A Closer Look at Kyrie Irving

[Gimme Some Mo]

Is it really him? The account is no longer verified.

Other Duke players tweet him, so I am assuming it is.

 

[KIrving15]

I really REALLY want a Kyrie Irving bobblehead now...anyone heard anything?

 

[The Voice]

I really REALLY want a Kyrie Irving bobblehead now...anyone heard anything?

The only thing I heard is you might have to change your username to KIrving2 if you want his real number.

 

[Soda]

This guy is a certified nerd. Tweeting about watching Harry Potter all day and how he can't wait for the new movie to come out. Could be a good thing, but he needs to get a little thug in him. :chuckles:

We got ourselves a Griffindor. The last guy had more Slytherin in him, they're just losers. :chuckles:

 

[KIrving15]

The only thing I heard is you might have to change your username to KIrving2 if you want his real number.

Nah...#15 is my favorite number, thats the reason why I have it as KIrving15. Yes, coincidental to Kyrie choosing #15 first...but its beause its my favorite number.

 

[Pioneer10]

Sorry if this was posted already:

NBA playbook's breakdown of Kyrie Irving.

Strengths

Scoring Out Of The Pick And Roll

When looking to score out of the pick and roll, Kyrie Irving was statistically the best player in college basketball. At Duke, Irving posted the best PPP in all of college basketball, scoring 1.438 points per possession when using the screen on 70.8 percent shooting (17-24 from the field). Playing just 12 games and taking just 24 shots (32 total PNR ball handler possessions) when looking to score out of the pick and roll means that this is an extremely small sample size, most likely leading to inflated numbers. That being said, Irving is still a very good player when looking to score out of the pick and roll, and the game tape shows us that:



Irving is a very strong ball handler, and this allows him to make moves in the paint when coming off of screens. This puts the defense in a very tough position when defending the pick and roll with Irving as the ball handler. If you go under the screen, Irving is a good enough shooter off the dribble where he can knock down the open shot. If you try to fight through it without switching, Irving can get all the way to the rim. If you switch it, Irving can make a move on the big picking him up and get to the rim.


Irving is so effective when looking to score off of ball screens that defense try to take using the screen away from Irving. Again, Irving’s ball handling and quickness allows him to take advantage of the defense in these situations:



Here, Irving is getting a screen set for him, but the defense is determined to prevent him from using it, playing high and taking away his right hand. Instead of trying to force his way right and use the screen, Irving simply crosses over, goes away from the screen, and attacks the rim, getting the easy lay-up.

With the success that Irving has when looking to score, the defense is essentially placed in a pick your poison type of situation when trying to figure out how to defend Irving when dribbling off of screens.

Finishing Around The Rim

In addition to success when looking to score off of ball screens, Kyrie Irving is a very strong finisher around the rim. According to Synergy, Irving finished over 50 percent of his shots when in “around the rim” situations, 72.4 percent to be exact (again, small sample size probably has something to do with the extremely high shooting percentage – but once again, the skill is obviously there). While Irving isn’t this elite athlete, he has the ability to hang in the air contorting his body to get a better angle, allowing Irving finish above bigger players:



In situations like these where Irving gets to the rim, if he goes straight up, he’s going to get blocked or have his shot bothered by a bigger defender. With his ability to hang in the air and throw a double clutch lay-up at the defense, he is able to create better angles and shooting lanes for himself. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest reasons for his success finishing around the rim.

Weaknesses

Passing Out Of The Pick And Roll

While Kyrie Irving has plenty of success looking to score coming off of screens, you can see that Irving tends to struggle a little bit when looking for his teammates when coming off of ball screens. Eventually, if you score enough off of ball screens, teams will start committing to sending defenders at you, forcing you to hit your teammates. During his 12 games at Duke, he struggled putting his teammates in position to score when coming off of ball screens (his teammates shoot 23.5 percent on Irving’s passes out of the pick-and-roll):



With Irving, the passes just aren’t on the money. They get to their spots, but they aren’t in shooting pockets. When he is leading the roll man with a bounce pass or a lob, he isn’t putting the pass where it really has to be consistently enough right now when using screens.

Driving With The Right Hand

Looking at the numbers, it is pretty obvious that Irving would rather drive left instead of driving right. Unlike most elite point guards who drive in either direction at close to the same rate, Irving goes left much more than he goes right, taking it to the left 62.9 percent of the tim. When you look at Irving’s PPP when driving left and when driving right, it becomes obvious why Irving has a tendency to drive right. Driving left, Irving posts a PPP of 1.0 on 46.2 percent shooting. Driving right, Irving posts a PPP of 0.538 on 12.5 percent shooting.

If Irving wants to become more of a threat in isolation situations, he is going to have to develop a comfort level with both hands. If these struggles going right continues in the pros, defenses will start to force Irving right, taking him away from his area of strength and putting him in situations where he struggles.

Videos are at the link:
http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/07/01/draft-pick-scouting-report-1-kyrie-irving/

The weaknesses seem well pretty weak so that's good for us

 

[Silky Smooth]

Here is a heads up that CBSSN is about to replay Duke vs Michigan at 10pm and at 12am they will replay Arizona vs Texas.

 

[Tornicade]

Told you his passes werent all that great.

This is where having guys like jamison, gibson, and Davis will come into play. Coaching on the court on where he needs to get those passes. its harder for a rookie to work on this when surrounded by a bunch of guys who dont know where they need the ball.

granted he was surrounded by singler and nolan but they didnt really get that muiuch time to work with him on these types of things.

but at least he recognizes when he needs to pass off unlike some unnamed point guard on the roster

 

[We'reAllKyrieWitnesses]

If the Cavs decide to grab Brandon Knight as a backup in the next few weeks, the circle will be complete.

Crap. I meant to put this one in the D Will thread. Sorry. Feel free to delete.