I can confirm that nobody thought he was going to play like he does. I remember people talking about how the draft that year was weak and Kyrie would only ever be a solid player. People were surprised with the way he played both his rookie season and this season.
BTW, he did it while wearing this bad ass mask. <a href=http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p88/alancamacho/?action=view¤t=kyrie-irving-mask.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p88/alancamacho/kyrie-irving-mask.jpg border=0 alt=></a>
Really? We must have different circles because IIRC Irving had a NBA 2k-level freshman year before his injury, so questions about him were: 1) is he injury prone 2) is he a flash in the pan because he only played half a season I don't think I've ever read a post saying Irving's ceiling was low, like I said with his play in college he reminded people a lot of CP3., and with his size (6'3) and shooting ability it's not like he wasn't cut out for the NBA. Most sites at the time were just wondering if he could keep his production up because of his small sample size.
Cavs are killing their chances of retaining kyrie in my opinion. Two horrible drafts in a row which ruin the chances to build a contending core for the future. You pick Thompson when players like jonas v were availiable. They pick waiters this year when drummons was available. Even barnes would be a better fit. Waiters and Thompson were reaches and will be role players which isnt a bad thing but as the 4th pick it is. Those players were projected to be later picks so the cavs couldve just traded down and got more assets. Besides the raptors, twolves and magic, the cavs have one of the worst front offices in the league
Thompson sucks, but Waiters is talented enough to be a #3 option on a contender and they're young enough, inexperienced enough and the rest of thema re scrubby enough to get another high lottery pick.
PG youth! I'm so excited for the future. Irving or Lillard? who will be the be 0the best PG in the league in 5 years time? (ok tough one with Rose, and CP3 still young-ish.
The jury is still out on Kyrie. He obviously can score a lot, but the rest of his game is severely lacking. He is a horrendous defender and because of his lateral quickness there are questions on how good a defender he can be. He does not do a good job distributing the ball and has a high turnover rate. He does not make his teammates better either. He isn't even 21 years old, and very well may improve his weaknesses but right now he is an elite scorer but not an elite player yet. He is essentially a small swing guard that can score at this point.
Well maybe they've lost a lot because he missed a lot of games this season due to freak injuries? Did you not read the OP where it said he almost single handily brought the cavs back? He's a good distributor, but his teammates can't really get better except Waiters and AV. That's one reason why his TO rate isn't that good.
He was the leading scorer the whole game. The Cavs caught up because the Knicks had a lapse in offense and defense. Even when Kyrie wasn't injured, he's still a ballhog who doesn't yet know how to lead his team. Look, I love Kyrie but you people can't just refuse to acknowledge his flaws. He has a long way to go, as good as he is right now.
I have seen him play over a dozen times this season, he is not a good distributor right now, and the advanced statistics back up the eye ball test. He is a very promising player and has a lot of value, but he is not a super star right now... He is just an elite scorer.
I've been a big Duke fan for the past decade almost now, and I can tell you that 1.) no one who saw him in college was surprised about this; and 2.) you're selling him way short on the other aspects of his game. We're not talking John Wall here people. Not even Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook. Irving is as true a point guard as exists in the under-28 group. His court vision is superb. Nobody else I've ever seen has been able to make half court alley oop passes while the other team's defense was already in position on that side. To him it was as easy as any backdoor pass. And his defense is not like Chris Paul's where he just gets a bunch of steals from playing the lanes. Irving actually makes a dedicated effort to playing good on ball man defense. You won't see numbers to corroborate this because that's not how it works. I don't know how the coaches are telling him to play because, lets be honest, who watches Cavs basketball? But this element is definitely in his skillset. People like to pigeonhole players given the expectations set upon the new era of guards. It's a score first pass second position now. And with Kyrie who by all accounts possesses a finishing ability at the rim that we as a fan base may have never seen before, it's easy to call him a one dimensional guy. But the truth is that we are only seeing the beginning with him, the tip of the iceberg. After Chris Paul's prime passes, it's going to be the Irving regime for point guards.
He may become more than just an elite scorer, he is very young, but right now he is a mediocre distributor for a starting point guard and a poor defender. I agree he finishes at the rim well, but not as well as Rose, Westbrook or Iverson. He is an excellent prospect but not yet the player you think he is.
Kyrie shoots over 40% from the outside, those other 3 are 31% or worse. It's ok if he's never as good at penetration when he's carrying a 10% advantage from the outside. As for his distribution, his team besides him is often shooting 25-30% from the field, averaged out (and i know its by no means guaranteed correlation, the irony here is we KNOW that assist attempts is an advanced stat all teams keep nowadays but no one produces it) it makes his 6 assists closer to 10-15 attempts vs 20 shot attempts. It makes him a scoring point guard,
