Links to the Present: February 2, 2012
2012-02-02
“Many see little correlation between big-time pro sports and the real world. Hardly a surprise, given the disparity in weekly paychecks. Then again, most don’t give consideration to where athletes like Cavaliers guard Mychel Thompson spend so many games, sitting at the ends of benches, their tomorrows — like their contracts — not guaranteed.” [Tom Reed]
“When he learned he had played a career high in minutes Tuesday night, Kyrie Irving gave a slight fist pump and flashed a small grin. Turns out, Irving has been as anxious as the eager fans who have been clamoring for him to play more minutes. In part because of a backcourt hit hard by injuries, Irving played nearly 38 minutes in the loss to the Boston Celtics. The more he plays, the more difficult coach Byron Scott is finding it to keep him off the floor. In a surprise to no one, Irving was named the Eastern Conference’s Rookie of the Month on Wednesday. He averaged 18.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists in games in December and January. He led all rookies in scoring, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, free-throw percentage and assists.” [Jason Lloyd]
“Trade rumors are swirling that the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks have inquired about G Ramon Sessions. He could be available, but the Cavs would want a first-round pick in return for the veteran point guard. He can opt out of his contract after this season. He dished out a season-high 10 assists on Tuesday in the Cavs’ loss to Boston.” [CBS Sports]
Plain Dealer scribe Tom Reed chat with Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao.
And for the sake of looking at a contrarian’s take on Kyrie Irving, Wages of Wins Journal argues that Irving definitely shouldn’t be this season’s Rookie of the Year.
Kawhi: a ridiculous physical specimen. In a way I think he was almost too freakish with those hands and that wingspan. He scared some GMs off. Also, he works really hard. He’s in the perfect situation, and he can play either forward spot. He’ll have a great career. Great response someone game me when I was arguing for Kyrie for ROY: “But you’re kind of glossing over the fact that the Wolves were the worst team in the NBA last year with the same starting five minus Rubio. His passes aren’t just pretty – they’re transformative. They put guys who… Read more »
In summary, he picks Kyrie as the Rookie of the Year, I guess the title is just to get people to read? To his point, I really hope that Kyrie can bring his turnovers down and pick his assist up – that’s what you really have your PG for. IMO, it’s still a toss-up between Kyrie and Rubio, Kyrie is the scorer (which he has to be with not much around him) and Rubio is the facillitator/distributor (which he gets to be because he has talented players around him). I’m not sure how things would be if they switched teams.… Read more »
I’m not usually one to quibble…but it seems like that “contrarian” has a lot of his stats blatantly wrong…
Is it my imagination or is he calling Kawhi Leonard and Jon Leuer stars?
Contrarian viewpoint simply doesn’t account for the Wolves having a top 10 player in Kevin Love.
The contrarians take on Irving is ABSURD. He says that Irving turns the ball over more, which is only superficially true. Of course he selectively leaves out the stat that destroys his argument, TOV%: Irving turns the ball over on 17.7% of the possessions he uses. Rubio? 21.7% . Rubio doesn’t use nearly as many possessions because he has one superstar teammate and other talented ones. Ricky doesn’t have to create as much offense, only facilitate it. Kyrie Irving would rival Rubio as a facilitator if he had teammates other than Varejao to facilitate. And Varejao doesn’t exactly have Karl… Read more »