Kyrie Irving makes his first of many All Star selections
He is the Phantom of the Garden and Uncle Drew at the same time. He has shouldered the burden which LeBron James shrugged off when he left the Cavaliers. He couldn’t care less about the historical signs which indicate that the franchise is doomed. He is making his own signposts around Cleveland. Signs like “Enter at your own risk”, “Expect to be lit up for 40 any night”, and “Uncle Drew will own you”.
Funnily enough, the Uncle Drew role applies to Irving’s role in the NBA too. Uncle Drew looks like an unassuming old man whom everyone dismisses. Then he torches everyone in his way. Playing in Cleveland as a undersized point guard, Kyrie Irving was dismissed a little. Now he is proving everyone wrong. Rajon Rondo is the all star starter this year as decided by fan voting. Here’s what Kyrie Irving did against Rondo.
There are few players in the NBA who break people down off the dribble with such alacrity and finish with such dexterity. He has a penchant for absorbing contact and finishing. Add to that a sniper’s touch and a killer mentality, and you have a lethal package which can erupt at a moment’s notice. He has shown up Kobe, LeBron, Paul Rondo and pretty much everyone in his way. Of course, he doesn’t come out on top all the time.
And he is only 20 years old. Last year as a rookie, Irving had 34 points on 12-13 shooting in the Rising Stars exhibition game. People said that those games don’t have defense. You know which teams have defense? The Celtics have defense. The Knicks have defense. And Irving has dropped 40 on them both this season. Irving’s arrival coincides with the departure of LeBron with a season’s gap, during which the Cavaliers used to get a horrendous record and wrangle their way to the number one pick.
“I think Cleveland has the greatest fans in the world,” Drederick Irving, his father said. “They’re human. What happened to them was devastating. It’s natural to want some kind of replacement. I told Kyrie to understand that people are going be apprehensive at first because they don’t know much about you. But they will.”
Irving has big shoes to fill. Being the number one draft pick carries its own substantial expectations. But coming in the wake of the unceremonious departure of the previous 1st draft pick, that pressure is magnified doublefold. Kyrie is not interested in filling anyone’s shoes, he’s making his own. Irving was told that Coach Krezyzewski had compared him to Chris Paul. He replied: “There’s only one Kyrie Irving.” He doesn’t want comparisons, but a game like his invites comparisons. We look to pigeon-hole him in some shape which came before him, but that’s an elusive shape. He is 191 lbs and isn’t one to muscle his way around like Rose or Westbrook. In spite of the style of his game, the style is a part of the substance, not a afterthought sprinkled on as icing to look cool. “He comes to compete,” says Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “He doesn’t come to put on a show.”
It helps that his game is flashy
Now that Anderson Varejao is out for the season, the burden on Kyrie bears has intensified. The mask he wears draws comparisons to Batman. A hero who says: “I haven’t given these people everything. Not yet.” A facial fracture which Kyrie sustained against the Bucks back on December 14 led him to don the mask. There was a time when the Cavaliers had three masked players. Irving, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller. No question which of the three looked more menacing.
“Today has been a great day for me,” Irving said. “Yesterday we beat the Celtics, then tonight I was chosen to be on the All-Star team. It’s an honor to bring that to Cleveland, and then to win the Athlete of the Year Award — I’m pretty happy right now.”
The next best point guard in the NBA is here and he hoops in Cleveland. For the next decade Irving is going to make many all star team selections. He will be the talk of the town and he will vindicate the Cleveland franchise, hopefully. There’s always the chance of the Decision 2.0 and of him bolting away from Cleveland. Another potential hurdle in his path besides the woeful supporting cast in Cleveland is injuries. He needs to get some more muscle on and bulk up to withstand the rigors of the NBA game. The Cavaliers are out of the playoffs and are standing at 11-32. It’s a testament to Irving’s game that in spite of his team having such a poor record, he still has been chosen by the coaches to play in the All star game.
This season Kyrie Irving is averaging 23.7 points, 5.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds. To reiterate, he’s only 20 years old. The composure with which he competes belies that age. 20-year old players don’t normally sink dagger after dagger in the competition in clutch time. Kyrie Irving has just become the first player from Cleveland to make it to the all star team since LeBron James back in 2010. Those are big shoes to fill. But as Kyrie has said, he goes through new shoes every two weeks. The point guard spot for the next decade in the all star team is all but reserved with Kyrie Irving’s name now. And it all starts with the all star weekend next month.