Wall vs. Kyrie for the last pg spot according to USA Today

[andrewww]

Locks:

Kevin Durant
Anthony Davis
James Harden
Paul George
Steph Curry

Likely:

Derrick Rose (rave reviews thus far and 1 of 2 'pure point guards' that usabball is looking for)
Damian Lillard (him and Curry are viewed as capable of playing both guard spots)

Likely:
-2 of these 3 bigs (Cousins/Drummond/Faried/Plumlee)...I get the feeling they want tough bigs when facing Spain..my money is on Drummond and one of Faried or Plumlee
-1 of 2 pure point guards (Irving/Wall)...I think Irving's shooting puts him over the top
-1 shooter (Thompson/Beal/Korver)... I think Thompson gets it as he imo plays the best defense of these 3
-1 more utility player (Parsons/DeRozan/Hayward/Millsap)..hard to say my lean is actually towards Hayward

Final 12 prediction:
PG: Rose
SG: Harden
SF: George
PF: Durant
C: Davis
Bench: Irving, Curry, Lillard, Thompson, Hayward, Faried, Drummond.

[JWizmentality]

Also people act like wall is twenty times better than Kyrie. It's a marginal gap. Kyries first two seasons in the nba were better than walls and Kyrie will be better than wall this year ( but that's just a prediction). He did have a poor season last season but he will bounce back.

Really? Someone pull up the Kyrie vs Wall thread. I don't think we got enough of Kyrie>>>>>>>>>Wall and it aint even close. But after last year, ya'll have quieted down quite a bit.

[Dupp]

Why is rose playing anyway. I would have thought the bulls would be strongly against it.

Also people act like wall is twenty times better than Kyrie. It's a marginal gap. Kyries first two seasons in the nba were better than walls and Kyrie will be better than wall this year ( but that's just a prediction). He did have a poor season last season but he will bounce back.

Really? Someone pull up the Kyrie vs Wall thread. I don't think we got enough of Kyrie>>>>>>>>>Wall and it aint even close. But after last year, ya'll have quieted down quite a bit.

Ok.

[nuposse04]

For what it's worth:

2013-14 3P%:

Wall: 35%
Irving: 36%

All Kyrie has ever had on Wall is his ability to shoot, and now that's not even really the case. Irving is a terrible defender and can't distribute the ball/run the offense.

Kyrie should have given the Cavs a packet of postage stamps, though, because he mailed in last season. He hated playing for Mike Brown and it showed in his effort and percentages. There's really not an argument you can make that Wall is a better three point shooter than Irving. Irving has shown that he can be an elite three shooter. Wall has yet to show he can be above average.

Trends matter in sports, especially when trying to gauge the trajectory of a player. Wall shot 35% from distance last season. I consider 35% to be slightly above average (average being 33)...so unless you think a player has to be +40% your criteria may not be quite filled, which probably befits your agenda.

As to who SHOULD make it, I'd say Wall should, but he won't. Politics will probably push duke players onto the team. And truthfully, I hope Wall doesn't make it...one more chip on his shoulder and he gets a chance to rest up for the season.

[jangles86]

Id take Wall.

Wall is the best distributor on that team. Including Rose. Irving isn't in the same category as wall.

[disenfranchised]

I'd take Kyrie for his shooting.

Wall's one season at 35% from 3 isn't enough to make me a believer. He has been atrocious, otherwise.

Shooting is very important in international play.

[Muhammad_Ali]

Kyrie > Wall for 3point shooting reasons and continuity of the USA program. Even though I would rather have Wall on my team than Kyrie.

Rose/Kyrie/Lillard
Harden/Curry/Thompson
George/Derozan
KD/Faried
Davis/Drummond

[NattyPButter]

what can Lillard do better then Wall or Kyrie besides shoot the 3? His D sucks, his FG% sucks, and he's an ok passer. Lillard get's to much praise with his horrible FG% he had for 2 years straight and his low assist numbers.

He averages just as many assists as Kyrie, shoots better, has about the same FG%, and a higher TS% than Kyrie's ever had.

ahh...no. What you did was pick and choose what stats u wanted to use. He doesn't shoot better then Kyrie since Kyrie has shot at 45% his first two years unlike Lillards 42%. Kyrie shot 43% because of the team not having a offense to run. Lillard is nothing but a chucker who's not even improving.

[BayInferno]

what can Lillard do better then Wall or Kyrie besides shoot the 3? His D sucks, his FG% sucks, and he's an ok passer. Lillard get's to much praise with his horrible FG% he had for 2 years straight and his low assist numbers.

He averages just as many assists as Kyrie, shoots better, has about the same FG%, and a higher TS% than Kyrie's ever had.

ahh...no. What you did was pick and choose what stats u wanted to use. He doesn't shoot better then Kyrie since Kyrie has shot at 45% his first two years unlike Lillards 42%. Kyrie shot 43% because of the team not having a offense to run. Lillard is nothing but a chucker who's not even improving.

Let's look at TS% over FG%. Lillard's career high is higher than Kyrie's, and so is his career average. If Lillard, who's more efficient than Kyrie, is a chucker, then what's Kyrie?

And wtf? Lillard was better than his previous year, whereas the same can't really be said for Kyrie...

[Norm2953]

what can Lillard do better then Wall or Kyrie besides shoot the 3? His D sucks, his FG% sucks, and he's an ok passer. Lillard get's to much praise with his horrible FG% he had for 2 years straight and his low assist numbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mejFtEY5faU

Lillard is a player who makes game winning shots.

[Jvaughn]

what can Lillard do better then Wall or Kyrie besides shoot the 3? His D sucks, his FG% sucks, and he's an ok passer. Lillard get's to much praise with his horrible FG% he had for 2 years straight and his low assist numbers.

He averages just as many assists as Kyrie, shoots better, has about the same FG%, and a higher TS% than Kyrie's ever had.

ahh...no. What you did was pick and choose what stats u wanted to use. He doesn't shoot better then Kyrie since Kyrie has shot at 45% his first two years unlike Lillards 42%. Kyrie shot 43% because of the team not having a offense to run. Lillard is nothing but a chucker who's not even improving.

FG% is an awful measure of efficiency. That's why the poster used TS%.

[TheKingofSting]

I like them both but I will be rooting for the Blue Devil here.

[supermelo]

Offer an Easy way to compare 3 guys by easy statistics chart.



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[improper]

Trends matter in sports, especially when trying to gauge the trajectory of a player. Wall shot 35% from distance last season. I consider 35% to be slightly above average (average being 33)...so unless you think a player has to be +40% your criteria may not be quite filled, which probably befits your agenda.

As to who SHOULD make it, I'd say Wall should, but he won't. Politics will probably push duke players onto the team. And truthfully, I hope Wall doesn't make it...one more chip on his shoulder and he gets a chance to rest up for the season.

I consider 35% to be exactly average. If you're shooting 35% from three, you're not a terribly efficient three point shooter, but you're not awful either. One thing to consider, though, is that a lot of Wall's threes are wide open, because opposing players dare him to shoot them. Kyrie, on the other hand, cannot be left open outside and teams know that, which means they play him close. It's inherently easier to hit an open three than a covered three. I think we can all agree on that.

[nuposse04]

Trends matter in sports, especially when trying to gauge the trajectory of a player. Wall shot 35% from distance last season. I consider 35% to be slightly above average (average being 33)...so unless you think a player has to be +40% your criteria may not be quite filled, which probably befits your agenda.

As to who SHOULD make it, I'd say Wall should, but he won't. Politics will probably push duke players onto the team. And truthfully, I hope Wall doesn't make it...one more chip on his shoulder and he gets a chance to rest up for the season.

I consider 35% to be exactly average. If you're shooting 35% from three, you're not a terribly efficient three point shooter, but you're not awful either. One thing to consider, though, is that a lot of Wall's threes are wide open, because opposing players dare him to shoot them. Kyrie, on the other hand, cannot be left open outside and teams know that, which means they play him close. It's inherently easier to hit an open three than a covered three. I think we can all agree on that.

Shooting 33% from distance will net you the same amount of points as shooting 50% from 2 if given many looks. Thus, anyone shooting above 33 from 3 is "above average" in my book, now is Wall "considerably above average"....no, but he is above average.

if the defenses don't respect him then he should do what he's practiced on, his 3 pt shot. Wall has gotten better in many facets, I won't argue that he is the distance shooter that Kyrie is, but he's damn better at every aspect of the game. Still, his lack of consistency with his 3pt will be an issue at the FIBA level.

[Mumbles]

Kyrie has officially become underrated on these boards. He's going to be so nasty this year.

Also, its funny how Wiz fans are propping up Wall stating he's more suited for this team just because he's played in some playoff games. That doesn't mean anything, theere's been all-stars who have played in several playoff series who didn't do much in the international game. It is basically just a way to take a shot at Kyrie.

[jbk1234]

As a Cavs fan, I hope Kyrie doesn't make it for selfish reasons. Being left off of the USA roster decreases his odds of making the all star team this year. Which, in turn, would make a "Rose bump" in his contract less likely. I also think Kyrie could benefit from a little humility when it comes to being an all around PG (although if that is the concern it's not clear why Curry is a lock).

Having said all of that, I'm pretty sure Coach K is going to give the nod to the player he used to coach.

[Hans Embiid]

Id take Wall.

Wall is the best distributor on that team. Including Rose. Irving isn't in the same category as wall.

Rose needs some players to play with on offense and he could be a 2nd Stockton.

[sutton]

Rose and Lillard had huge deal from Nike and Adidas,

[Willarmm]

I think something that everyone needs to keep in mind is that all these players are all amazing. As a cavs fan, I have a natural tendency to defend kyrie and support him but I know that each has skills that the other two don't excel at as evidenced by the comparison chart posted previously. In defense of kyrie, the system he was in was not conducive to his previous teams and this his stats fell. Going from offense first to defense first doesn't help an offense first players stats. They were still better than 90% of players in the league and would be coveted by anyone on this board obviously. 2nd part of the defense for kyrie is that he has had more game winning/clutch shots in his CAREER than Damian, so let's cut that arguement out. He also had to play as the #1 option compared to Damian's number 2. It's easier to be more efficient and have better stats when you have a better player around you(exactly why I expect kyrie to have a jump this year). I can't take anything away from the successes that their teams had this year but let's not act like kyrie wouldn't have been successful on those respective teams. Roster construction and coaches schemes can have a huge part in a players stats/successes.