Sonny Carson wrote:Wizardspride wrote:Sonny Carson wrote:
And thats the thing. Yes, Kyrie got to play along the other great players unlike Wall. But Kyrie WAS the best player while they were on the floor.
I still feel like when Wall got into the game....he should have tried to take it over. He played great defense (for an all star game). But I kept waiting for him to take over offensively. When paired with Kyrie....he deferred to him as well.
I've noticed that you tend to focus on how much they score when it comes to how you judge Irving/Wall.
If that's your focus then Wall will never live up to your standards.
That's just not his game.
Yes, he can score...but it's not a priority.
He's a first and foremost a playmaker.
And I'm not knocking Kyrie either. He's great at what he does but they're different types of players.
Both extremely talented but different.
(Fwiw, Wall scored 12 pts in 15 mins of action with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 assists.)
The knock on Kyrie.....in comparison to Wall..
He cant dish it like Wall. Well...Kyrie went to Washington....and showed when his teammates actually make baskets...he can rack up assists. He played with All Stars....he then racked up more assists/points than anyone in ASG history.
If Kyrie scored 31 and had 5 assists....I wouldnt think much about it. To me....it just showed Kyrie is CAPABLE of being as good a passer as Wall. He just doesnt have the finishers/shooting consistency from his teammates. And we all know Kyrie has a better individual offensive game....so thats why I think he's got the edge.
If you switched Kyrie and Wall...I'm not sure the records would be much different for Cleveland. And the Wiz maybe be slightly better because Kyrie is a better shooter down the stretch late in games (area Wall struggles with now)
Wall is a BALLER! However, there is nothing wrong with Kyrie being a better PG. Thats no knock on Wall. Although I wish he got more of an opportunity in tonight's game.
Wall played with the Shaqtin'-a-fool All-Stars his rookie year and averaged 8apg. He set assists records at Kentucky. He is a better natural passer than Irving and always has been. Every scout, GM, etc who has evaluated their games will tell you that. Wall was branded as an elite playmaker, Irving as an elite scorer.
Of course Kyrie had a lot of assists tonight playing with Lebron, Melo, George, etc. When Wall played with good teammates and actually got minutes in the Rising Stars game, he set the all-time assist record for the game with 22.
I agree you that Kyrie has good passing ability, but it's not a matter of ability. It's a matter of whether he wants to or not. We saw many times here in Washington where Arenas would try to prove a point to critics and purposely rack up 10-12 assists in one game. Then the next game, he would go back to chucking. It wasn't that he didn't have the ability to pass, the problem was that he just didn't have the mentality of a facilitating PG.
From what I've seen of Irving, mentally he's closer to that Gilbert type of player than say, Chris Paul. We've seen him for 3 years now. He's not just magically gonna turn into prime Stockton anytime soon. The guy likes getting his buckets, that isn't gonna change. Like I said, we've seen this story with Gilbert already. Every season we kept hearing "He's focusing on being more of a playmaker blah blah" and kept waiting for it to happen, it never did. You are who you are.
Who is the "better" PG is up for debate.. but right now, we can only look at results. Wall is getting results and is beloved by his teammates, coaches and the fanbase and is seen as a leader on and off the court. Can we say the same for Irving? We don't know..