What Does Kyrie Irving and Elton Brand Potentially Have in Common?

Australian Kyrie Irving is a man in demand as the NBA draft approaches.

After Cleveland beat the odds to win the draft lottery, it appears that the Duke freshman has a good chance of being drafted first overall. 

Is this a curse or a blessing, considering the Cavaliers last No. 1 draft pick?

LeBron James is arguably the best player in the NBA right now. Upon being drafted in 2003, he took a bottom dweller team and made them a perennial contender.

That’s a very hard act to follow, ask Elton Brand who took over from Michael Jordan.

Brand was both the first player to leave Duke as an underclassman and the highest to be drafted ever in 1999, after being named college player of the year as a sophomore. He left school with Coach Krzyzewski’s blessing and was drafted first by the Bulls, who were one year removed from Jordan’s final season in Chicago.

Without Jordan the Bulls won a total of 13 games during the lockout shortened season, before drafting Brand. Had they played 82 games instead of 50 they might have done a lot better than Cleveland’s 19 wins after losing LeBron.

Brand came in promising to “change things” and looked the part averaging 20.1 points, 10 rebounds and shared rookie of the year honours with former Maryland Terrapin turned Houston Rocket, second, Steve Francis who was the second overall draft pick.  

In his second year, Brand average exactly the same numbers in scoring and rebounding as his rookie season and the Bulls won a Franchise low 15 games (in an 82 game season). The power forward was then traded to the Clippers to make room for two players straight out of high school, Tyson Chandler and Eddy curry.

If Brand only had two seasons before being jilted by an impatient fan base and owners, how long will Cleveland’s next first round pick have? Will they be as patient as Chicago was with Brand who won a total of 32 games in two seasons?

From the time they drafted James, there was a clear improvement year after year until they became the top team in the NBA winning 66 and 61 games in LeBron’s last two seasons.

Is there anyone in this draft that can duplicate LeBron?

Irving, who was born in Australia to American parents and has dual nationality, is considered the best player in the draft. If he is drafted first overall, he will be the second Duke player to do so and will be inheriting a team that was built for LeBron James.

“I’m not 6-8, I’m not a high-flier, and my name isn’t LeBron,” he told the New York Times after being present at Cleveland's lottery victory.

Get used to that sentence, as he will be repeating it if he goes to Cleveland. 

The point guard, who made a promise to his father to get his degree in five years, has a lot to think about.

Is it worth being drafted No. 1 just for bragging rights and endure the scrutiny of being a LeBron's replacement or fall in the draft for an easier life?