How We'll Know If Kyrie Irving Is Truly Elite Next Season
The basketball world will find out if the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving is among the league’s very best players during the 2014-15 season alongside new teammates LeBron James and Kevin Love.
Granted, he lacks the resume of someone worthy of such status. Sure, Irving collected the 2013-14 All-Star Game MVP and made the USA basketball team, but, one could argue that the All-Star Game success was mostly the product of a game with no defense in which the opposition (Western Conference All-Stars) paid more attention to his superstar teammates (Carmelo Anthony and James to name a few).
Also, this iteration of Team USA isn’t exactly a squad of future Hall of Famers (save for Anthony Davis; just trust me on this one). This is a team operating without the services of Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Love and James to name a few (yikes!).
If that doesn’t generate enough trepidation, then what does one make of the fact the Cavs haven’t won more than 33 games in a single season since Irving joined the franchise as the first overall pick in the 2011 draft?
Irving is talented and entertaining, as evidenced by the fact he finished third in total clutch scoring in back-to-back seasons.
He’s a terrific shot-creator and dazzling ball-handler, but those skills have yet to translate into team success.
However, the acquisition of LeBron via free agency and Love by way of trade will change the direction of the team. With that much talent on board, Cleveland will win north of 50 games and could possibly even advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
All of it will hinge on Irving.
His new teammates are far more decorated than he is, and they’ve experienced some semblance of success. James is fresh off of four straight finals appearances with the Miami Heat, two of which he was victorious in.
Love never made the playoffs with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he did steer the team to 40 wins last season in the ultra-competitive Western Conference and won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics on a team stacked with talent. The fact that Love was good enough to make that unit speaks volumes about the caliber of player he is.
Logic dictates that LeBron and Love will command the lion’s share of touches next season because it would be foolish not to run the offense through them.
James is perhaps the most efficient perimeter player in basketball, while Love is arguably the best power forward in the league given his ability to score from the block, snatch rebounds and convert threes like a guard.
Minnesota owner Glen Taylor offered an insightful and controversial opinion after his club traded Love.
"I question Kevin if this is going to be the best deal for him because I think he's going to be the third player on a team. I don't think he's going to get a lot of credit if they do really well,” Taylor said, per Derek Wetmore of ESPN 1500 in the Twin Cities.
“I think he'll get the blame if they don't do well. He's going to have to learn to handle that.”
Taylor was spot on—except for the fact that his comments were directed at the wrong player.
Irving will have to become the third wheel, which might not sit well with him considering that he and Dion Waiters had a rift last season stemming from the fact Waiters felt under-utilized, according to ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard. If a teammate had trouble coexisting with Irving as the No. 1 option, it's certainly possible for things to get worse if Irving's role gets downgraded. He might not be willing to share whatever crumbs are left for him to munch on in the offense.
It’s the point guard’s job to run the show and make sure everyone is getting an adequate amount of touches. I think we can make the case that Irving failed on this front judging from the issues with Waiters and the team’s 33-49 record.
To Irving’s credit, he recognizes the need for an adjustment. “You do think about [changes] because you're going to be playing with the greatest player in the game,” said Irving in July, per ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst. “I've talked to several teammates about how we're going to have to change our games.”
The 2014-15 season will be Irving’s opportunity to demonstrate that he’s learned the hard lessons and graduated to the status of elite.
There might be a faction that judges him based on his numbers, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. There won’t be a magical number in points, PER or win shares that determines how bright Irving’s star really shines.
Rather, it will come down to his level of maturity, poise and, more importantly, his willingness to subjugate his game for the betterment of the team. There can’t be any stories coming out of Cleveland that Irving is unhappy and that he wants out, which was the case in April.
He seems willing to tackle these based on what he shared with Real GM’s Shams Charania: “Now, we have guys who’ve been in the league for years, guys who’ve won championships and have had to give a piece of their game for the greater good of the team. It’s something I admire and something I’m going to learn from.”
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert (or if you prefer, newly appointed “general manager” LeBron) delivered incredible chess pieces for Irving to work with, and his mandate will be to figure it all out.
Irving will have to take away some of the ball-handling duties from James in an effort to lessen the burden on the two-time Finals MVP. However, this has to be executed smoothly. Irving will have to make LeBron believe that he will regularly be on the receiving end of pinpoint passes that lead to scores (similarly to James’ first two seasons alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami).
In the same breath, there will be times where LeBron manipulates the ball a little more to find openings for teammates, and the Cavs’ point guard will have to adjust and play off the ball in these instances.
James’ playmaking will give Irving the possibility to alternate roles in the same manner that Chris Paul does for the Los Angeles Clippers.
He vacillates between scorer and facilitator depending on what his team needs, and that’s what I want to see from Irving.
If Love is killing his defender in the low-post area, I want the ball to keep going to him within the flow of the offense. If Anderson Varejao repeatedly gets open in the pick-and-roll, his floor general needs to find him.
His ability to manage all these things will help me determine whether or not he is an elite player. LeBron and Love chose him because they think he will graduate to that level and help take them to the Promised Land.
I’m a little skeptical, but LeBron seems comfortable banking the rest of his career on him, and maybe that by itself is a clear indication that Irving is destined for greatness.
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