HotRocks34 wrote:Here is a near-direct quote from Zach Lowe from his podacast today. It's not a perfect quote, but it's almost exact. Lowe says this starting around 37:00 into the podcast. These are essentially my exact thoughts on Kyrie and his prospects (although to be fair, Lowe says Kyrie can evolve over time):
Podcast link
http://www.espn.com/espnradio/playPopup?id=20148555"if you just put him in the Russell Westbrook situation last year where it's all about him, or even James Harden's situation, I think he'd do well and I think his teams would do 'ok.' But I think 'ok' is about all there is. Because he's an awful defensive player. He's all right when he tries...His passing to me is fascinating because I think he has the ability to be a good passer...but...he's never struck me as playing with the sort of timing and geometric creativity of James Harden...but people who know him and who work with the Cavs say that (great passing) is in his game, it's just not the way that he wants to play. He wants to score, he wants to make tough shots. He wants to do his 9,000-dribble moves...and he doesn't have the physical sort of...I mean, Russell Westbrook to do what he did over 82 games was unbelievable, and I don't think Kyrie Irving can physically do that. But, players change... I do think his game could evolve, where he just becomes a better all-around player...but, if he thinks he can go out there and shoot 26 times a game and everything is about him all the time, I do think he's in for a rude awakening."
Summary:
- Kyrie isn't Harden (although maybe he has some of that potential) ------> And D'Antoni won't be his coach
- Kyrie isn't Westbrook
- Kyrie wants to play Iso/Shoot Ball rather than pass more
- Kyrie likely in for a big wake up call if he goes to another team and becomes The Chuck Master
Implied but not directly stated:
- Kyrie isn't LeBron
Can the current version of Kyrie be Damian Lillard? Yeah, probably. Can he be John Wall? Maybe.
Is Kyrie, at his current development level, likely to be a lot more than that?
Probably not.
Is a Kyrie-led team likely to be any kind of threat to make the Finals?
Probably not.
So that's about where we're at, from my perspective.
Thus, Kyrie is giving up a sure-fire trip to the Finals next year, it would seem, to get a trade done from a team while he still has two years left on his current contract. Just to get away from LeBron. To a team we don't know (Kyrie not in control of where he goes), and possibly into a situation where making the Finals is not realistic and any long playoff run is probably also not realistic.
This is what the situation seems to be, and this (including the timing of it) is why people are asking:
"What is Kyrie doing and how does Kyrie view himself as a player?"