Kyrie Irving Considered One of Most Overrated Players

The Cleveland Cavaliers season is now less than a week away. The Season of Huh (Waiting for Next Year has a book in process about last season) is now over. The Season of Wow is almost upon us. The Cavs have put together an amazing roster with Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, Shawn Marion and many others.

Yet there are still some who doubt the Cavs, and Irving and Love specifically. Those two have put up good numbers on losing teams that have never made the playoffs and are now expected to be a part of a championship level team. Doubters are to be expected.

Yet today we get from ESPN (Insider, Costs $) that Kyrie Irving is overrated. The article is about what player is most overrated, starting off with Kobe Bryant. Shortly after Chad Ford chimes in on two players he thinks are highly overrated, including Irving:

"So I think James Harden is a little overrated. I don’t think he makes an effort on the defensive end, and I think basketball is played on both ends of the court. And I’ll put Kyrie Irving in that group; Irving ranked 35th among point guards in real plus-minus last season. Thirty-fifth. The only point guard who was worse than Kyrie Irving last season was José Calderon. And I think if we’re talking about the Cavs being a championship contender team, their point guard is going to have to play some defense. Obviously those are two dynamic offensive players, and when you look at their PER scores and other metrics, they look great, and we know they can put the ball in the basket.But I’m not ready to anoint Harden or Irving as superstars until they make a passable effort on the defensive end. They don’t have to be superstars defensively, but I don’t even think there’s a passable effort with those two players at the moment."

That is a real shot at Irving, as Harden is general considered the worst defender in terms of effort in the league. Real plus-minus takes a ton of things into account and, while not a perfect metric (it doesn’t exist), should be given some weight in this discussion.

Irving’s ability on the offensive end is without question. The basketball seems to be an extension of his body when he is dribbling it, he can finish in traffic and he can shoot from anywhere. He will need to improve his playmaking for teammates, but this is the first season he has had enough teammates who can finish for him.

Yet even with all of that skill, as well as stats to go with it, Irving was still the second worst ranked point guard in real plus-minus. That means his defense was so bad, according to that metric, that it didn’t just pull him down to average but all the way down to terrible.

Irving ranked 35th among point guards in real plus-minus last season. Thirty-fifth. The only point guard who was worse than Kyrie Irving last season was José Calderon.

The team he was playing with the last few seasons could have played a huge role in his decision to give far less effort on defense. Outside of the inefficient play of Dion Waiters and the scrappy baskets for Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson, Irving had no one to help shoulder the offensive load. He seems to have chosen to save himself for that end of the floor. Players only have so much energy to expend.

Yet so far in the off-season, Irving has seen to commit himself more to the defensive side of the ball. In the FIBA World Cup he was active and engaged on both ends of the floor. He still produced offensive numbers but had players around him he could count on to score.

So far in the pre-season he has had his moments of effort. He has also seemed to take his cues from James, taking plays off on defense in meaningless games. For James that is okay, he has shown a history of effort. For Irving, he has to retrain himself defensively and get good habits established before taking nights off.

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Is Irving overrated? Possibly, especially based on the real plus-minus metric that gives a ton of value to defense. It seems Chad Ford also values defense greater than some of his cohorts who look at players like Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert, Greg Monroe and Rajon Rondo as overrated.

Thankfully Irving is now setup to prove Ford, and others, wrong. He won’t have the excuse that he doesn’t have anyone to shoulder some of the offensive load, although LeBron James seems to want him to be the man on that end of the floor (a later article) and James is likely to push him to defend well.

What do you think of Ford’s take on Irving as overrated?