Kyrie Irving #2 PG 6'3"/195lbs Cleveland Cavaliers Born: Mar 23, 1992 Melbourne, Australia (Age: 19) College: Duke Former #1 overall pick Kyrie Irving has gotten off to a solid start for the Cavs, leading them to a 3-2 record through his first five games while recording very respectable numbers for a rookie..... PPG - 14.6 APG - 5.6 RPG - 3.8 FGs - 45.9% 3's - 46.2%
Irving has looked very good. He's so quick getting to the rack and he's so good at using spin off of the backboard when he drives down the lane. He's got the Cavs off to a 6-6 start and they look like they could compefirths the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Through 12 games (6-6) ~ 2011-12 Season PPG | APG | RPG | FG% | 3'% 17.7 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 48.2 | 41.9 Kyrie is putting up very good numbers early in his rookie campaign. His shooting percentages are very good for a guard, especially a rookie guard. He's only averaging 27 mins/game through his first 12 games. If he ends up playing about 40 mins/game, as most good young starters play in the NBA, his numbers would translate to about.... 25 PPG, 7.5 APG, 4.5 RPG. If that in fact happens, and Kyrie stays healthy, he'll not only be the Rookie of the Year, he'd also potentially be an all-star. The future looks bright in gloomy Cleveland.
Kyrie had a career high 32 points on 12-20 shooting and 6 rebounds in just 31 minutes in a 99-96 loss to the Nets tonight....
Irving is only going to get better and better, especially as the Cavs get better personnel around him... He is basically a shoe in at this point for ROY honors.
Irving had another very solid showing today with 23 Pts, the last two coming on a game winning layup with 2.6 seconds left. He added 4 Reb, 6 Ast, 1 Stl in 33 minutes while leading the Cavs to a 88-87 road win over the Celtics.
In his return from the concussion, Irving picked up where he left off in what's shaping up to be a lock of a season for ROY honors. Irving had 22 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and a block while shooting 8 of 12 overall 3 of 5 from 3, and 3 of 4 at the line as he led the Cavs to a 98-87 win, handing the Pacers their fifth straight loss. On the season: Through 27 games (24 played): 18.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.1 apg, 0.8 spg FG 49.2%, 3PT 41.3%, FT 83.0%
I don't know if Kyrue is a lock for ROY anymore... It depends on if they consider Jeremy Lin to be a Rook or a 2nd year player... Anybody know how that works? In baseball, Lin would still be considered a Rook, but they have the minor league system....???
Lin's only played 7 games, plus his scoring numbers will fall back significantly once Melo and Amare are back on the court. Plus with Wild Thing being out for a while with a fractured wrist, the Cavs will lean more on Irving to provide a spark so his production will likely improve for the foreseeable future. That and Lin is considered a 2nd year player, so he's out of the running for ROY. Nope, Irving will still be the lock.
There's no lock for ROTY... Rubio will be pushing Irving all the way. I think Irving wins it, but I think it'll be much closer than you think. As for Lin, I'm pretty sure he played a couple of games for Golden State last year.
Ricky Rubio = Tim Tebow of the NBA... overrated.... way overrated... ugh... enough already about Ricky Rubio every freaking sports commentators / broadcaster for ESPN... the guy can make some steals, he's a great flashy passer like Steve Nash... but he's shite offensively.... he's a terrible shooter and can't do much to spark a team offensively outside of distributing the ball. He's so overrated just because he's a flashy player... flashy doesn't get you wins Lil Ricky, take a note from your teammate Kevin Love... busting your @$$ for rebounds, making shots and free throws... that wins games... Hell look at the stat lines for Rubio from the 7th and 8th of this month when Love was serving his two game suspension... worst offense performances of the season short of the 14 assists on the 7th, yet with Love playing his stats go back up to average... no thanks... .... :annoyed: Stats and the player's value to their team are the ultimate merits that will decide this, Irving doesn't put up the assists that Rubio does, but he's a better shooter, and by far the much more important to his team of the two. Besides... how could you want to say that ROY should/possibly would go to a guy who sounds and looks like a ghey, Spanish, Muppet version of Justin Bieber???
It's not me you need to convince. There's no question in my mind Irving is better. I will defend Rubio though. His stat line is good: 10.7 PPG, 8.6 APG, 4.3 RPB, 3.2 TOPG, .374% FG%, 9.3 FG/G, .823 FT% That's a good stat line for a point guard. It's hard to compare Irving and Rubio by the stat line, because even though they both are technically PGs, Irving's game is closer to a SG/PG hybrid. I really think that offensively, Irving's and Rubio's production is comparable, though very different. On the defensive end is where Rubio loses big time. I agree that Irving is better... But Rubio isn't Tim Tebow. And if you do an internet search, you'll find that there are many media members that think Rubio is in the lead for ROTY.
I meant Rubio is the NBA Tebow in the sense that's he's an overrated media darling compared to his actual ability level. Rubios's stat line is only so good due to the fact he plays alongside Kevin Love. If you take Kevin Love away and the T'Wolves are an absolutely abysmal team... far worse than the Cavs last season abysmal. 0-16 Lions abysmal. If you take Rubio away from the T'Wolves they're about the same as they were last year. By contrast if one takes Irving away from the Cavs... look at last year, lol. However, here we are with 39 games left in the season and the Cavs with Irving are, up to this point of the season, on pace to finish around 25-30 wins, and still an outside possibility at making the playoffs. Not to mention they're a decent chance they'll improve more as the year goes on and win 30-35 games, with or without Varejao. But since Rubio is the flashier player he gets more of the media's attention and let's be honest, the media has crooned over the hack for the last 3 seasons... it took him two years after being drafted to crack into the NBA, and he's not really had a tremendous impact since getting here. Worth noting also is that Rubio merely facilitates the stud player of his team and gets his points and rebounds out of the scraps Love doesn't finish. Rubio spent 5 years playing and honing his game in the Euroleagues... Irving isn't the stud player of the Cavs either, but since they have no true stud player, he's stepping into that role and has made the Cavs a more improved and competitive team. And he's done it as a kid that played very little in college, and is a starter right out of the gate in the first season after being drafted. And if they wouldn't have changed the rules to require kids to play at least one year in college, Irving would've been drafted straight from HS. And he's starting as a rookie, since Day 1... Irving>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rubio. Now if only all the sports writing, supposedly know everything, pompous "gurus" would pull their heads outta their butts and stuff it, lol. That's why I hate most sportswriters... they're all about the attention and spotlight, like so many of the players they drool and fap to every night... It's why I love Tim May because he stays objective and says it how it is.