2011 NBA Draft Results: Why Kemba Walker Will Be Better Pro Than Kyrie Irving

The 2011 NBA Draft is underway now that the Cleveland Cavaliers have officially made Kyrie Irving the No. 1 overall pick. Now begins an offseason of speculation as to how the young point guard from Duke will perform as the heir apparent to the franchise throne left behind by LeBron James in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Kemba Walker, the best player on the best team in college basketball, the man who almost single-handedly led UConn to the 2011 NCAA Tournament Championship, had to wait awhile until Charlotte Bobcats chose him with the ninth pick.

Walker has done little, if anything, to discourage teams from selecting him in the top 10, though the frenzy surrounding Irving, Brandon Knight and Jimmer Fredette has seemingly kept the point guard from the Bronx out of the headlines leading up to draft night.

Once the season gets going, or rather, if it ever gets going with the prospect of a lockout looming over tonight's festivities, Kemba Walker will have a chance to prove that he, and not Kyrie Irving, is the best point guard in this year's class.

So why is Walker destined to be a better pro than the kid taken first overall? Read on to find out!

Kemba Has More Experience Against Top Competition

The biggest difference between Kemba and Kyrie? Experience.

Irving played a whopping 11 games as a freshman at Duke while missing the entirety of the Blue Devils' ACC schedule.

Walker, on the other hand, played three years in the Big East, arguably the best conference in college basketball, while improving significantly from year to year and, most importantly, without missing a single game.

All while fighting through traffic and absorbing contact along the way.

Kemba Has Proven That He's Durable

As already mentioned, Kemba Walker never once missed a game during his three years at UConn, while Kyrie Irving missed 26 games during his single college season with a foot injury.

Now, the disparity in health here could very well be more a function of luck than one of individual strength and endurance. However, with so much at stake with both of these players, it's tough to overlook the possibility of Irving being predisposed to injury while playing amongst bigger, stronger, faster guards in the NBA.

Meanwhile, Walker has proven that he can fight through the nicks and bruises without hurting himself further.

Kemba's Tough

A big part of what's allowed Kemba Walker to push through the pain is the fact that he's a tough kid, both physically and mentally.

Walker persevered through plenty of adversity growing up in the Bronx, where he honed his game on the notoriously rough-and-tumble courts of New York City, including world-famous Rucker Park.

Throw in Kemba's ability to lead the UConn Huskies through the Big East, including five wins in five days to come away with the tournament title in the toughest conference in America, and it's clear that Walker has the mentality and the physical strength to fight through the NBA adversity he's sure to face while playing for the rebuilding Charlotte Bobcats.

Not that Kyrie Irving, who grew up across the river in New Jersey, isn't capable of playing through pain and contact, but rather that he has yet to truly prove it. 

Kemba's Proven That He Can Carry a Team to the Top

Through it all, Kemba Walker proved with his play that he can perform under pressure and carry a team all the way to a title. 

Consider that UConn was picked to finish 10th in the Big East in the preseason polls without much hope of even sniffing a spot in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

To be fair, the Huskies finished ninth, but, to Kemba's credit, they did so after shocking the college basketball world in the early season by winning the Maui Invitational and went on to win 11 consecutive tournament games between the Big East tourney and the NCAAs.

All the while, Kemba averaged 23.5 points, 4.5 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals for the eventual college champions.

On the flip side, Duke looked to be on track to potentially repeat as NCAA champions, that is, until Kyrie Irving returned in the tournament and seemingly disrupted the Blue Devils' team chemistry in the process.

Just some food for thought...

Kemba Won't Be Under as Much Pressure to Perform Right Away

Another plus for Kemba: He won't have to perform under the type of pressure he dealt with in college, much less of the type or intensity that Kyrie Irving will feel in Cleveland.

Consider that Irving, fairly or unfairly, will essentially be expected to be the Cavaliers' franchise savior from Day One, the kid around whom GM Chris Grant will build an Eastern Conference contender in the wake of LeBron James' departure to the Miami Heat.

Meanwhile, Kemba will merely have to compete for minutes in Charlotte with D.J. Augustin and contribute to a Bobcats team that isn't likely to have legitimate aspirations for at least another year or two.

When factoring in the aforementioned disparity in experience under pressure between Walker and Irving, the odds would seem to be stacked in Kemba's favor to be a successful NBA point guard.

Kemba Won't Have Quite as Much Competition at the Point

While Kyrie Irving will be expected to lead the Cavaliers from the get-go, he actually might not have the opportunity to do so.

Cleveland already has Baron Davis and Ramon Sessions on its roster, and at this point, Davis is easily a better point guard than Irving, assuming the former Clipper is in good shape and is dedicated to the game.

Kemba Walker, on the other, will have only to deal with D.J. Augustin, whose averages of 14.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Charlotte Bobcats last season are respectable but are hardly anything Walker isn't capable of replicating within a year or two, if not right away.

So unless the Cavs can find a way to move Sessions and/or the hefty contract of Baron Davis, Kemba Walker will still have a better chance to start right away in Charlotte than Irving will have in Cleveland.