Kelly Dwyer on Irving
2012-07-11
Kelly Dwyer’s got a pretty great post on Irving, youth, and team USA over at Yahoo!’s Olympics blog. It’s nice to see Kyrie getting some recognition nationally. I know he won the Rookie of the Year award, but there’s only so much attention one can garner on a team that’s at the top of lottery. But this performance against Team USA as part of the Select team reminds us that, once the Cavs start improving, Irving’s going to make himself known on the national stage in a major way.
I think he had to spend so much energy on offense, that it took a toll on his defense. Jamison and Sessions could score some, but other than that, he was carrying the load. Now that they have Waiters, that should change (fingers crossed). With Waiters helping on offense, he can focus on defense more. Also, let’s not forget that he didn’t have any kind or offseason/training camp. He was probably exhausted by March.
@Cory: Don’t forget that it wasn’t until Kevin Love played with Team USA that he started complaining that he wanted to play with better teammates.
How many young players are invested in defense. The ones who want to be great apply themselves on the defensive end. I have faith that he’ll become an above average defender…I’m also glad he isn’t on the Olympic team and that it won’t be an option for him until 2016, after he’ll have already signed his contract extension. The global games seems to be where collusion begins. Deron Williams recently said that he and Howard discussed joining forces in international play. The seeds of the collusion 3 were planted on team USA.
True that. True that. I will be satisfied this year if he becomes an average defender and improves in nothing else. C’mon Kyrie!
I am very excited to see the step Kyrie takes this year. I hope he improves his defense substantially. On offense, if he gets 35 minutes a game, I think 22/8/5 50%/40%/90% are possible. His offensive instincts, ability to finish and jumper are already elite.
He’s awesome yes, but since the rest of the world doesn’t know Kyrie that well yet, they don’t know he’s not a very good defender just yet. He can wait.
He’s living up to the number he’s wearing in a big way