My Sportsman of the Year: Anderson Varejao
December 2, 2014No Going Back: It’s Johnny Football Time
December 2, 2014In the depths of section 201 sits a Cavs fan whom everyone knows. You’ve heard him if you’ve been inside of Quicken Loans Arena during a game. You’ve heard him if you’ve listened closely to your television. You’ve read tweets about him. You’ve wondered what the hell he could be thinking. He’s the guy who, when Kyrie Irving steps to the free throw line and the arena turns dead silent, belts chants of “MVP” at a lung-exploding volume. And it’s not just once or twice; it’s every…single…time.
The tongue-in-cheek nature of this gentleman’s otherwise obnoxious exploits. After all, this isn’t an action specific to this season, and chanting MVP while any member of the rank and file hoist free throws has become the new ironic humor amongst NBA fans. (Because it’s funny when MVP chants rain down upon the Luke Harangodys of the world.) The catch is, this time around, at least for these last few weeks, despite Irving being second banana in Cleveland, said gentleman may not have been too far off.
Currently, Kyrie Irving ranks 22nd among all NBA players in 2014-15 PER. Anthony Davis and Steph Curry and Marc Gasol are all rightfully in the legitimate MVP discussion through the first few weeks of the season. But when one realizes that names like Brandan Wright and Mo Speights should see their names tumble down the list in due time, and gives a look at Irving’s early season return, while he may not be in consideration for the actual MVP award come this summer, Cavalier fans may finally be seeing their All-Star point guard physically take the step that he’s been speaking of for the last two seasons.
Head to a Cavaliers’ practice or shootaround, and it’s Kyrie Irving, the reigning All-Star MVP, who is oftentimes the last guard to leave his respective basket. While big men focus on footwork and other big men things, the guards are oftentimes left working with coaches on mid-range and perimeter shooting. As the Mike Millers and Shawn Marions of the world go off to ice their aging bodies, and LeBron James is surrounded by a horde of media members, it’s Irving who is hoisting corner three after corner three.1 But all of that first-one-in-last-one-out trope can only carry someone so far—there comes a point where they have to execute upon all of the work they’ve been putting in to that point.
The fourth-year pro is averaging 21.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, numbers that will by no means wow anyone looking at the league’s top point guards. But once one digs a little deeper into those otherwise standard Kyrie Irving statistics, they’ll see that Irving’s producing numbers akin to previous years, but doing so while taking the fewest amount of shots per game since his rookie season. After seasons of being forced to carry the Cavaliers’ load on the offensive end, Irving, who took over 18 shots per game during his second season as a pro, is barely taking 15 attempts thus far though 2014-15. That field goal percentage that seemed to be trending downward from his stellar (but shortened) rookie campaign? It’s reaching new highs large in part to patience and the fact that Irving no longer has to create his own shots every time down the floor. His catch-and-shoot percentage has skyrocketed from 35.7 percent in 2013-14 to 46.5 percent this season. On catch-and-shoot three-pointers alone, Irving has seen a jump from 31.6 percent to 48.6 percent. This improvement can’t be overstated.
Perhaps its a function of having some of the focus taken off of him from a defensive standpoint, but Irving has been able to play off of his teammates just as much as they have him. He’s taking fewer shots in the restricted area, leading to less beating on his 190-pound frame, and he’s doing more with less—all of which has led to a turnaround of sorts for the Cavaliers as they head into Wednesday night’s game looking for their fourth-straight win.
When Irving isn’t showing substantial improvements on the offensive end, he’s largely used the last two weeks to finally walk the walk on the defensive side of the ball. For years, the Cavaliers were abused in pick-and-roll situations as Irving would either go under a screen and leave his man for a wide open shot, or call for a switch and allow his teammates to either be taken off the dribble or force them to be out of position when the ball swings around to an open three-point shooter. No NBA team can effectively rotate help-side defense on every possession, and as the Cavs had been three-pointed to death over the last three seasons, it’s no coincidence that Kyrie Irving has also been the first line of defense.
This season, especially over the course of the last several weeks, Irving has shown improved willingness and ability to fight through screens, forcing his man to make another decision. When the Cavaliers played the Washington Wizards in Washington in front of a nationally televised audience, Wizards point guard John Wall obliterated the Cavs, doing so with a dizzying array of dribble drives, fast break opportunities and 18-to-20-foot jump shots. There was plenty of switching and even more laziness.
But fast forward to last week in Cleveland and Wall, who was averaging 21 points and 12 assists heading into the game, left Quicken Loans Arena having played one of his worst games of his career, scoring just six points.
Wall’s slight output wasn’t necessarily due to missed attempts like was the case with Tony Parker when the Cavs played the San Antonio Spurs a week earlier. It was more so due to the Cavs limiting fast break opportunities and Irving blanketing his man, forcing the pass rather than allowing a drive or shot. One look through the play log and you’ll find five instances of line items that end with “Wall Turnover: Bad Pass.”
Watch as Irving fights through a Marcin Gortat on-ball screen, stays with Wall thanks to his feet as opposed to his hands, and forces the pass which is subsequently stolen and flung down the court for a fast break attempt the other way.
“Why can’t I be a great defender?” Irving asked, rhetorically, following the team’s recent win over the Indiana Pacers. “It’s all about effort. My first three years it was making excuses of offensive burden and all this other stuff. At the end of the day I have to do it for the greater good of our team. In order for our team to win, I have to be that guy on the defensive end. You can only talk about it for so long. At one point it just has to be done.”
The talk about offensive burden isn’t inaccurate, but it was by no means a legitimate excuse to not decide to play defense. He spent a good portion of his summer with players who pride themselves on the defensive end, and showed flashes of what he could do when tasked with defending international players in the FIBA tournament. It’s also no coincidence that as Irving has stepped up his defensive tenacity at the top of the key, the Cavaliers have been able to force more turnovers, crank up their pace, and catch opponents off balance on the other end of the floor.
“I’d rather help other guys and be in a position to help and stop my guy instead of the other way around and always being that guy on film,” Irving said. “I was on film a lot the last three years. You get tired of it after awhile. You want to be that guy your teammates trust on day in/day out basis.”
As luck would have it, the Cavs have allowed over 100 points just once in their last six games, including a season-low 74 points in their recent win over the Orlando Magic. Per NBA.com’s stats page (via Fear the Sword), the Wine and Gold have allowed just 98.2 points per 100 possessions in their last six games, a number that puts them right up there with the Memphis Grizzlies’ defense, which is currently ranked fifth in the league this season. Like an NFL defense attempting to stop the run, the further behind the line of scrimmage the ball-carrier gets hit, the less likely that a play goes for extended yardage. As Irving has started to cut through would-be screeners, opposing point guards are shifted off of their desired path and have to quickly move to Plan B. Thankfully, for the Cavs, that Plan B includes two more of the top 25 players in the entire league.
This past week, LeBron James took home yet another Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. James led Cleveland to a perfect 3-0, averaging 25.7 points on .510 shooting, including .800 (24-30) from the foul line, 5.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.3 steals in 33.0 minutes per game. He was the only NBA player to average at least 25 points, five rebounds and eight assists per game, yet was third in plus-minus (plus-57). Second was Cavs power forward Kevin Love who notched a plus-68. First? Yeah, that was Kyrie Irving.2
____________________
2 Comments
The transformation the last few weeks has been dramatic. In one of the first games someone posted a gif of him spinning 360 degrees while defending, totally guessing (wrongly) which way his man and the ball would go. And that’s when he was trying to play D. I wondered how the basketball muscle memory of anyone of his skill level would permit him to defend in such a blatantly ineffective way. Last few games he’s competing every possession. With his new contract, signed before he knew LeBron would be strolling in as the team Alpha, it didn’t have to be this way. Kudos to him – every year he’s mouthed words about commitment to defense and I didn’t anticipate a sudden change without lots more head butting.
Dion, on the other hand … he may be following LeBron around between games but once he takes the floor he’s so clearly fighting his chuck-it demons, hesitating slightly every touch while he contemplates what he’s supposed to do versus what his Philly self demands he do. Love Dion, but I don’t know if he can make it here, if there will be a benching or blow up that can change his stubborn thinking before LeBronBlatt decides enough, he’s the best bait for big men available after December 15th.
Kyrie’s defense was exactly league average and in some areas of his game, better than that (not parade-worthy, I know) in his 2nd year. His first and 3rd years his defense was abysmal. So I would say he’s shown some solid defense before but now he’s showing marked improvement.
Dion was ruined by Byron Scott who never took him off for defensive lapses. I’ve been a Dion apologist but there’s nothing but hard-core pine time that will change his outlook on his defensive responsibilities. He’s in devoit Sasha P “my offense is my defense” mode and only a 30-game stretch of minimal minutes can improve that.