Kyrie Irving

[BimboColesHair]

There isn't much, conditioning wise, the kid shouldn't have been able to do with or without a broken hand. I remember hearing Scott use this as an excuse, as well. Terrible. You can still do plenty in the name of good defense and cardio with a broken hand. The toe? I get that. Very limiting on what you can do when you can barely walk right. But, this concept of he didn't have a true offseason because of his hand is absolute garbage. Not to mention, that happenned not too long before SL was starting. Plenty of time between the end of his rook season and breaking the hand.

It's just an absolute garbage excuse.

Easy there, I'm not using it as an excuse. He is behind in terms of where his body should be 2 years into the NBA and this is because he has been hurt both off seasons, that's not an excuse it's reality. And having the broken wrist definitely limits what he can do in terms of drills for defense. For one, I bet the Cavs training staff said he can do no contact drills, which means no fighting through screens, no post defense, no one on one defense, pretty much nothing where he touches anything. He can work on footwork sure, but that's not even close to doing full contact drills vs another person. As for the conditioning, he can be in much better shape, I don't know if it's because the training staff didn't want him doing anything this summer with the wrist or he just decided not to himself, but he has to get that in order eventually or we're gonna see him getting dusted by his man every night. As for the plenty of time between the end of the year and SL, do you really think these guys go from regular season right into training? They take fairly long vacations and do very little over summer. Shit, LeBron and Durant don't do their off season workouts together in Akron until early September. The injuries are a legit hindrance on where he should be as a player right now, and training with some of the best players in the league as a 20-21 year old will be life changing for the guy.

[Jon]

I just wish we had a defensive scheme that didn't depend on Kyrie to fight through screens or Alonzo Gee to guard his man.

[The Human Q-Tip]

I just wish we had a defensive scheme that didn't depend on Kyrie to fight through screens or Alonzo Gee to guard his man.

You could switch, or play more of a zone, but that still requires KI to put forth defensive effort, and inevitably creates other mismatches. And there really isn't any scheme that can properly compensate for someone not putting for effort on the defensive end. As good as MB's teams were defensively, Mo still killed us on that end.

[Jon]

You could switch, or play more of a zone, but that still requires KI to put forth defensive effort, and inevitably creates other mismatches. And there really isn't any scheme that can properly compensate for someone not putting for effort on the defensive end. As good as MB's teams were defensively, Mo still killed us on that end.

I wouldn't do either: switching and going zone are crutches compared to teammates communicating, showing hard on screens, and rotating quickly to pick up guys left open. It's been a question mark with Byron since we got him whether he can coach a system rather than coach talent & effort, and I've seen nothing to make me believe this team doesn't need a defensive coordinator from the Van Gundy/Popovich/Larry Brown tree.

Boston turned their defense great by picking up Thibodeau from the Rockets. When Thibodeau took over the Bulls he had no problems pilfering Ron Adams from the OKC Thunder.

Mo killed us when he was teamed with crappy front court help defenders who couldn't execute the defense.

It would have nice if we could have somehow held on to Mike Malone.

[pinoycavsfan]

found this on youtube, kyrie practicing for the 3 point shootout

[Nathan S]

I had him for 4+3+5+3+6 = 21, which would have been good enough to win the finals in 21 of the 27 contests so far...not too shabby.

[mAo_mAo]

I had him for 4+3+5+3+6 = 21, which would have been good enough to win the finals in 21 of the 27 contests so far...not too shabby.

Did you just waste your time computing his score when there is actually a scoreboard in the video???

[Nathan S]

Did you just waste your time computing his score when there is actually a score board in the video???

Yes

EDIT: Could be worse, I could have added wrong

[Dr. Gymbo]

found this on youtube, kyrie practicing for the 3 point shootout

That's really cool and all, but I'd rather that he worked on his defense.

[Lottery God]

Yes

EDIT: Could be worse, I could have added wrong

It IS worse! You put a comma where you should have put a period! Randy will be displeased.

[Cassity14]

I expect him to do well in the contest. He's got nerves of steel and a simple, effortless jumpshot. It's not like he gets way off the ground and is subject to large fatigue after shooting 50+ jumpers.

[ArchieBunker7]

Easy there, I'm not using it as an excuse. He is behind in terms of where his body should be 2 years into the NBA and this is because he has been hurt both off seasons, that's not an excuse it's reality. And having the broken wrist definitely limits what he can do in terms of drills for defense. For one, I bet the Cavs training staff said he can do no contact drills, which means no fighting through screens, no post defense, no one on one defense, pretty much nothing where he touches anything. He can work on footwork sure, but that's not even close to doing full contact drills vs another person. As for the conditioning, he can be in much better shape, I don't know if it's because the training staff didn't want him doing anything this summer with the wrist or he just decided not to himself, but he has to get that in order eventually or we're gonna see him getting dusted by his man every night. As for the plenty of time between the end of the year and SL, do you really think these guys go from regular season right into training? They take fairly long vacations and do very little over summer. Shit, LeBron and Durant don't do their off season workouts together in Akron until early September. The injuries are a legit hindrance on where he should be as a player right now, and training with some of the best players in the league as a 20-21 year old will be life changing for the guy.

Football players play in a far more violent environment with broken hands all the time. Sorry, but this post comes off as even more of a bs excuse than the first one. Defense is 75% mentality. You have to want it. A large part of it is also having the proper conditioning to make it happen on both ends. Far, far, far more often than not KI isn't bad on D because he lacks knowledge or ability, it is because he is just pure lazy. It's like watching Groundhog Day when you see a pick coming Kyrie's way. I already know what's gonna happen. You see some fake ass effort and a PG come wide open.

And do you honestly think LeBron James is not in intense conditioning year round? Are you serious right now? It's all about dedication. And a broken hand should have about a 10% effect on his work ethic. There are still a ton of exercises and drills he could perform just fine.

I love Kyrie, but the excuses made for him are sometimes overboard.

[Jon]

Defense is not mostly about effort. It's not even primarily about effort. If it was there'd be a long line of tall guys willing to give effort in exchange for the sort of multi-million $$$ contract gladly handed out to gifted defensive specialists.

And defending a P&R is not about one guy doing the right thing, it's about 5 guys doing the right thing and helping each other out physically and verbally.

But yes, Cassity's excuse making was CavsFanticesque.

[ArchieBunker7]

Defense is not mostly about effort. It's not even primarily about effort. If it was there'd be a long line of tall guys willing to give effort in exchange for the sort of multi-million $$$ contract gladly handed out to gifted defensive specialists.

And defending a P&R is not about one guy doing the right thing, it's about 5 guys doing the right thing and helping each other out physically and verbally.

But yes, Cassity's excuse making was CavsFanticesque.

Don't change what I said. What I said was every time a pick comes Kyrie's way, he basically half asses his way around it. His subpar effort has nothing to do with his teammates or the proper ways a team defends a pick and roll.

And my point about effort/mentality is that without it there is no good D. Of course you have to have a good system, teammates that buy in, understand, and are willing, physical attributes, etc.

[chrisrich91]

Defense is not mostly about effort. It's not even primarily about effort. If it was there'd be a long line of tall guys willing to give effort in exchange for the sort of multi-million $$$ contract gladly handed out to gifted defensive specialists.

And defending a P&R is not about one guy doing the right thing, it's about 5 guys doing the right thing and helping each other out physically and verbally.

But yes, Cassity's excuse making was CavsFanticesque.

Let's not give Kyrie a pass on his effort though. When you have the kind of knowledge of the game that Kyrie obviously possesses, as well as good enough length and quickness, which Kyrie also possesses...then it's mostly about effort.

Kyrie sucks at defense right now because he isn't really trying to get better. Also, I think it's common knowledge and practice throughout the team and coaching staff to cover up for Kyrie and let him chill on defense so he can close out games. I've seen multiple occasions where he doesn't try to follow his man moving/cutting/curling off ball and kind of expects the next closest guy to switch immediately. It seems like it might be a part of the gameplan, which would be horrifying.