Kyrie Irving

[MirORich]

Is this Kyrie's last year on his contract, or de we have him this year and next year as an option? I noticed the PDInsider tweet.

Cavs control Kyries contract for the next three years.
This coming year is the 3rd year in the original deal
2014-2015 is the option year
After that offseason he would be RFA and the Cavs could match any long term offer he received or just hold on to him for one more year.

That said, count on an extension being done next offseason, at the very instant he's eligible for it.

[Revenged25]

Memphis does not have less talent. theya re in fact deeper for OKC. sure with a healthy westbrook that would give the nod to okc but without him. you have

Conley> Jackson
Allen> Thefolasha
Prince< Durant
Randolph>Ibaka
GasoL> Perkins.
poindexter,Bayless, and Arthur = Martin, Fisher and Collison

OKC got lucky last season going to the finals not having to face Memphis.

The problem with Memphis is just as they struggled with the clippers last year they may have the same issues with Golden State,
The Spus would be a better matchup for them.

I was going to post this myself had you not done it ahead of time, and even then I don't think Westbrook is that much better than Conley, who is very underrated. The defense first works if you have 3 All-NBA Defensive members and two dominant big men. If you swap Randolph on the two teams, making Memphis even better defensively and OKC better offensively, I could definitely see OKC being ahead in this series quite easily.

You don't have to be elite defensively, you just have to be good enough defensively and pretty good on offense. The best non-superstar team was probably the Pistons team, which ironically resembles Memphis quite well. They had great team defense, but the difference is they had a few better go to scorers, just no superstars.

[melecoaze]

Memphis does not have less talent. theya re in fact deeper for OKC. sure with a healthy westbrook that would give the nod to okc but without him. you have

Conley> Jackson
Allen> Thefolasha
Prince< Durant
Randolph>Ibaka
GasoL> Perkins.
poindexter,Bayless, and Arthur = Martin, Fisher and Collison

OKC got lucky last season going to the finals not having to face Memphis.

The problem with Memphis is just as they struggled with the clippers last year they may have the same issues with Golden State,
The Spus would be a better matchup for them.

classic tornicade post

[IWantAKouki]

classic tornicade post

Maybe he just has a lisp?

[West Orange_NJ]

[shoes22]

So what's Kyrie been up to so far this summer? Every day we hear reports of Dion putting many hours in the gym, while it's been near radio-silence from Kyrie. I hope he's not slacking off.

[FiveThous]

He is.

[kidduck]

A fluff piece from his roots:

Kyrie Irving's plan to be the greatest

• YASMINE PHILLIPS
• PERTHNOW
• MAY 18, 2013 7:20PM

Kyrie Irving, playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Picture: Supplied Source: PerthNow
KYRIE Irving has a plan to be the greatest.
In less than two years, the Australian-American point guard has added a new dimension to the thrilling stage of the National Basketball Association.

He’s already made history as the first Australian-born basketballer to play in the NBA All Stars earlier this year, joining the elite ranks of Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant as one of few to be selected before the tender age of 21.

Irving is the face of the Cleveland Cavaliers - not to mention the brains behind a captivating series of Pepsi Max advertisements where his alter-ego “Uncle Drew” has picked up his own legion of fans across the world. The former No.1 draft pick was also named the NBA Rookie of the Year last year.


But there is so much more that needs to be done.

This 21-year-old is far from content.

Anything less than taking to the court at next season’s NBA Playoffs, he says, would be a failure.

“My ultimate goal is just to be one of the best point guards to ever play the game,” Irving says.

“And win an NBA championship and win an MVP. Those goals are something that I see in the distance. They are lofty goals but I hold myself to such a high standard that I can definitely achieve those goals.

“I want to be one of the best players in the league and make the play-offs and accomplish something special. Anything less than the playoffs (next season), would be a failure for me.”

Born in Melbourne on March 23, 1992, Irving lived in the Victorian capital for the first two years of his life, before the family eventually settled in New Jersey, where he grew up.

In fact, his basketball career can be traced back to his Australian heritage - where he will be returning in July for the first time in almost two decades to run basketball clinics at Victoria’s State Basketball Centre in Knox.

Irving says his fascination with the game was born when he was a toddler, while his father was playing professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers.

“I started dribbling before I was even two,” he says.

“So I've been playing for a while and my dad built me a court in the backyard when I was in fifth grade and it's been uphill ever since.

“The highlight of my career is not one specific thing - it's more just being able to play the game that I love every single day I wake up… you know, doing it at the highest level and I get to take care of my family in the process so it's truly a blessing and an honour to play for the NBA and be a part of something special.”

Irving says he’s proud of his Australian roots, and even felt compelled to prove it to disbelieving friends when he was named the first Australian-born All-Star player.

“I'm proud to say that I'm an Australian American,” he says. “And it's truly an honour and a blessing to represent such a prestigious continent.

“Some of my friends in the US didn't believe that I actually played for Australia - they never believed me ever until I bought my birth certificate in and showed them the continent on the back of my birth certificate. Knowing that I'm an Australian-born NBA basketball player now is fun to think about and it adds a little bit more to my career.

“I haven't been back since I was two so I'm really excited to come there in July and meet all the great people there. I'm having a basketball camp in the first week of July. Me and my father are going out there.

“I'm really looking forward to meeting all the great fans out there as well - fans of the NBA, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers and fans of myself.”

And what does he think about wearing green and gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro?

“Right now, no… but you never know what can change over the next three or four years,” he says.

Despite having dual citizenship which means he’s eligible to play for either team, he says his current loyalties lie with Team USA.

Although he hinted that he was open to finding a new home in Australia in the future.

“I'll leave that up to when I go visit there for my first time (as an adult),” Irving says. “I'm pretty sure I'll fall in love with it.”

The 1.91-metre tall athlete says his greatest challenge so far has been getting used to the hectic schedule and consistent demands that go with being an NBA player. That - and finishing his bachelor degree at North Carolina’s Duke University, as he has promised to his father.

But the charismatic youngster seems to take it all in his stride, as he sends the basketball world into a frenzy with talk he has so much talent, he’s destined for a memorable career.

The well spoken and mild-mannered basketballer even addresses me as “ma'am” during our chat ahead of his highly anticipated return to his other homeland.

And it's clear that Irving has a sensitive side, reserved mostly for those closest to his heart.

Family, he explains, is everything. There is his father, Drederick, older sister, Asia, and a younger sister, London.

And to say that his father, Boston University’s all-time leading scorer at one time with 1,931 career points, is his greatest role model is “an understatement”, he explains.

“My dad is a single father so he raised me and my sister the right way - strong morals and trust and belief in love,” Irving says.

“Having him in my life, he has raised me and my sister tremendously and he did a great job with us.

“He's been there since day one and he's helped me with everything in my life and he laid the blueprint for my life and I just followed it. So he basically had all the answers for me and I'm thankful for him being in my life.

“But he wants me to be better than him. He wants me to be a better man - so he tells me all the time.

“I include (my family) in every decision whether it’s in my personal life or business and we just allow each other to grow on our own.”

Tragically, Irving’s mother, Elizabeth, passed away from an illness when he was just four.

The world as he knew it was turned upside down. And his family of four soon became a close-knit trio, bonded by their loss.

But the woman who drove his father to be the best he could be is never far from the young NBA star’s thoughts.

“I know she probably would have been proud of my development as a person and as a basketball player,” Irving says.

“And my dad tells me stories all the time about how hard she was on him with basketball and in life and how she basically changed him.

“I know she's looking down on me and she's blessing me. I pray to her every day - her and my grandmother.”


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/kyr...-1226645921137

[getBUCKED]

Edit: Kidduck posted it in better format.

[kidduck]

Sorry, I couldn't get that print size any larger.

[kidduck]

GetBucked- Try for a steal or coincidence?

[Earl]

Had a chance to be great with Australia.. unstoppable pick and roll with Bogut and the deadly Patty Mills 3 ball as an option..

[getBUCKED]

GetBucked- Try for a steal or coincidence?

LMAO complete coincidence must not have refreshed the page as I was reading it.