Kyrie Irving: Is He Really The NBA’s 8th-Best? ESPN Says So

ESPN named Irving the NBA’s eighth-best player

Photo Credit: Erik Daniel Drost (Flickr.com)

Preseason NBA player rankings probably cause a bigger deal than they should. Sports Illustrated‘s rankings created some controversy after Kevin Durant said the 11th ranked James Harden deserved a spot in the top ten over Dwyane Wade, who came in at number eight. The two exchanged shots over social media (please take some time to view Wade’s peculiar handwriting), but nothing much else resulted from the beef. It mainly just gave us something to debate as we awaited the start of the regular season.

ESPN released their own list, ranking the top 500 players in the league. ESPN ranks the players by “[predicting] the overall level of play for each player for the upcoming NBA season. This includes both the quality and the quantity of his expected contributions.” It doesn’t matter how many rings players have won, how many All-Star games they’ve made, or how great they used to be. What matters is how good they think a player will do this season. The ESPN list caused some headlines when it ranked Wade 18th and Kobe Bryant 25th. The experts clearly thought that these two aging, oft-injured superstar guards would continue to regress to a lesser level of play this season.

The Cavaliers Kyrie Irving came in at number eight, after being ranked 22nd before last season. Only two years into his career, the number one overall pick from the 2011 draft has already had an impressive professional career. He won the Rookie of the Year award and received NBA All-Rookie First Team honors. He continue to thrive his sophomore season, making his first All-Star Game and winning the Three-Point Shootout that same weekend. Now, as he enters his third season, Irving will lead a very young Cavs team that has its eyes set on the postseason after three seasons in or near the Eastern Conference’s basement.

Irving is fantastic. That is undeniable. Very few players possess as great of skills as Irving. He is a constant highlight reel, with wicked crossovers and insane moves to split defenders. But this rank has interesting implications and places bigger expectations on Irving’s shoulder than he’s ever had before.

Coming in at number eight means that ESPN predicts Irving to perform better than Derrick Rose, Tony Parker, Marc Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, and Kevin Love, among others. Those six players have MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year trophies, Finals MVPs, scoring titles, and multiple All-Star game and playoff appearances to their names. Parker, entering his age 31 season, is the oldest player on the list, but last season he led the Spurs to as close as you can come to winning a title without actually winning one. Rose, meanwhile, seems to have returned to his MVP level of play after missing a year with a torn ACL. By ranking Irving at 8, ESPN’s experts feel that this is the year that Irving makes the leap from good young player to elite superstar.

This chart shows some of Irving’s key stats over his first two seasons. As he assumed a large role in the team’s offense last season, he put up four more points per contest; however, by both traditional methods and analytics, his shooting percentages all dropped. Irving was the main guy last season for the Cavs in a season of meaningless games. This season Irving will still be the number one option, but he’ll have better weapons to defer to when he struggles. Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters both have developed into more complete offensive threats, and a Andrew Bynum: What To Expect From The NBA’s Most Untrustworthy Center” href=”http://hoopshabit.com/andrew-bynum-expect-nbas-untrustworthy-center/” target=”_blank”>healthy Andrew Bynum could do wonders in transforming the team’s offense. Irving’s assists should rise this season with the increased amount of options. Also, a lessened workload should help him raise his shooting percentages to at least his rookie year’s level.

Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers shown in an undated photo. (Photo by slimm978/Flickr.com)

So, does Irving deserve being ranked the eighth-best player in the NBA? It’s tough to say. To justify the ranking, he’ll absolutely need to lead the Cavs to the playoffs. Furthermore, he’ll need to improve his shooting efficiency and defense. He’s also struggled with injuries during his brief career, and, although he appears 100 percent healthy during the preseason, he’ll need to stay on the court for a full season. It’s a lot to ask of someone who’s only entering his age 21 season, but the ESPN ranking only shows how highly people around the NBA think of his talent. Crazily enough, he’s still a few years away from reaching his full potential (ESPN actually named him one of the top candidates to reach the top 5 in the 2018). I have confidence in Kyrie to prove he deserved this ranking. Eventually, he’ll make the jump to elite player at some time just like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Rose have before him. If it’s not this year, it’ll be next year. I, like all other NBA fans, just hope the time is now.

[slider_pro id=”6″]