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Kyrie Irving

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Jack Brickman said:
Honestly, I'm over those rankings. They ranked Waiters fifty spots behind Beal. That alone tells me those people are clueless.
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Oh you betcha I had an angry tweet about that :chuckle:

ESPN has proved time and time again that they put little to no effort towards knowing more than the average fan knows about the Cavs over the past four years.

Delly is going to go from someone who ESPN views as a "bafoon who probably won't make the team" (yes that's a real quote), to someone who they know as a tenacious defender and adds a spark off the bench. I'm sure they'll hop on his bandwagon this year.
 
Pioneer10 said:
For a guy with such agility and offensive skills, he's defensive fundamentals are just awful at times. Sure Derrick Rose has great end to end speed but don't help him out by not aggressively trying to get back and standing too upright in your defensive stance. Uggh: I'm hoping we're not set for a replay of last year where Kyrie would play great on offense only for the opposing PG to basically match him or more going the other. There are too many good PG's in this league and we have don't have a rim protector to erase mistakes
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To be fair, mvp form Derrick rose makes everyone not named lebron look silly. Last night may not even be derrick's final form

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Pioneer10 said:
For a guy with such agility and offensive skills, he's defensive fundamentals are just awful at times. Sure Derrick Rose has great end to end speed but don't help him out by not aggressively trying to get back and standing too upright in your defensive stance. Uggh: I'm hoping we're not set for a replay of last year where Kyrie would play great on offense only for the opposing PG to basically match him or more going the other. There are too many good PG's in this league and we have don't have a rim protector to erase mistakes
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Concur, which is surprising because he is so fundamentally sound and complete offensively. The question is, is that a flaw that can be coached up? I'm not so sure.

Lebron was a terrible man defender at one point and he improved so it is possible I guess (he was always pretty good off-ball though; and he has physical gifts Kyrie will never have...so ehh maybe not fair comparison).
 
Toph said:
What does everyone think about Kyrie being ranked 23 in the ESPN rankings? He was too high last year and too low this year. I would put him somewhere in the middle.
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It's close enough. If you went on what we saw last year was he the 23rd best player in the league? Probably not.
 
Rumors of Kyrie's emerging defense have been overblown in my opinion. He has been playing the passing lanes well and is getting plenty of steals, but his feet seem like bricks on one side of the floor. He isn't sliding his feet correctly at all and is really prone to reaching. His ability to stay in front of his man is lackluster at best. Part of the problem is that he likes to let his guy go by and make a swipe at the ball.

He is better than before, but he still has an issue with any old screen being a brick wall for him.
 
Cavatt said:
Rumors of Kyrie's emerging defense have been overblown in my opinion. He has been playing the passing lanes well and is getting plenty of steals, but his feet seem like bricks on one side of the floor. He isn't sliding his feet correctly at all and is really prone to reaching. His ability to stay in front of his man is lackluster at best. Part of the problem is that he likes to let his guy go by and make a swipe at the ball.

He is better than before, but he still has an issue with any old screen being a brick wall for him.
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Kyrie's defense has been much better and acceptable, I'd say it's average for the point guard spot. Not many lock-down defenders at the PG spot in this league. I'm pleased with Kyrie's defense and the effort he's giving on that side of the ball.
 
warriorsz32 said:
Kyrie's defense has been much better and acceptable, I'd say it's average for the point guard spot. Not many lock-down defenders at the PG spot in this league. I'm pleased with Kyrie's defense and the effort he's giving on that side of the ball.
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By my eyes theres not even many above average defenders at PG. Rondo, Beverly, Paul, Rose, Westbrook, probably missed more but hey. There's not a lot from what I see.

Guys are just too good and fast nowadays
 
Not buying Kyrie's "greatly improved defense". He is trying harder, but he is not fundamentally sound. The guy who looks much better on D is Kevin Love. He is better than I thought he would be. He is putting in effort and is doing work early to establish position. Kyrie is reaching for steals.
 
He's trying and he'll get better at it. It takes more than effort to be an above average defender and if he's patient enough and consistent at analyzing plays on the court, then he'll get better. He'll become an above average defender in due time.

He needs to work on his reaction timing a bit better. Overall, he'll need to be more of versatile PG this year, especially in the playoffs where he'll have do a better job at guarding other elite PG's.
 
He's still a bit of a "shoot first, pass second" PG. It will take some time for him to make adjustments and accepting the role of a second or third option and being more of a play-maker than he ever was before.
 
Cavatt said:
Rumors of Kyrie's emerging defense have been overblown in my opinion. He has been playing the passing lanes well and is getting plenty of steals, but his feet seem like bricks on one side of the floor. He isn't sliding his feet correctly at all and is really prone to reaching. His ability to stay in front of his man is lackluster at best. Part of the problem is that he likes to let his guy go by and make a swipe at the ball.

He is better than before, but he still has an issue with any old screen being a brick wall for him.
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Maybe I'm too easily pleased, but his increase in defensive effort/intensity jumps out to me. But I do agree with a lot of your specific criticisms. I'm just hoping that the clear increase in defensive effort/intensity will eventually lead to better defensive fundamentals.
 
I never expect Kyrie to even be an average defender at this point but we have a roster that can possibly cover for him. Waiters (assuming he continues to improve on that end, specifically his off the ball defense)and LBJ can both cover the other teams better perimeter players in the post-season and allow Blatt to hide Kyrie on weaker players. No need to do this in the regular season and wear LBJ down though.
 
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