JonFromVA wrote:Pelly24 wrote:JonFromVA wrote:
Kyrie had a pretty amazing rookie season, but if we're judging by their ability to help a team win basketball games, Evan was on his way to getting the nod before hurting his elbow.
Kyrie won some games almost single-handedly as a rook, but Evan's defenses shows up every night. Evan helps his teammates on both ends of the floor, while Kyrie was more of a one man wrecking ball.
So much of how Kyrie is seen, or was seen even, comes down to where he was drafted and when. If he'd come out of high school and ended up in San Antonio as a mid lottery pick, he would've immediately been seen as a winning player because he could come off the bench and average like 14/4/5 on like +7 TS% and play within a system seamlessly. But instead, he ended up on the post-LeBron Cavs that stupidly drafted Anthony Bennet No. 1 and was obviously trying to tank. He came into the league an 18/4/6 on +4 or +5 TS% efficiency. He could play fast, slow, on or off ball just like now. He won multiple games singlehandedly. He could get by any defender any time he wanted, score from everywhere on the court and dish out passes nicely. Remember the game winners versus the Celtics and Nuggets. Mobley is great, but the circumstances here are totally different. Jarrett Allen alone is far better than everyone Kyrie played with before LeBron returned to Cleveland. Same with Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. Not even close. Mobley might be the best prospect/player since LeBron, but it's not an apples to apples thing, and Kyrie was pretty much an All-Star guy from Day No. 1.
Pops wouldn't put up with a player who only played for himself like Kyrie, so something would have to give.
After Kyrie beat some teams they watched tape and they realized they just had to crowd the paint and Irving would beat himself. He became allergic to contract, stopped drawing fouls, stopped fighting through screens, stopped playing defense, belittled his teammate.
Things can change, but Evan is well on his way to surpassing Kyrie almost no matter how you slice it and so much of the difference is in his head.
Nobody is going to wonder if the Cavs would be better off starting Matthew Dellevadova over Mobley.
I think a good amount of that is conditional though. He wouldn't have had to do any of that if he played for the Spurs. He passed a lot when he was in Boston and even on the Nets. He can play any style. Pop LOVES Kyrie Irving and talked him up any time he could. He would've been bred to be a better Tony Parker. At the end of the day, he was only 19-22 before LeBron came back. Kyrie in 2k18-2k21 is wayyyy better than early stints Cavs, it's not even close.