Godfather, as
@jking948 points out, his argument is that Kyrie Irving is not elite because of his RPM.
What he doesn't do, for one second, is analyze the calculation to see why Irving's RPM is not in the top-tier.
He doesn't do this because he's fucking lazy or doesn't care, or as
@The Wizard of Moz said, it's simply confirmation bias.
Honestly. I am not even sure he really believes he's not elite. ESPN is infamous for just being controversial. With viewership down, and the fact they had to cut a lot of employees recently.
I expect a lot more click-bait articles like this to come crawling out of the woodshed.
Of course, obviously he has to back it with some facts, no matter how skewed they are.
But the only fact that matters, is if Kyrie's lack of defense is such a negative to his team, then how are we defending champs?
Kyrie's RPM is lower than the elite guards. Conclusion, he's not elite. Is it lazy? Yes.. Is it done on purpose? I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
As long as people are talking about this, and choosing to subscribe, then he wins.
Regardless how lousy the actual article is.
This is the same network that employed Skip Balyess, on the sole fact he was great at trolling, not actually knowing a damn thing about sports. But he got viewership.
I don't think ESPN has ever cared about being correct or intellectual. That's why half their experts are journalists, and not former players. That right there tells what they are.