Kyrie Irving is an above-average athelete with elite ball-handling, shooting, and finishing skills with a below-average comprehension of basic team basketball and individual defensive tactics. That said, I am excited to see where KI can go given that many of his flaws at this point are both completely predictable due to his youth, and quite fixable.
First, I don't want to gloss over his positives because they are many, but the most important is his ability to get anywhere on the floor he wants on offense. With his elite ball-handling skills, use of the hesitation dribble, and his ability to cut on a dime, no one defender can keep KI from getting to a given point on the court. I liken this ability to Steve Nash who, though less athletic, wiggled his way into the heart of the defense throughout his career as well as any other pg I can remember. The importance of this skill is that the defense is meant to keep you from getting to certain points on the floor and when you go there anyway you draw extra defenders who worry about you being there. When extra defenders come to guard you, the people they leave will be open. Thus far, KI has used this ability to get to his sweet shooting spots, or to finish at the rim. I believe that KI will make a monumental leap to possible MVP candidate if and when he understands that while getting 25 and 6 is good getting 17 and 13 is unstoppable, and begins to use his ability to get where he wants to draw defenders and pass to the awesome talent around him.
Second, KI takes shots early in the shotclock without passing which he should probably not be taking until late in the shotclock if the offensive play has broken down. There is absolutely no problem with KI calling an ISO for himself, but all things being equal, the vast majority of such calls should come off of some sort of action so that people at least touch the ball. This allows players to maintain a feel for the game and the ball (especially important for dynamic players like Kevin love), and allows his superior rebounding frontline to get in position. Just dribbling up top can and will get him space for a reasonably high percentage shot, but it freezes people out, chooses a decent shot without trying for a great shot, and kills our rebounding position. I look for KI to change his approach so that if he wants an ISO he will call it for himself 9/10 times where he will give the ball up and get it back to get all the benefits that I discussed above, while also allowing for an element of surprise when he does break down his man immediately which will really put pressure on a defense who is not expecting that play.
Third, and the last offensive comment, is that KI has and should continue to look to push on every opportunity. The fact is that our open court play should be the best in the league. Lebron is very easily the best open court player in the league in terms of passing or finishing; KI is elite at finishing on the break and has shown a burst of explosive speed this pre-season that I hadn't seen much in prior years (especially in the few end-to-end runs against CHI). When you combine that with his elite ball-handling skills to get around anyone who tries to stop the ball early on the break, and you have a formula for success in the open court. Additionally, Dion should be an above-average open court player with his upper body strength and ball-handling capability, and while he has had his difficulty finishing he is a great third option on the break. Finally, having Kevin Love to trail on the secondary break and TT and AV diving on secondary breaks we really have to look at running at every opportunity. I think KI has been told this and I think he will be downright deadly if he doesn't get lazy in this aspect of the game.
So, on offense, first look to fast break and secondary break, then look to possible pin downs with Kevin Love or one of the other bigs if there is a mouse in the house after the break, and then initiate the offense looking to get a great shot, and only playing hero ball off of action when the shot clock is winding down.
Briefly on KI's defense, the bad news is that he has a few terrible flaws, but the good news is that they are easily fixable. KI's man to man defense on the ball is severly hampered by poor foot work. Instead of sliding left and right, you often see him turn his hips to run with a guy who then crosses him over and has him all the way turned around. Perhaps it is easier said than done, but simply sliding your feet rather than turning and running will correct a lot of his man to man defense on the ball. It doesn't matter that he is not an elite defender, but if he can simply play pedestrian defense, his offense will make him a huge net-gain on the court.
Second, his off-the ball defense suffers from his tendency to lose his man off the ball from paying too much attention to the ball, and attempting bad double teams (sometimes guarding no one). When KI's man gives up the ball and runs around the Court to a corner or wing, KI will often stop at the key and linger for a half-count too long before his man gets the ball back and he is caught having to close out late which is a recipe for disaster. Now, there are times where you as the weakside wing defender have to sink down because a big is giving help on the strong side, but KI does it when there is no need. Simply keeping one eye on his man, and staying closer to him unless called by assignment to do otherwise will cut out a lot of this problem (BTW Dion does this a lot as well).
Lastly, KI has and should continue to improve his play in defending the passing lanes and forcing turnovers in other settings. With Lebron James on the floor you will often get wing defenders who run into trouble on a drive or on the wing or corner which will cause them to make a difficult pass out to a safety valve. If KI can recognize this and play the passing lanes he should get a few steals up top which can lead quickly to fastbreak opporutnities and sure points with this team. As well, look for KI to develop a little bit of Michael Jordan sneak steals in the post. I think that teams probably are aware that running KI through some picks and other action will often get him to sag off which probably causes them to do that more often. When teams are doing this through a low post player, and running KI's guy around the post player, KI should run past, and then come back and swipe down hard at the ball. Obviously, you have to do this sparingly, but it can be effective and should further increase his effectiveness in steals.
I know it was a long one, but I think these are definite areas where I see ready-made improvement just waiting for KI to take advantage. IF he really wants to join the elite level of players in this league and possibly be in the conversation for MVP someday, he has to correct some of the easily correctable holes in his game, and when he does... Look out!