Kyrie’s Injury Means Star Status

If Kyrie figures out his defense during his time off, he won't have this face after guards drive by him for easy lay-ups.

Kyrie Irving is out for the next month.  I no longer have to worry about us messing up our chase for the all time losing record again.  I also have no illusions about the Cavs potential to win every night, so that’s going to eliminate a lot of my anxiety. 

I think this injury is actually a good event to get the national media to start discussing Kyrie Irving as a top point guard in the league.  Many writers cite Kyrie Irving’s 19-42 record while playing for the Cavs as evidence he is not a star yet, but that’s completely missing the point of a star player in the NBA. 

A star in the NBA is evaluated by his performance not as far as his team wins but by his potential to offer up a win for his team.  This season specifically, the Cavs have not been out a game in the first quarter, or even the forth quarter because Kyrie Irving is able to rattle off points without a problem.  I’ve seen opposing teams go on runs only to be stopped dead by Kyrie pulling up for a three, then coming back and hitting another three, then driving for a point and drawing the foul.

           

Besides witnessing his on the court performance, media members are going to see Kyrie’s star status as the Cavs drop out of the media.  The talk that the Cavs receive on ESPN, blogs, and just on the streets, is going to disappear with Irving out.  This is the mark of a star. 

As soon as Irving went out, I had three thoughts.  I have the ridiculous task of watching a team of bench warmers, not even role players.  Now, no one at work is going to talk about the Cavs games with me, and what is Kyrie going to do with his time off.

I can postulate on the third point.  Kyrie Irving can work on shooting the ball, runners and little scoop shots, but he is already great at those things.  I want to really see Kyrie develop his defense while he’s out with this injury.  Byron Scott should work with him teaching him how to drive his player into the help defense, how to watch tape with an eye to point guard tendencies, and finally how to use his tremendous speed to just stay in front of his man.   Somehow Kyrie consistently lets his man drive by him without putting up a fight.  A lot of times Kyrie tries to step backwards when a guard drives which allows the guard to use the momentum of being of unintereprutped to get around for an easy shot.  Kyrie needs to learn to use lateral speed stop this from happening; if he could just make the opposing player have to change direction a little bit, his defense would slow guards down enough to at least contest their shots.  If Kyrie uses this time off right, he can come back as not only a noted offensive superstar but a legitimate two way point guard.