NBA 2011 Mock Draft: Kyrie Irving Will but Should Not Be Lottery Pick No. 1

A great athlete he is.

Kyrie Irving wowed everyone with an early season performance that was untouched by any other NCAA freshman. He stood out among some very worthy candidates, and was sliding past each and every one of them.

Then he sustained an injury that would keep him as a Duke cheerleader until the NCAA Tournament arrived. He had been practicing beyond that moment, but Coach K decided that he would be of greater quality at that moment.

Irving is great in his own right, but should he be the guy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

League Durability

Kobe Bryant, one of the biggest displays of a leader that the league has to date, has sustained many injuries in his career. Though said injuries have threatened to affect his ability to contribute adequately to his team, he remains the biggest influence from either side on the court.

Bryant does not allow anything under his control determine his playing time. He twisted his ankle against the New Orleans Hornets, but still played effectively while guarding arguably one of the league’s greatest point guards, Chris Paul.

Kyrie Irving’s toe injury may scare a few scouts. He is in college and trying to stay healthy for an NBA entrance. That is completely understandable.

However, during a crucial time in his career when playing through the injury would have placed him light years above his competition, I expected to see much more endurance from the point guard. Duke was scarcely defeated with him on the court and knowing this would have lead any great NBA star back on the court with any injury short of a bullet wound.

Arriving in a totally different sports arena, Julio Jones performed at an incredible height with a virtually broken foot. The perseverance he showed in the eye of such a threatening handicap in the NFL only raised his stock.

It more than likely contributed to the Atlanta Falcons willingness to trade up so far in the first round to snatch the physical wide receiver off of the board.

In any sport, a coach wants to work with a player that will refuse the reflex to cringe in pain and will battle through any obstacle because he knows his team needs him to do so.

Off Court Controversy

The collegiate athlete is put under so much pressure that a little stir in their personal life is expected. Most indiscretions can be dismissed as kids being kids—that is until you reach the point of downright controversial and unbecoming behavior.

Most recently, Kyrie Irving has had to face some of the perks of being an NBA player before actually being confirmed as one.

The perk is the sometimes unwarranted attention from women and the downfall of being involved with the wrong ones. Even grown men make the mistake, but allowing the situation to get so out of hand may work against the young basketball star.

Irving has been hounded continuously by the media because of accusations of harassment by Model Miss Hawaii. Of course nothing has been proven in the court of law, but social media websites are allowing fans to draw their own conclusions and voice them very publicly.

Kyrie must learn how to contain those relationships, if any existed, and keep situations like these from damaging a franchise’s image.

PR is becoming more and more important in team owner’s eyes and no one likes the bad seed as much as they used to.

Short Term Greatness

Kyrie Irving has the world so awestruck that we have forgotten how many games he has played and how he has yet to prove himself entirely.

He played 11-of-37 games. Why is this steadily being ignored? He has the potential of greatness. Any idiot with a line of sight can see that. But, it has not been adequately proven. It is one thing to pr

edict what someone’s future may hold. It is another for them to prove in the now what they could bring to you for years to come. Irving does not strike me as a player who has done enough to warrant the number one overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

Brandon Knight, a fellow draft prospect, is sitting in the same boat as Kyrie with only season under his belt in the NCAA. The difference is that Knight has a far longer resume than Irving does and possesses many of the intangibles, such as clutch ability that scouts drool over.

The former Duke point guard has a lot of work to do as far as building a portfolio before being professed the best overall player in the draft.

His Fellow Draft Mates

Kyrie Irving is just not a better pick than some of his draft counterparts.

Derrick Williams, who has one more year in the college circuit than Irving, made more of a difference on his team and went deeper into the NCAA Tournament. There can never be an argument that Williams was not the engine behind Arizona’s competitive burst.

He is simply a more complete athlete and basketball player than Kyrie Irving is.

Enes Kanter, even though he was reduced to an assistant student coach role at Kentucky, has a stock in the draft that Irving’s pales in comparison to.

Playing overseas against some of Turkey’s finest players has given Kanter a taste of professional league action and will play a huge role in team’s decisions to draft him or not. No one is going to care much about him being suspended from athletic activity indefinitely because of how diverse and talented he is at such a young age.

Kyrie Irving is going to be picked No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he should not be.

There are other players who fit the bill much better than he does. Just being honest.