2019 NBA Playoffs: Player power rankings
No. 10: Kyrie Irving
The point guard for the Boston Celtics is an enigma, one of the more difficult stars in the league to evaluate. Positively, he is a special offensive talent like few others, scoring at an efficiency few guards can match while still setting up teammates.
He can shoot pull-up jumpers from anywhere, and when defenders guard him for the shot he drives into the paint and hits all manner of layups, leaners and floaters. No player in the league finishes as well as Kyrie Irving.
Looking at his individual numbers he is a fringe MVP candidate, the best offensive player on a talented Eastern Conference contender. Yet over the past two seasons the reality of Boston’s team success has not matched Irving’s narrative.
They made an unexpected run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season without him. This year he has been at the center of internal and external drama for a Celtics team that has fallen well short of expectations.
Irving should be in the best environment for him to thrive, in a system tailored to maximize him and get him high-quality shots. He plays almost exclusively alongside a plus defender at the 2, be that Marcus Smart or Jaylen Brown, freeing him up defensively.
Irving got what he wanted when he asked out of Cleveland — he is the leader of a contender. Yet his methods of leadership are bizarre and, based on the results, ineffective.
The hero of a Game 7 in the NBA Finals has earned some benefit of the doubt. He is a rare offensive player who does not tail off in any way in the playoffs. Since 2015 only four players have more 40-point playoff games than Irving.
Defensively he hits another gear as well, giving maximum effort at both ends of the court.
Will injuries rear their head as they have for Irving so many times, removing him from the playoff stage? Can he rally this Celtics team to play up to their potential and win easily against a damaged Indiana Pacers team?
With questions about his leadership and pending free agency swirling around him, Irving’s performance this postseason will be telling.