Kyrie Irving has asked the Cavs to trade him; Lebron blindsided by trade request

[David_TheMan]

Dame & Kyrie in the same backcourt

GS migh actually drop 200 on em

@Gil Scott-Heroin would go insane tryna find a way to blame Dame

Dame would probably steal on Kyrie like Dion did.

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

Damian Lillard is too dense to understand that playing on a LeBron James team means you don't play WITH LeBron, but rather you play FOR LeBron.


No talented superstar wants to deal with that for their entire career. Maybe if they're ring chasing for a period of time but for their whole career, no.

 

[McPiff]

Goat thread

 

[Art Barr]

Damian Lillard is too dense to understand that playing on a LeBron James team means you don't play WITH LeBron, but rather you play FOR LeBron.


No talented superstar wants to deal with that for their entire career. Maybe if they're ring chasing for a period of time but for their whole career, no.

They could trade them straight up with some particulars.
to close out the trade via the semantics from the league and Lillard could find out on his own, tho.

 

[Styles]

Kyrie doesn't need to prove shyt. It's like he's catering to casuals with this move. He's obviously an elite player. How many guys average 30 ppg in the fukking finals.

At the same time if he's trying to prove he's a generational talent . I'm sorry he's not Kobe.

This clearly isn't about that imo. He's just not trying to be stuck in Cleveland next year when Bron leaves and they'll be a borderline fringe playoff team. Once you go to the finals 3 years in a row fighting for an 8th seed is hustling 3 steps backwards. Kyrie knows better.

 

[McPiff]

So now dame is a beta ?

Kyrie should go to philly or phoenix

Phoenix got the goat medical staff. They could do wonder for his knees

 

[IllmaticDelta]

This is how you react when you have no arguments to counter what I said. All LeBron stans can do to defend themselves is to cite stats from a stat padder.

They won't acknowledge the fact it was Kyrie that dominated the matchup of the series while LeBron hid on defense against Harrison Barnes who couldn't even score when he was wide open.

Kyrie's play turned around that series the same way Igoudala's play turned around the 2015 NBA Finals eventhough Steph had better stats overall.

keep telling yourself this If it makes you feel better

 

[IllmaticDelta]

I just meant win the title as the #1 option. As the alpha male so that when the title is won, he'll be the guy who gets the lion's share of the credit.

Kyrie Irving has a chance to be better than LeBron moving forward. Obviously if we're talking prime LeBron vs prime Kyrie, LeBron is better. But right now Kyrie is just 25 years old and entering the prime of his career while LeBron will be 33 at end of this year and is entering the back end of his career. It stands to good reason that Kyrie has a good chance to be better than LeBron moving forward. I wouldn't put it past Kyrie being a better player than LeBron as early as next year. Kyrie has generational talent. He's just not had a chance to prove it. Similar to how Russell Westbrook never quite got a chance to prove just how good he was till KD left. Kyrie probably thinks he can average 32-34 PPG by himself. Win scoring titles and MVPs.

 

[Swagnificent]

While the rest of the media is sucking off LeBron, here's the only guy actually holding him accountable.

 

[Ziggiy]

This offseason is lit. Kyrie irving singlehandily destroyed the illusion that lebron built up in the media about being the ultimate unselfish teammate and role model. Trashing kyrie for being 1 dimensional is the reason he wants to bounce. Name one player that developed with lebron?
How u know kyrie aint asking lue for a few plays to be drawn up and executed in practice and he just looked at him like nikka stand in that corner until 6 seconds is left on the shot clock then shoot or hot potato pass to the open man. Bron's back lil nikka!



Kyrie:

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Kyrie doesn't need to prove shyt. It's like he's catering to casuals with this move. He's obviously an elite player. How many guys average 30 ppg in the fukking finals.

At the same time if he's trying to prove he's a generational talent . I'm sorry he's not Kobe.

This clearly isn't about that imo. He's just not trying to be stuck in Cleveland next year when Bron leaves and they'll be a borderline fringe playoff team. Once you go to the finals 3 years in a row fighting for an 8th seed is hustling 3 steps backwards. Kyrie knows better.

I don't think lebron is leaving but I do think it it's a mix of if lebron leaves + somewhat of a "me me "ego mixed with kobe being an influence on him

 

[I AM WARHOL]

While the rest of the media is sucking off LeBron, here's the only guy actually holding him accountable.

I was with him until I saw his dumbest trade suggestion. Good Lord. If ainge did that after all his pump fakes he'd be run out if Boston

 

[MalikX]

Dame is the definition of an alpha male. year after year western conference teams like the Timberwolves and Pelicans make moves but it's always Dame and the trail blazers actually in the playoffs. They shouldn't have made it last year in the west with the awful excuse for a team they have.
Kyrie before lebron led his team to two straight lotteries

Players are supposed to turn their teams into playoff squads in their first 3 years in the league now?

Kyrie was 19, 20 & 21 those three years before LeBron came back. Since when do we expect 20 year old rookies to take over the league? And Cleveland was STRAIGHT TRASH, fukking had Anthony Bennett playing in their lineup. Yall gotta stop with that talking point.

 

[MalikX]

1. Last I checked they give the W to the team that scores more points in the game. They don't give you the victory because you have more rebounds or assists. The fact you act like scoring isn't the most critical aspect of basketball is laughable. Yes, Kyrie's main strength is scoring. But contrary to the way you are framing it, that is a GREAT thing. Scoring one on one in the half-court against a set defense is the most difficult thing to do in basketball. That is why at the end of game 7 the Cavs went to Kyrie with ring on the line while LeBron was just a spectator like the rest of us. When the chip was on the line, it was Kyrie that was winning it not LeBron. That is how you know he's the best player that series.

2. How can you be the most valuable player in anything if you LOSE?

Fukk outta here you Bron nuthugger.

For all their talk about Gasol/Artest saving Kobe, 2 out of 3 of LeBron's championships had game winning shots by other players



Why would Kyrie WANT to stay. LeBron destroyed hte team getting JR/Tristan them bloated contracts. When (not if, when) LeBron leaves, Kyrie will be stuck there with a garbage squad in his prime. Why stay? Kyrie's putting up 40 point games in the Finals, winning the series with a last second dagger but, gets no praise for it. Everybody's praising LeBron and talking about his legacy even though Kyrie had multiple 40 point games. Why stay? Why put up with that? Plus, LeBron's a diva ass nikka too.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Kyrie Irving Wants To Be A No. 1, But He’s Better As A Sidekick

Still, there are a slew of holes in Irving’s game that should give teams pause, including some that have been sidestepped in recent years as he’s had less responsibility on his plate with James as a teammate. Aside from durability — Irving’s had his fair share of injuries, including a fractured kneecap in the NBA Finals two years ago — defense is chief among them. Opposing teams had no issue targeting Irving, who’s often flat-footed or a step slow in pick and rolls and in 1-on-1 scenarios, this past season.

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He was one of 10 guards this past season to surrender 50 percent shooting or better from the floor in 1-on-1 situations.Among players who defended at least 50 such plays

">3 And while most point guards throughout the league are thought to be pretty weak defensively, Irving’s offense-defense balance is particularly lopsided. In NBA history, there have only been six player seasons in which a guard had a usage rate of 30 percent or more (meaning the percentage of a team’s plays that end with that player shooting or turning the ball over) while logging 1.5 defensive win shares or fewer.And logging 2,000 minutes or more

">4 Two of those six campaigns belong to Irving, including this past season, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

That was the case despite Tristan Thompson manning the painted area well, holding foes about nine percentage points beneath their average. In other words: You need to have a decent rim protector, if not a great one, in order to stop teams from taking advantage of Irving’s porous defense. Having good wing stoppers, which the defensively challenged Cavs lacked against Golden State, would obviously help, too.

It’s also worth noting that Irving’s sometimes-stagnant style of offense that works so well with James’s wouldn’t mesh with every team, either. A strong defensive team like the Utah Jazz makes sense — they’ve expressed interest in Irving before and could use a scorer with Gordon Hayward having departed for Boston. But they’d have to undergo a shift in their share-the-ball philosophy to incorporate someone who’s most efficient when he’s possessing the ball for seven dribbles or more. (In fairness, Irving is also fantastic when he lines up catch-and-shoot opportunities. But his off-the-dribble ability increases the longer he’s had the ball.) The same is likely true of the Spurs, who might have to work even harder to facilitate a fit since Kawhi Leonard has developed into a possession-eating superstar in his own right.

Kyrie does more damage the more he dribbles
For the 2016-17 NBA regular season


NO. OF DRIBBLES FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE EFFECTIVE FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
1 35.9% 40.2%
2 42.3 44.2
3-6 45.7 49.3
7 or more 49.0 53.5
Effective field goal percentage is used to account for the fact that 3-pointers are worth more than 2-pointers.

Sources: NBA.com, STATS SportVu

Averaging 5.5 assists per game over his career, Irving can create offense for others. But he often gets tunnel vision on his way to the basket. His 27.6 percent pass rate out of drives was fourth-lowest among starting point guards.Among starting guards who drove to the basket at least five times per game and played in 50 games. He trailed only Reggie Jackson, Damian Lillard and Derrick Rose.

">5 And his assist-to-turnover ratio varied considerably this past season — from a lofty 2.59 (think John Wall) to a mediocre 1.78 (think Austin Rivers) — depending on whether James was on the court with him.

Most concerning: Irving and the Cavs were outscored by 8 points per 100 possessions this season without James on the court, a night-and-day difference from the 9 points per 100 plays they outscored opponents by when Irving played with James. Over the past three seasons, Irving and his teammates have been outscored by 94 points over almost 2,000 minutes when James is resting,This comes out to just over one point per 100 possessions.

">6 according to NBA.com. The challenge may be rooted in the fact that Irving’s preferred 1-on-1 style of offense fits with James’s — who can take occasional breathers while his teammate goes to work — but throws his teammates out of rhythm when James is off the floor

In any case, Irving has eye-popping skill, and it’s a safe bet that some team will offer a king’s ransom for him. But it may take another near-perfect scenario for him to thrive the way he has next to James.

Kyrie Irving Wants To Be A No. 1, But He’s Better As A Sidekick