With LeBron James sitting out, Kyrie Irving scored 33 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 99-98 win against the Dallas Mavericks.
For almost any other player in the league, fans, teammates and media would be up in arms if they scored 33 points and lead the team to a win without their best player. However, this is not the case for the Cavs’ Kyrie Irving.
For as good of a player Kyrie Irving has been throughout his five years in the league, his true position has been a polarising topic. Kyrie is often talked about as a player who is a shooting guard in a point guard’s body. Irving is listed at 6’3″, making him too small to truly guard most shooting guards who are normally around 6’5″ or taller. However, his game is that of an elite shooting guard. Irving’s ability to score one-on-one is arguably unmatched, and he is a threat to score from anywhere on the floor.
Herein lies the problem with Kyrie Irving, or at least his perception.
In the NBA, while we seem to be embracing versatility and ‘position-less basketball’, for some peculiar reason, we seem to have strict rules as to what a point guard should be. If a point guard does not have the passing numbers of John Stockton or Chris Paul, he is criticised. That has been the story of Irving’s career so far.
What exactly is a point guard? Is it a floor general, a distributor like Paul or Stockton? Or is it a lethal scorer like Stephen Curry or Russell Westbrook, who also has the ability to set his team mates up?
Out of those two categories, Irving quite clearly falls into the second group, with Curry and Westbrook. The likes of Curry, Westbrook and even pre-ACL injury Derrick Rose can be best classified as ‘combo-guards’. These guys have the rare ability to not only play the point guard position, but also play off the ball due to their scoring prowess.
It is important to remember that Kyrie is quite a bit younger than the players he is often compared to. We want Kyrie to be as polished as Curry or Westbrook, when he is five years younger than both of them. Irving, at just 23, is still barely scratching the surface, and there is no telling what his ceiling could be.
Is Irving’s game perfect? Absolutely not. He is hardly passable on the defensive end, causing the Cavaliers to scramble to try and hide him. Irving also tends to spend large amounts of the shot clock dribbling away, not looking to make a pass.
This season, a remarkable 36.6% of his field goals have come after Irving having over seven dribbles in the possession. In addition to this, 26.8% of shots come after 3-6 dribbles. Basically, Irving dribbles a lot. If you want a comparison, Curry who often hoists his shots after slithering around multiple screens, shoots just 22.9% of his shots after more than seven dribbles.
But despite what the media would want you to believe, Irving’s dribbling isn’t all bad. In his shots coming after seven dribbles or more, Irving shoots an efficient 48.8%, marginally better than Curry’s percentage of 48.5%. Where Curry separates himself from Irving is his catch and shoot numbers. Irving has struggled on his catch and shoot opportunities this season, converting just 38.5% of them. Comparatively, Curry is a catch and shoot savant, shooting a blistering 51.5% on such shots.
Where Curry and Westbrook elevated their games by using their gravity to get their team-mates involved, and this is the one thing Kyrie needs to add to his game to truly reach the elite level. While universally known as a ball dominant player, Westbrook is averaging a career best in assists, with his 10.4 per game good for second in the NBA. In his last three seasons, Westbrook has increased his assist average from by almost four assists per game from 6.9 in 2013-14.
Meanwhile Curry, who’s assist numbers were pretty similar to Irving’s earlier in his career, increased his average from between five and six early in his career, to upwards of seven in the last two seasons. Interestingly, Irving’s assist numbers were also trending upwards; he increased his tally in each of his first three seasons. However, the arrival of LeBron James meant Irving ceded some of his ball-handling duties and as a result, his assists average fell from 6.1 in 2013-14 back to 5.2 in 2014-15.
Irving’s ability to score one-on-one is arguably unmatched, and he is a threat to score from anywhere on the floor
Derrick Rose, another lethal scoring point guard, averaged 7.7 and 7.9 assists per game in two seasons during his peak years before the ACL injury. If Kyrie is to reach that elite level, he must channel his aggressiveness effectively. Irving’s best games this season have been when he has aggressively been looking to score without forcing it. Once Irving gets to his spot, if his shot isn’t there, he needs to move it.
Despite averaging a career low in assists this season with just 4.5 per game, the notion of Irving not passing the ball is also misguided. Irving is one of the leaders in the league in ‘hockey’ assists in 1.4 per game. Comparatively, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo average 1.6 per game. While Irving only averages 49.9 passes per game, he is doing so while playing a career low in minutes at 30.8 since coming back from his knee injury. Irving averages 1.62 passes per minute, not too far off the likes of Curry and Westbrook who average 1.67 and 1.69 passes per minute, respectively.
Comparing Irving‘s overall numbers from last season to Curry, Westbrook and Rose’s at the same age makes for interesting reading. Out of all four players at age 22, Rose was far and away the best scorer, averaging 25.0 points per game, in what was his MVP season in 2010-11. Westbrook averaged 21.9 points per game, while Irving and Curry averaged 21.7 and 18.6, respectively.
Aside from scoring, Rose and Westbrook had almost identical numbers across the board. Rose shot 44.5% from the field, while Westbrook shot 44.2%. Rose also shot 33.2% from three-point range, again slightly better than Westbrook’s 33.0% mark. However, Westbrook had the edge on Rose in terms of rebounding (4.6 v 4.1) and assists (8.2 v 7.7).
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Similarly, Curry and Irving also had relatively similar numbers. As expected, Curry was the most stellar shooter of the group, shooting 48.0% from the field and 44.2% from long distance. However, Irving was not too far behind, shooting 46.8% from the field and 41.5% from long distance. Curry and Irving’s rebounding (3.9 v 3.2) and assists (5.9 v 5.2) were also fairly similar.
With Irving having already tallied up an impressive number of individual accolades in his career, it is easy to lose track of his age. Comparing him to Curry, Westbrook and even John Wall is unfair at this stage, given how young he is.
At just 23 years of age, unlike the likes of Curry and Westbrook, Irving is still several years away from his prime. Unlike these players, Irving has the benefit of being team-mates with one of the greatest players of all time in LeBron James. Seeing James’ work ethic first hand should inspire Irving to become one of the best players in the NBA and should be able to improve his game incrementally over the coming years as he approaches his best years.
Do you trust Kyrie Irving on the court?