Kyrie Irving

[BimboColesHair]

Hey look, he's making fun of LeBron.

[MRMsix6]

I love these alternates.

[Jack Brickman]

I love these alternates.

They are pretty sexy.

[shoes22]

I love these alternates.

Same. Though truth be told anything is better than the all-yellow unis we wear these days.

[MGMT]

They shouldn't be the alternates. They should be the regulars

[warddj86]

I love both alternates. I think the yellows look so clean.

[KI4MVP]

Kyrie is now 4th in the league among PGs in PER, 6th in the league among all guards. Only Paul, Westbrook, Parker, Wade and Kobe have better PERs.

The numbers are (before tonight's game)

Paul - 26.12
Wade - 23.52
Kobe - 23.44
Westbrook - 23.09
Parker - 22.95
Irving - 22.30

I wish they had splits for PER because I suspect he has a better PER than most of that list this month. Only two players in the whole league are scoring more points per 36 minutes than Kyrie in January, that's Durant and Carmelo, and Kyrie is s far more efficient scorer than Carmelo.

[Silky Smooth]

I love both alternates. I think the yellows look so clean.

It's gold bro.

[Nathan S]

Kyrie's sophomore season

Before the last two games: 45.9/40.0/83.4 splits, 23.1 points per game

After the last two games: 47.4/40.3/85.0 splits, 24.0 points per game

Durant's sophomore season: 47.6/42.2/86.3 splits, 25.3 points per game

And yes, Durant is the only player in NBA history to hit .45/.40/.85 splits with 20+ points per game in his sophomore year. He could have company very soon.

[BimboColesHair]

I'll just leave this here:

Kyrie Irving is the best isolation scorer in the NBA (minimum 100 plays): 1.07 points per play; 50.3 FG%. Melo is 11th-best in PPP (0.92).

— Jared Zwerling (@JaredZwerling) January 25, 2013

[Lottery God]

Kyrie's sophomore season

Before the last two games: 45.9/40.0/83.4 splits, 23.1 points per game

After the last two games: 47.4/40.3/85.0 splits, 24.0 points per game

Durant's sophomore season: 47.6/42.2/86.3 splits, 25.3 points per game

And yes, Durant is the only player in NBA history to hit .45/.40/.85 splits with 20+ points per game in his sophomore year. He could have company very soon.

If you go by Per 36 numbers, Kyrie's PPG actually edges out Durant. I expect Kyrie's stats to go up across the board as we start to possibly win more this second half of the season and he gains some consistency in playing time for once. I wouldn't be surprised if Kyrie were averaging closer to 26 or 27 points per game by the end of the season.

[warddj86]

It's gold bro.

I know, I was just disagreeing with shoes22, who referred to them as all-yellows.

[rome8180]

[JiggleIt]

It's so, so early...but he does have the POTENTIAL to be one of the greatest scorers of the last 30 years or so.

The weapons he has in his arsenal are unrivaled at his age. I cannot think of a single scorer, that at 20 could score in EVERY single way there is. He can score on jumpers off the dribble, he can make layups in traffic, he has a floater, he can post, he can use the glass and he's one of the best three point shooters in the league. In addition to that he has some of the best ball-handling skills in the league.

I just can't think of anyone that could do ALL of that at his age. I don't even know what the next step is for him scoring-wise, because he already has all of the tools and he's both efficient and performs well late in games. I'd think the next step would have more to do with passing and defense, because you can't ask for more scoring-wise. It's unreal.

The thing that always blows my mind is that spin he puts on the ball when he lays it up in traffic.

We're watching a guy that really could end up one of the greatest scorers of all time. It's pretty fun.

[Baseline Runner]

20 years ago there was a guy in the league by the name of Michael Adams. He played point guard for the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets at this time were a horrendous team and Adams had the green light to shoot as much as he wanted. While he could definitely put some points on the board with the ability to shoot and drive, he was nowhere near efficient. He averaged 27 points and 11 assists a game one season, probably one of the best statistics a guard has put up in those categories. But then you look at the finer details and you see that he shot under 40% from 2, under 30% from three and had almost four turnovers a game. With his team finishing a dismal 20-62, it is clear he wasn't helping his team win despite the tremendous numbers.

What's scary about Kyrie is that he the potential to put up even better numbers, perhaps 30 points a game, and not at the poor efficiency of Adams but actually lead leading efficiency. I can't think of the last time a PG averaged more than 30 points a game or lead the league in scoring. Derrick Rose is the only guy of recent memory that comes close.