I addressed it up top. Irving frequently guards the slowest opposing wing. So likely that is why he is ranked so high. Irving's defense is really bad, between him & Dame Llilard I don't know who is worse.
Well, in term of your concerns that would become more apparent as you drill down into the numbers. Number of Defensive plays participated in this season Jeremy Lin - 197 Kyrie Irving - 102 Mike Conley - 155 Russell Westbrook - 183 Kemba Walker - 194 As I wasn't doing an in depth analytical breakdown of the numbers themselves, that Kyrie Irving is involved in half the number of defensive plays as more active defenders like Lin, Conley, Westbrook or Walker tends to point towards Irving's plays having a significantly smaller sample size. This could be explained by any number of factors including laziness on closeouts, completely missing rotations, opposing teams attacking a weaker defender more often through forced switching, or even him being assigned to defend players who are not substantial offensive threats. For example, if a player is at the high post and a 3 point shooter lines up, if you don't even TRY to close out on a rotation, that normally wouldn't show up in the ranking (PPP allowed) as there's no way for the trackers to actually know that was his defensive assignment vs camping at the post to clog the paint. So yes, context counts and can eventually be teased out over time with sufficient sample size and match up specific data. As I said, small sample size... :grin:
This is called data based decision making, and the only way for a factual, intelligent, and tangible discussion anywhere.
Irving's defense is already better than last season just like Lin has improved his defense this season. Remember Kyrie Irving is only 20 years old. Imagine in 3 years how good he will be. Scary. Former All-Star Vin Baker on Huffenton post: "I think Kyrie is going to be the best point guard in the league". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...valiers_n_2018574.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular By the way, have you seen Irving (with Kevin Love) on Uncle Drew Episode 2? He is smoooooth as hell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZUd9KYn_Rs
I'd say his upside is pretty big since this guy can't shoot long jumper at all but still manage to put decent numbers.
he gets guys involved, which you want in a pg. if he isnt scoring he needs to find other ways to impact the game (def, reb, ast) like rondo and kidd
This here is the truth haha, he is probably the worst 3pt shooter of any starting point guard right now. Imagine when he starts hitting open shots.
As oppose to this? <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Damian Lillard has 20 points, but this could be his first NBA game having not dished out at least one assist. Two minutes left in the game.</p>— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/285250129320103936" data-datetime="2012-12-30T05:05:05+00:00">December 30, 2012</a></blockquote>
