Kyrie Irving

[Meticode]

Great article by Akron Beacon Journal reporter Jason Lloyd...

In two weeks, Kyrie Irving will walk onto a stage of glowing lights and billowing smoke when the NBA’s All-Star game blends into a rock concert. Fans will cheer him, the league’s superstars will embrace him and Irving will realize his childhood dream when he is introduced as a starter for the Eastern Conference.
Irving is a terrific young player. He’s a magician with the ball — or a pen — in his hands. His creation of the “Uncle Drew” character has clearly increased his popularity on top of being one of the best young guards in the NBA. But the looming question hanging over this game, this franchise, is simple: Who will Kyrie Irving be when he returns from New Orleans?

Something changed within Irving last season, and it coincided with his return from All-Star weekend. It was evident to anyone around the team, particularly former coach Byron Scott, who told me in the days before he was fired, “I haven’t changed, but he has.”

Irving spoke all summer about growing up, about becoming more of a leader and committing to defense under Mike Brown. It sounded good, it has even looked good at times, but the Cavs are still floundering in the East and Irving is still getting beat by too many mediocre point guards in the NBA.
At some point, winning has to matter more than All-Star games, 3-point shootouts and even USA Basketball. At some point, if Irving wants to be considered the best in the league, he has to win.
He has the opportunity to sign a max contract this summer, and the Cavs will certainly offer it. I wonder, however, has he actually earned it?

He spoke at the end of last season how important it was to take the leap in Year 3 like so many before him, guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, who along with their teams exploded in their third season in the NBA.

Irving has not. He’s scoring less than last season and shooting worse. His assists are up marginally and his turnovers are down slightly, but this hasn’t been the significant leap he spoke of nine months ago.
Before he was added to the East team as an injury replacement last season, there was much debate over whether the Cavs’ losing record would hurt his chances. There has been no such debate if Irving is worthy this season despite the Cavs’ 16-27 record.

He is 80-193 with the Cavs, and certainly that isn’t all his fault. The Cavs didn’t give him much help the last couple of years. That was supposed to change this season, only it hasn’t. If he is truly the leader, then Irving has to own some of that.

Instead he doesn’t have to because 860,221 people voted for him. That’s about 56,000 more votes than Chris Paul received for this All-Star game, which is astonishing since Paul plays in Los Angeles and is widely (and rightfully) regarded as the NBA’s best point guard. That’s where Irving is trying to get, but he won’t as long as journeymen like D.J. Augustin and the like continue tormenting him. And starting in the All-Star game only re-enforces the misconception Irving is blameless in all of this.

Augustin is shooting 53 percent and averaging 22.2 points and 9 assists in five starts against Irving. He’s averaging 9.5 points, 4 assists and shooting 40 percent for his career. After he did it to Irving again last Wednesday with 27 points in the Chicago Bulls’ victory over the Cavs, I asked him why Augustin gives him so many problems.

“Problems?” Irving responded, as if disagreeing with the assessment. So I reminded him that Augustin had 27 Wednesday after scoring 18 in the previous meeting. Irving blamed the defense.
“Most of the time when he was coming off the pick-and-roll, he was wide open,” Irving said. “He was playing so free out there. We were trying to make adjustments and most of the time he was wide open.”
That doesn't account for all the times Augustin simply beat Irving off the dribble, but he’s not alone.
Just within the last three weeks, here are the point guards that have really hurt the Cavs: Denver’s Ty Lawson had 19 points and 11 assists (averages 18 ppg, 8.9 apg), Portland’s Damian Lillard had 28 points and 5 assists (averages 21.2 ppg, 5.8 apg), the Lakers’ Kendall Marshall had 10 points and 16 assists (averages 10.1 ppg, 9.1 apg), Sacramento’s Isaiah Thomas had 26 points and 6 assists (averages 19.5 ppg, 6.3 apg), Utah rookie Trey Burke had 17 points and 6 assists (averages 13.5 ppg, 5.6 apg) and Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams had 33 points and 5 assists (17.5 ppg, 6.7 apg).

Of that list, the only player who is supposed to be in Irving’s class is Lillard, yet all of them are reaching or exceeding their averages fairly easily against the Cavs. All-Stars don’t allow the D.J. Augustins of the NBA to beat them so soundly, nor do they allow their teams to lose by 44 to the Sacramento Kings.
Irving has to take ownership of all this. When he truly does, inferior guards will stop having big nights against him.

Part of the problem was Irving being anointed the Big Man on Campus immediately upon arriving. He hasn’t been held accountable much the last couple years. That has festered into what we’ve seen this year, which is too much dribbling, at times a lousy attitude and a 21-year-old who has shown his immaturity.
Two opposing general managers this season have told me they think Irving is pouting. Over what is anyone’s guess. Jarrett Jack hasn’t been the locker room enforcer he was supposed to be. Luol Deng should help, but he just arrived and may not be here past April.

That has left Mike Brown trying to keep everyone in his “circle” despite what has been a disappointing season.
“You can X and O to death and all that, but when times get tough, are we going to stick together and fight together? Or are we going to do what is easy to do?” Brown asked. “Everybody has people in their ear. When they leave this building, they’re saying: ‘It’s not your fault, it’s the coaches fault’ or ‘It’s the system’ or ‘It’s that player’ or ‘they don’t have good enough players.’ And that’s where the fractions can happen or the splitting can happen.”

If Irving truly wants to lead, if he truly wants to evolve into the best player in the game, as he said at the start of the season, then it’s his job to police the locker room. Instead, he’s talking about his “brand.”
When he was asked again last week about bypassing the chance to play for Australia in the Olympics a couple of years ago to preserve his chance to play for Team USA in 2016, Irving said “It was a big decision, not only for myself but for my family and my brand. That’s what it boiled down to.”
You know what will really help Irving’s brand?
Winning.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/cavs/jaso...ce=twitterfeed

[Milbuck]

Surprised I read all of that, but I'm glad I did.

This needs to be talked about more. I never want to wish bad things upon people, but Kyrie needs to be torn apart by the media. That's just how it is with potentially great players who underachieve. Even more so for players who underachieve because of their ego and mentality. Not everyone is as self motivated as MJ, Kobe, Lebron, KD, Wade, etc. Some players need to face the fire to become great.

[Meticode]

Surprised I read all of that, but I'm glad I did.

This needs to be talked about more. I never want to wish bad things upon people, but Kyrie needs to be torn apart by the media. That's just how it is with potentially great players who underachieve. Even more so for players who underachieve because of their ego and mentality. Not everyone is as self motivated as MJ, Kobe, Lebron, KD, Wade, etc. Some players need to face the fire to become great.

Partly it's the media's fault. They put him on the pedestal He was expected to take that next step and frankly it feel's like he's stuck. Not regressed, but just not improving. The front office redid the bench, signed key players, Irving got in the best shape of his life during the off-season and he's simply struggled with his decision making on the court. He takes unwarranted shots a lot of times. Being a leader isn't always about taking a shot, it's about making the right decision because no one else wants that responsibility.

Too many damn times towards the end of games he handles the ball too much.

He's been a disappointment thus far with me. So has Waiters. I feel Waiters has improved slightly more so than Irving this year, but even then it's not what I was expecting.

[El Gato Negro]

interesting read, ive also heard that kyrie likes to party a little to much. But the kid did just turn 21 this year so its not a shocker. hopefully he will mature sooner than later.

[RedBlackAttack]

Hard to argue with Lloyd's perspective here. In retrospect, I think expectations were a little out of hand for Kyrie coming into this season and it has helped contribute to the backlash he's getting in hardcore basketball circles.

He still has plenty to learn, on and off the court. Supremely talented, yes. But not close to reaching his full potential.

[ImKobe]

Irving is a poor man's Iverson. Only 2 inches taller.

Their style of play is very similar, only that Irving isn't nearly as athletic.

[PleezeBelieve]

Kyrie thinks he's in a bubble where losing will be blamed on the team and never him due to the market he's in. This article, and many more like them, should have been written two months ago.

The national media font care about Cleveland, but they do care about the slightest chance of luring their best player away. So Kyrie still won't truly be held accountable no matter how many loses pile up.

[Lebron23]

I agree.

[GOBB]

Good article.

[The JKidd Kid]

Whoever is his marketing guy deserves an award for turning a chucking combo guard that plays losing basketball into a household name.

[Nick Young]

Idiot Cavs fans and journalists are going to drive Kyrie out of town, and then those same fans and journalists will be butthurt and crying for years about Kyrie not re-signing in Cleveland

It's written in the stars.

[BoutPractice]

"My brand". Ugh. Those are truly ugly words coming from an athlete's mouth. I thought Irving was supposed to be the old school one.

[moe94]

"My brand". Ugh. Those are truly ugly words coming from an athlete's mouth. I thought Irving was supposed to be the old school one.

He's an idiot for thinking about money and his image in terms of marketing. Making more money is always a bad thing.

[DukeDelonte13]

i just want more leadership by example from him.

[DukeDelonte13]

He's an idiot for thinking about money and his image in terms of marketing. Making more money is always a bad thing.

nobody is calling him an idiot; you just wanna see your best players primarily focused on improving their game rather than worrying about PR bullsh*t.