Kyrie Irving

[OptimusPrime]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

I have criticized Kyrie plenty this year, but I'm not going to put the last 2 losses solely on him. He hasn't played well, but I don't know what you expect from him. He isn't LeBron James. If you are counting on him to be the sole distributor and get high percentage shots for guys that suck like Tristan Thompson, then this is what you are going to get. I'm actually encouraged that he hasn't reverted back to his earlier form where he would fire up 25 shots a night. He is playing the same way he will need to play when our injured guys get back. He is even giving effort on defense most of the time. I have few complaints about Kyrie right now. I just wonder what he is thinking when he sees our best players on the bench while he is out there expected to carry Jarrett Jack and Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller to competency on offense. Give him Waiters, Deng, Bennett, and Hawes on the floor with him and this team would look totally different. Or even Varejao if he is ever able to play again.

 

[Kizzle]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

Kyrie is a star but not a superstar and I really don't think we should stand pat. if we can get a better player sell the farm to do it. Kyrie too often sulks along with the team and his lack of emotion is not his fault but a team superstar has to be able to light up his home arena with a highlight play. How about when our old superstar did this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyd4NPvzKQg

if you remember this game we came out extremely flat and with no effort. Then #23 went off and lit the team ablaze with swagger, emotion, and talent.

Iv never seen Kyrie singlehandedly light the team on fire like this. SUPERSTARS do this.

Stars don't. That's why imo theres only about 3 or 4 true superstars in this league. Melo, Durant, Lebron, and Kobe

 

[Rich]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

I have criticized Kyrie plenty this year, but I'm not going to put the last 2 losses solely on him. He hasn't played well, but I don't know what you expect from him. He isn't LeBron James. If you are counting on him to be the sole distributor and get high percentage shots for guys that suck like Tristan Thompson, then this is what you are going to get. I'm actually encouraged that he hasn't reverted back to his earlier form where he would fire up 25 shots a night. He is playing the same way he will need to play when our injured guys get back. He is even giving effort on defense most of the time. I have few complaints about Kyrie right now. I just wonder what he is thinking when he sees our best players on the bench while he is out there expected to carry Jarrett Jack and Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller to competency on offense. Give him Waiters, Deng, Bennett, and Hawes on the floor with him and this team would look totally different. Or even Varejao if he is ever able to play again.

I love you man, but I gotta disagree with everything here.

1) Hawes and Deng have playing a ton, too much, probably. So I'm not sure how it is you can say Kyrie thinks hes playing with the worst players, when these two dudes have shared a ton of court time with him, and they're two of the guys you think should be playing.

2) Why the sudden hate of Zeller? I think it's criminal we're reducing Zellers minutes so drastically to play Spencer Hawes so many minutes.

3) Ok, I've laid off of Bennett, but I gotta step in here. He's not good at basketball, currently. To say that if he would play more this team would be better, what game are you watching? He can't shoot. He's a below average defender, and he's one of the worst ball handlers on the team. I see the raw potential, but that's all it is, raw. Playing him a ton of minutes does nothing to help this team win right now. It hurts them.

4) Which, tbh, I'm fine with at this point, but that isn't your argument. I'd rather see Bennett get more minutes (at the expense of nearly all of Hawes' minutes) and Karasev eat away at the minutes of Deng, Jack, and Gee (mostly Jack and all of Gee's) but I understand that probably doesn't actually make us better right now.

 

[OptimusPrime]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

I love you man, but I gotta disagree with everything here.

1) Hawes and Deng have playing a ton, too much, probably. So I'm not sure how it is you can say Kyrie thinks hes playing with the worst players, when these two dudes have shared a ton of court time with him, and they're two of the guys you think should be playing.

2) Why the sudden hate of Zeller? I think it's criminal we're reducing Zellers minutes so drastically to play Spencer Hawes so many minutes.

3) Ok, I've laid off of Bennett, but I gotta step in here. He's not good at basketball, currently. To say that if he would play more this team would be better, what game are you watching? He can't shoot. He's a below average defender, and he's one of the worst ball handlers on the team. I see the raw potential, but that's all it is, raw. Playing him a ton of minutes does nothing to help this team win right now. It hurts them.

4) Which, tbh, I'm fine with at this point, but that isn't your argument. I'd rather see Bennett get more minutes (at the expense of nearly all of Hawes' minutes) and Karasev eat away at the minutes of Deng, Jack, and Gee (mostly Jack and all of Gee's) but I understand that probably doesn't actually make us better right now.

1. Hawes has played fine, and would be even better if there were other threats on the floor and he was the one the defense left alone. Deng has struggled, but again, he is being asked to do the things he is not good at, like iso and get his own shot. This would change with more playmaking on the floor with him. Deng has looked like shit, but I blame Mike Brown and his idiotic lineups for that more than anything.

2. I don't hate Zeller. He's just not a guy you want to rely on to get you offense. He can make some jumpers and does a nice job running the floor, but in crunch time you have to have more than that. Against even decent teams you aren't going to be running the floor a lot late in the games.

3. The last month he has been a better player than Thompson. About as a good a rebounder, not much worse defensively, much better shooter, doesn't clog the lane. This month per 36 he is averaging 15.4 points and 10.6 boards on 47% from the floor. And his offense doesn't come at the expense of others who can't get in the lane and have to fire up jumpers. He makes mistakes, but he is capable of many things that Tristan is not.

 

[6kiss]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

He's trying (and admittedly failing) to learn a new position these last few weeks with Jack starting at point guard. Just let him run the offense again and he'll be fine...

Then whats his excuse for his horrible play before these last few weeks? The guy has been an ugly basketball player aside from that one 10 game stretch all year.

 

[Futuredome]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

Kyrie is feeling the pressure lately. He was having a good game until Jack and co started collapsing the 2nd half and the pressure caused him to play recklessly imo. He needs Dion back to take the pressure off and calm down.

Basically a 21 year old kid.

 

[staycoolbruh]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

“Everybody wants to know who is the best young point guard and who’s the best guy in the Eastern Conference. We both do things great for our team. He’s probably a better offensive guy, skill-wise, and can basically take over games with his skills. I’m more of a point guard that likes to get his teammates involved and am blessed with the talents and abilities to get hot and able to score the ball. Guys look at every time we play as a marquee matchup, so everybody is going to be tuned in for the next couple of years.”

John Wall on him and Kyrie

source

 

[Dylan Windler's Mom]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kyrie Irving 21 years old, 3 years in the league.

Carmelo Anthony 29 years, old 11 years in the league. <a href="http://t.co/ew6HTbz4ms">pic.twitter.com/ew6HTbz4ms</a></p>— Cleveland Talk™ (@_clevelandtalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/_clevelandtalk/statuses/437447879322374145">February 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Smh More Carmelo disrespect on this site

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10514819/cleveland-cavaliers-lose-kyrie-irving

Could the Cavaliers lose Kyrie Irving?
Windhorts's new piece on espn

edit- It's nothing too special. We'll offer him the max, if he doesn't sign by October 1st he'll get traded, comparisons to lebron all over the place, etc

 

[Nathan S]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

Then whats his excuse for his horrible play before these last few weeks? The guy has been an ugly basketball player aside from that one 10 game stretch all year.

Since his 0-fer game in Atlanta (now two and a half months ago), Kyrie is averaging 21.4 points per 36 on 46/38/87 splits with 7.4 assists and 2.5 turnovers when playing point guard. Those numbers aren't ideal, but they're not horrible either for a 21 year old. With Jack playing point, Kyrie's averaging 23 points per 36 on 42/43/93 splits with 5.2 assists and 2.3 turnovers. Again not perfect, but pretty damn good.

More importantly though, the team has played opponents even over that span with Kyrie at PG, but has been outscored by 8 points per 48 minutes when he's joined by Jack in the backcourt. Therefore, if we're trying to win games and make the playoffs, it really doesn't make sense to play Kyrie and Jack together for 30+ minutes a night. If rotations were run correctly I think this team is capable of making the playoffs, but Mike Brown seems happy with the current setup for some perverse reason so we're probably headed for the 9th or 10th seed instead.

 

[Toph]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10514819/cleveland-cavaliers-lose-kyrie-irving

Could the Cavaliers lose Kyrie Irving?
Windhorts's new piece on espn

edit- It's nothing too special. We'll offer him the max, if he doesn't sign by October 1st he'll get traded, comparisons to lebron all over the place, etc

Emphasis on the not too special. I would expect better from Windy. Didn't really provide much insight at all and just stated the obvious. Tired of hearing about this. Kyrie would be stupid not to extend this summer.

 

[MRMsix6]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10514819/cleveland-cavaliers-lose-kyrie-irving

Could the Cavaliers lose Kyrie Irving?
Windhorts's new piece on espn

edit- It's nothing too special. We'll offer him the max, if he doesn't sign by October 1st he'll get traded, comparisons to lebron all over the place, etc

Now on the front page of ESPN.

Gotta rev up those Irving-is-leaving engines!


FWIW I think he definitely goes for the shorter deal/player options and ultimately gets traded within 3 years, barring a miraculous ascension of the Cavs to contender status. That's life in a crappy market where the front office and ownership just isn't good enough or lucky enough.

 

[shoes22]

Come on Windhorst...I really hope that article was an order from editorial.

 

[Rich]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

Now on the front page of ESPN.

Gotta rev up those Irving-is-leaving engines!


FWIW I think he definitely goes for the shorter deal/player options and ultimately gets traded within 3 years, barring a miraculous ascension of the Cavs to contender status. That's life in a crappy market where the front office and ownership just isn't good enough or lucky enough.

Cavs shouldnt give that. He either takes full length max or nothing.

 

[*L-Train*]

Re: Kyrie Irving: 2014 All Star Game MVP

Cavs shouldnt give that. He either takes full length max or nothing.

well he's gone then, why would you take the full length max (without any player options) if you were him? look at the team as it's currently constructed...