also, and as expected, the revolving door of inferior talent in Cleveland has had a negative effect on Irving's development.
"... his scoring ability [and the lack of other viable offensive options on the Cavs] force him to look for his shot more aggressively, which can manifest itself in sub-par shot selection."
If anything, Irving has devolved in this category; despite continuing to post stellar assist rates, he is a conservative passer -- not in pass types, but in attempts. The lack of trust in his teammates can sometimes be painful, and it also manifests itself in questionable shot selection. Irving's medium-range jumpers (particularly from long 2-point range) have taken an increasing share of his shot totals, and they often come under the duress of defensive pressure.
Some of the blame can be placed at the feet of an unimaginative offense that relied too heavily on Irving creating out of pick-and-roll with subpar spacing options and little to no movement on the weakside, but again, the expectation is for an elite player to be able to remain disciplined through that kind of adversity.

Rest of article available at:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/stor...nba?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_elhassanKyriebestPG

 

[aaronr]

I too had very high hopes for KI, and I think much of your explanation for his failure to live up to expectation can be tied to poor coaching and not-so-great teammates. But what I've seen in him that bothers me most, and can't be blamed on his environment, is the absence of any leadership qualities. My hope is that going forward, when nobody expects him to lead the team, he'll blossom in the way you anticipated. He'll never be THE best point guard in the league because of his unwillingness to defend--it's just not in his DNA--but he can become one of the best freed of any leadership responsibilities.

 

[catfish]

He doesnt move his feet

 

[stick]

I don't know. In today's NBA, the point guard is one of the most, if not the most, difficult positions to defend as well as the deepest. From Westbrook, Curry, Paul, Lillard to Lowry, Walker, Conley, even Teague, these guys can light on any given night against any given opponent. Individual man-to-man defense helps in slowing them down, but I believe help defense is a more important factor in slowing down 1s.

Also, Irving is showing more of an effort to defend in the FIBA tune-up games, hopefully we see that translate into the NBA season.

 

[stowfan]

nothing happens as we're well over the cap & I don't see AD turning down his first big contract.

Maybe seven years from now, when AD will be an UFA.

 

[CavsHomer]

I don't know. In today's NBA, the point guard is one of the most, if not the most, difficult positions to defend as well as the deepest. From Westbrook, Curry, Paul, Lillard to Lowry, Walker, Conley, even Teague, these guys can light on any given night against any given opponent. Individual man-to-man defense helps in slowing them down, but I believe help defense is a more important factor in slowing down 1s.

Also, Irving is showing more of an effort to defend in the FIBA tune-up games, hopefully we see that translate into the NBA season.

No love for Parker?

 

[stick]

There's defiantly love for Parker! There's so many.... Probably at least 2/3rds of the league has a solid starting 1 guard that is capable offensively of knocking down a J or breaking his man off the dribble swooping to the hoop for buckets or dishes.

 

[Pioneer10]

I don't know. In today's NBA, the point guard is one of the most, if not the most, difficult positions to defend as well as the deepest. From Westbrook, Curry, Paul, Lillard to Lowry, Walker, Conley, even Teague, these guys can light on any given night against any given opponent. Individual man-to-man defense helps in slowing them down, but I believe help defense is a more important factor in slowing down 1s.

Also, Irving is showing more of an effort to defend in the FIBA tune-up games, hopefully we see that translate into the NBA season.

The more numerous the offensive threat at a particular position would mean the value of defense at that position actually increases. Even if help defense is more important then individual man to man defense in dealing with a particular position (which I don't necessarily agree with***) the fact that so many teams rely on their PG for creating offense means that this creates a premium both ways. A player who defends that position will disproportionately help his team while vice versa a bad defender will hurt.

Think of it this way: there simply aren't that many great SG's in the league so having a guy who defends SG poorly but great on offense would have been a net positive across the board unless you happen to run into just a few teamswho creates a ton of offense (i.e. Harden is a great example of this: he sucks on defense but they're just not a lot of SG's who can match him scoring wise). Versus with all the PG's a bad defender can lose his value on offense against 2/3rds of the league (this happened with Kyrie last year)

***a big part of help defense is that the point guard even if he gets picked makes life a lot easier on his help defense by fighting thru screens to allow his help defense recover for example.

 

[Kizzle]

I like the way Irving is playing as well. He's already making the type of adjustments that he'll need to make playing alongside LeBron and Love. He's controlling the offense well and he's not forcing shots. I think he now knows what he'll have to do and the type of sacrifices that he'll have to make more so than LeBron and Love will in order to run an efficient and well-balanced offense. I know Kyrie has a lot of fans on here who'd want to see him dominate on the offensive end next year, but the Cavs won't need him to be that guy anymore and his impact didn't translated to team success. His FGA will obviously take a big dip, but if he plays his role like he's doing on Team USA, then his efficiency and assists will increase.

Yep I like how you said hes already making the adjustments. This Team USA stint will allow Kyrie a very smooth transition to playing with Lebron and Love, and the rest of the squad also

 

[dark2332]

nothing happens as we're well over the cap & I don't see AD turning down his first big contract.

Yeah... But if he makes it clear he wants out, it'd be tough to beat a 28 year old extended Love and picks...

 

[wremy]

already talking about trading Love ..lol

Yeah... But if he makes it clear he wants out, it'd be tough to beat a 28 year old extended Love and picks...