In a somewhat comical yet harsh column, Mike Polk Jr. of Cleveland.com breaks down Kyrie Irving‘s highly publicized trade request as the former NBA champion reportedly wants out of Cleveland. The Cavaliers have been fielding offers for their All-Star point guard but at this juncture, no deal appears close. Polk believes that Irving’s ego is clouding his judgment and could ultimately ruin his legacy.
Irving has notoriously been criticized for his defense, something that, depending on who you ask, stems from his lack of defensive skill or defensive effort. While scoring is not an issue for Irving (25.2 PPG in 2016/17), team’s — at least so far — have not blown the Cavaliers away with offers. Polk opines that Irving’s attitude and limited defense may be scaring off suitors and that alone is a red
However, Irving and James could both be on their way out by the end next season, which could put the Cavaliers in a dire situation. Therefore, fans should embrace their superstar duo and Irving should set aside his desire to “lead a team” in lieu of making possibly one final run at the title, Polk writes. It may be easier said than done, but with three NBA Finals appearances and one title on their combined resume, Irving and James have proven they can be successful together.
Read more Irving-related news tidbits below:
- In another Cleveland.com column, Bud Shaw criticizes Irving for not addressing his trade demand. Instead, Irving is focused on his brand with Shaw citing a recent sneaker release in which Irving collaborated with Kobe Bryant. Irving has been bashed throughout the NBA for wanting to break up a super team to create a core in which he’s the leader. Shaw writes that the Cavaliers’ hope is for Irving to assure interested teams he will not pull a similar stunt in two years when his current deal expires, which should facilitate a deal.
- On a recent edition of The BBall Breakdown Podcast, ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin reported that Irving went several days last postseason without speaking to his Cavaliers teammates. “Phoenix, of course, hired James Jones this offseason,” McMenamin said (via USA Today). He’s been inside that locker room. He’s seen Kyrie Irving – I think I reported this on SportsCenter this week – he saw Kyrie Irving in the playoffs this year – in between the first round when they beat Indiana and the second round when they played Toronto – go consecutive days without speaking to a teammate at practice.” With Irving a seeking a chance to lead, reports of him secluding himself from teammates contradicts his reported intentions.
Kenneth Faried, Jamal Murray, Tyler Lydon, 2018 DEN 1st, and 2020 DEN 1st (Top 3 Protected) for Kyrie. That’s the best offer the Cavs will receive because of Kyrie’s attitude and one-dimensional play
Thank Kyrie for the sole ring the Cavs have, he won Game 7 2016 period.
Lebrons triple double and game saving block were pretty useless.
Yea they were, that didn’t decide the game.
My goodness your ignorance knows no bounds. Without LeBron averaging a triple double and without the block, Kyrie is in no position to take the shot.
LBJ can carry a team on his shoulders while Irving needs LBJ to win. LBJ knows how to make everyone around him better. Irving just makes himself better and I remember one game, Irving scored 50 points and no assists!
OK let me think about that. No.
That is a decent offer… for a team building for the future. Maybe next year!
This is horsecrap, why doesn’t anything ever get mentioned about Lebron? His defense is the reason they lost in the Finals.
Lebron is the only reason the cavs have been in the finals the past 3 seasons.
Yea sure Lebron can’t even carry that team when they are losing, Kyrie is always the one that brings them back. Incredible how that fool decides to come back for one last year knowing he’s leaving. I hate that spoiled cry baby, get all you need to win and still get rocked in 5 games. How can you people seriously cheer for the man?
How stupid can you be? The Cavs without LeBron on the floor are awful which is why he had to play almost every minute in the finals. Kyrie is known as a clutch player because LeBron has enabled him to be in clutch situations. If LeBron didn’t come to Cleveland, Kyrie wouldn’t have made the playoffs yet.
For one, he blew off the Knicks.
So you talk about having all you need but don’t mention how the team that won 73 games last year, who they beat, signed the 2nd or 3rd best player in the game. You are a joke.
Yes Kyrie is a great scorer and yes he did hit the winning shot but you forget the fact that if it wasn’t for the LBJ then Kyrie would’t be in the position he was in.
LBJ is perhaps the ONLY player that can go 34/12/10 with 1 block and 1 st per game in the finals and still be held responsible for the loss.
And this is coming from someone who’s more of a Kyrie/Cavs than a LBJ fan although I have nothing but respect for him.
The Cleveland writers are afraid if they write anything negative about LeBron it will hurt their chances if keeping him…Even though, most accounts and reports already have him leaving…
Instead, they are deciding to side with LeBron and bashing Kyrie for making a choice any young basketball superstar would make…
Kyrie does not want to be left carrying the trash that LeBron leaves Cleveland picking up when he leaves…If anything, Cleveland and their fans should be thanking Kyrie!! At least Kyrie is giving Cleveland a chance to regain some value for him, unlike LeBron who has sapped them dry of any money or assets, while consistently moaning and complaining his way to creating a future disaster for the Cavaliers….Only to leave Cleveland empty handed, whenever he sees greener pastures elsewhere!!
Ohhh, but wait “LeBron single-handedly” delivered Cleveland a title…So, apparently he can do whatever he wants without Cleveland or its fans saying one negative word about him while he is there…
Well, here’s a news flash, LeBron has never single-handedly won crap!! It was not only Kyrie that struggled on defense last season, LeBron was even arguably the worse defender of the two…Which at least Kyrie was giving his max effort…LeBron is a more than capable defender, but he chose to slack off on defense which is twice as bad…
I just cannot wrap my mind around Cleveland the organization, it’s writers, or its fan’s…How do you praise a man that constantly holds your franchise by the throat, that ruins your franchises future assets, that has consistently complained until he got the players he wanted, and then continues to complain that he doesn’t have enough talent beside him when he is the reason they are in a financial disaster by basically forcing them to sign his friends to ridiculous contracts…And then he is going to leave you high and dry, with a smile on his face, while your franchise tries to recover over the next 5 seasons from his own forced mistakes…??? How is he even remotely likeable?? Why do you all praise him as some type of all-time great, when he wasn’t even the main reason you all won that series…Ironically, it was the man you all are booing, as he tries to atleast allow Cleveland to get something in return when he leaves….
Why do you keep on with such rubbish? Irving regressed in 2017 vs 2016, for obvious reasons. Time to go.
How exactly did Irving regress??
Irving outplayed Curry in the 2016 finals; Curry seemed to almost give up. Not the case in 2017, where his 42 pt game was the one cleve was going to win anyway, being so mad about blowing gm 3 and being down so far again. The Cavs played with intent that day and Irving just converted the shots.
Irving gunned the ball especially when James was out and was imbalanced in energy output, favoring offense, so most of his stats look good. We now know he had other priorities.
He’s still valuable; experience has taught him how to avoid injury-causing situations (he takes shorter steps into the lane IMO) and he wants to build something somewhere else.
The Cleveland defense as a whole unit greatly regressed. Not to mention, the build up was for LeBron to handle and take care of Kevin Durant defensively, and well we all saw how that matchup turned out…
Not to mention, Curry was also much more effective because he didn’t have to worry about Thompson or anyone else clogging the middle. Thompson was invisible at times, and it makes it twice as tough on all of your perimeter defenders when you cannot trust that your interior defenders will have your back…
Last season Kyrie and Thompson played excellent defense TOGETHER!! Kyrie was able to slow down Curry’s penetration, and when Curry got to the lane, Kyrie funneled him off to Thompson and sometimes LeBron, who successfully dominated the post defensively…
LeBron, this series, was forced more outside on the perimeter to guard KD and others. LeBron just simply could not handle his defensive assignment, so much so, often times Lue switched LeBron elsewhere…Also, as with Kyrie, LeBron had trouble staying in front of his man, and he had zero help when he tried to funnel his man down to the post defender….
Both players played bad defense this series, but defensively the worst player was that ghost of Thompson…It was obvious the Warriors simply outgunned the Cavs, and several of their players ended up wearing out and playing matador defense throughout the series…
LeBron couldn’t handle his match up at all, Kyrie couldn’t handle his match up, and Thompson simply couldn’t handle anyone…To solely blame Kyrie is just ignorant, and it really shows a lack of understanding about the game of basketball…
Then again, blaming Kyrie for everything the Cavs haven’t accomplished, and giving LeBron all the accolades of what they have accomplished, honestly seems to be the new trend these days…Regardless how wrong that statement is, unfortunately…
But let everyone continue blaming Kyrie, eventually fans will open up their eyes, when LeBron struggles this season…Especially during crunch time, but I’m sure LeBron and everyone else will just blame it on his lack of help around him…lol It has just gotten comical at this point
I do not blame Irving “solely”. I agree, Durant did at least distract James, and often outpaced him. Thompson was an ineffective lane patroller.
But Irving did not show the same spark, until James came out and he showed too much, taking poor shots without looking at teammates. He is actually a better shooter than his ’17 stats show due to gunning. Meanwhile Curry was back to being comfortable, driving or not.
LOL
Poor little hater
Did LeBron beat your team?
Hating is saying things that aren’t true, solely because you dislike someone….
I don’t dislike LeBron…I just don’t see why people in Cleveland like him soo much…
Every statement I made was and still holds true..Sometimes the truth hurts Lord Banana…
Yea man i hate Lechoke James.
LBJ can carry a team on his shoulders while Irving needs LBJ to win. LBJ knows how to make everyone around him better. Irving just makes himself better and I remember one game, Irving scored 50 points and no assists!
There
Ther is a good reason why LeBron passes up the chance to take game winning shots…
And you act like LeBron won anything before Wade, Bosh, Allen, Irving, and Love…
@bravesfan88 – James drove winning immediately upon arriving despite playing a new position on a previously losing team, at 18.
You have a hang-up which causes distortions of facts. The James ‘system’ has worked everywhere.
It wasn’t the “James system” in Miami.. It was the Riley and Wade system…but I probably just distorted that fact as well..lol
You seriously are delusional. In terms of assets, what worthy draft picks are you expecting a team with the best record in the East to have? How many impact draft picks have the Warriors had? It’s unfortunate but it’s the price a team pays to keep a title contender on the floor. You think Curry and Durant are doing anything to make sure the GSW has good future assets? You think any GM wouldn’t sell their soul to be in the finals 3 years in a row?
The worst thing I can say about LBJ and his disregard for the team’s long-term future is the drama he allows to circulate regarding where he’s going next year (which I really don’t think is decided already), the fact that he makes sure he demands every dollar he can (I guess being the VP of the players association kind of makes him do that) and the fact that thru his best/friend agent Rich Paul he was able to sort of force the Cavs to overpay for Smith and Thompson who are both signed to Paul’s agency. Other than that he’s the reason why Love and others even want to play for the Cavs. Cavs have a title. I have no complaints. He can kick rocks next year if he wishes and we still have our title. New chapter to write and yes it might be tough. Who cares? Cleveand fans are used to it but can still hold on to 2016.
You get role players, you take chances on draft and stash guys, you sometimes stumble upon late round gems…You at least try to bring in one rookie every year to help mold into am eventual role player…That’s what sustainable winning franchises do with late round picks…
And if you’re okay with all of that you mentioned, well more power to you then…
This is so ridiculous. A) I do agree that LBJ leaves a team high and dry. B) At least he honors his contract and gives an organization all he has while he’s under contract. C) Kyrie wanted to be traded the moment LBJ came to town because he didn’t want to share the spotlight. D) He wanted to be traded right after winning the title. Who does that
I’m a Kyrie fan. While I agree that it was good for him to voice his dissatisfaction and desire to be traded instead of sulking he is an absolute fool for the reasons he wants to be traded. Derek Jeter may have felt resentment towards Arod when he was signed but he made it work because he had confidence in who he was and knew the team was better with Arod instead of w/ out him.
Also, show me any team in the NBA’s recent history where they won a chip with 1 star player? Most of the teams he asked to be traded to have a player that is considered to be better than him and the leader of that team (Butler, Kawhi, etc). He’s my favorite player but his stated reasons for wanting to leave are selfish and short-sighted. Say what you want about LBJ but he has been a team player while under contract for that team. He wants to win chips and that’s it.
Dallas, San Antonio, and Golden State’s first title…Each team really had one great player…They each may have had other really strong starters, some even all-stars, but AT THE TIME they each had one great player…Although, I realize that point is very arguable…so moving on… lol
Now, while I do see the two as slightly similar situations, that’s just a poor comparison for two reasons….Both knew the other player wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon…Plus, baseball is more of a team sport, one all-star player doesn’t nearly have the impact in baseball as one would in basketball…
And oh lord…C’mon man… don’t say he honors his contract like it is some actual commitment or achievement…It is simply nothing more than a series of one year deals, and last I checked those are pretty easy to honor…lol You had to know, I was going to easily see through that..haha..
And Kyrie’s demands are anything but short-sighted…He’s looking at his long-term goals, and yes those goals are personal ones…He just simply wants no part of a so-called “team” created by the one man that’s about to walk out the door…
MOST IMPORTANTLY- He wants to be part of an ACTUAL TEAM, with a strong head coach, leadership (Thibs, Doc, Pop, etc.), and he wants to be part of a team that isn’t completely ran and manipulated by one of his peers!!!
Kobe is better than LeBron
Kobe missed the playoffs one year and was a 7th seed the next with a team better than the team LeBron took the finals and turned into a perennial playoff team. Then, after those two years, Kobe requested a trade. LeBron turns any team he’s on into a contender. Kobe doesn’t. Saying Kobe is better than LeBron shows how non existent your basketball knowledge is. LeBron has only one player he’s competing with for #1 of all time and that’s Michael Jordan.
Kobe also competed in the West…not the East…Just saying…lol
There’s too much of a difference between finals appearance and not making the playoffs for that point to work
Trade Kyrie to LaVar’s team
That Indiana series… IMO the Cavs game plan looked to me like it was designed to rehearse in anticipation of GSW. That could have caused some stress.
They pushed a wide-open game (to the point of dysfunction) instead of working their ossessions through the PG. The intention would be to not be surprised by the GSW style and fall behind early like happened the first two series. They wanted to avoid being in a physical hero-ball rut and be slow to adjust. Turned out GSW was confrontational instead and they got the jump again! But the Pacers seemed unhappy and fell.
Anyway the story is people seem to be looking for a reaspn to dislike Irving. If the Cleveland media is doing it, there might be word of a trade.
Kyrie defense…skill or will? Not a skill issue! Look at the finals two years ago. He mugged steph curry! Outplayed him on both ends! He has the skill. He lacks the will to bring it every night. Bad coaching and he is tired of licking LBJ’s boots.
How can you blame the coaching for his defense?
I’m really tired of this “licking his boots” talk. Please explain to me, factually, what LBJ is doing to Kyrie that is so bad? And this is coming from a Kyrie fan, not a LBJ fanboy.