I think a few are over valuing Kyrie and i love his game.
He is probably around 10-13, but he has some holes, especially on defense and creating for other's (although the last few games might change that)
A few reasons why I think we are over valuing Kyrie. 1, he is our player, 2 he is the perfect compliment to Lebron so he is shining, and 3, he might be the best driver to the hole in the entire game becuase he is so stupid crafty with the ball and can score around the basket efficiently from so many angles.
I think this team is well constructed at the top with our big 3 fitting in, but its hard for me to put kyrie ahead of CP3, Curry, Westbrook, and Harden, and that is just the PG's.
I can't think of 12 players better than Kyrie Irving.
I think if we take
@godfather 's list as reference, a list I agree with; no one listed below Irving is better than him IMHO. Lillard was getting a lot of hype earlier in the season, but as I said it would be best to wait and see.. Looking at his numbers over time, it's obvious he's regressed towards the mean. I'm sure this will be an improvement year for him, but.. well, again, we'll see...
Chris Paul is playing great basketball right now, but, his minutes, usage and production while efficient, isn't necessarily translating into box score production (i.e., while having a 60% TS% only scoring 17 PPG and only taking 12.7 FGA?) let alone wins. There is correlation here between usage and efficiency and that has to be accounted for. I have Paul ahead of Irving though, without question, if only for purely his vision let alone superior defense.
Westbrook is an interesting case.
I've always liked Westbrook's game, even when he was highly criticized. But now I think he's being overly hyped.
Westbrook's efficiency has not increased (see Lillard's early start), so, the entirety of his increase in point production is caused by his increase in attempts: +6.1 FGA for Russell is giving him another 7.8 PPG. But Russ' eFG has remained ~46% this year and over his career, there is no change. Moreover, his true shooting percentage has actually gone down, going from 55% to 54% and (IMHO) likely will continue to dip as the season progresses.
His assist numbers are great on a per minute basis though; yet he's generating
5.5 turnovers in only 35 MPG. What the hell?
His rebounding is great though and always has been a strong suit for him.
But I just wonder if this is not a classic case of stats that are being "filled" by a great player surrounded by very few other players able to produce on the offensive end of the ball.
With respect to Harden, he doesn't play defense, and I'm not sure if his stats will ever translate into a successful playoff run. I say that because (1) playoff series are won by good defense, in a general sense; (2) Harden will almost assuredly end up defending (targeted in P&R) the opposing teams best player (Durant, Curry, Lillard, Paul) and be totally outmatched; (3) while Harden has a similar FTr% from the reg.season to the playoffs, the problem has always been when those calls get made.
See, a player that needs the whistle to be blown 5-10 times a game for him to score is probably less likely to have success in a playoff setting where "playoff" rules allow for "playoff contact." Meaning flops and running into people and phantom calls are far less likely in a close game; particularly against a team like the Warriors.
Curry was considered, two years running, the best PG in the game. Now that Durant is on the team; people are beginning to understand that there's only one basketball...
Kyrie Irving's stats are quite comparable to Steph Curry's this year. And isn't it funny how that happened when Curry had to play alongside Durant, while Irving has to play alongside the even more ball dominant LeBron James? Hmm..
Anyway... Not saying Irving is Top 5, and I'll grant the names on
@godfather 's list, they make sense. But, I just wanted to add my observations as to why we shouldn't discount what Irving does...