The Kyrie Kerfuffle
There is absolutely zero doubt that Kyrie Irving is one of THE most talented basketball players in the NBA. Kyrie Irving is an NBA Champion, and was arguable the second most important piece of the puzzle in bringing a championship to Cleveland.
Kyrie is a Duke grad, and by all accounts, an extremely bright individual. However, year after year, Kyrie continues to come across similar to Antonio Brown or Kanye West. The line between brilliance and brainless truly is fine, however the talent is undeniable.
In recent days, Kyrie Irving requested to be moved out of Brooklyn, handcuffing the franchise in the last days prior to the trade deadline, in his last contractually obligated year with the team. Because of this, we now have a fancy new team to discuss, and an extremely…intriguing pairing.
Kyrie Irving now joins the Dallas Mavericks and perennial potential NBA MVP candidate Luka Doncic. It has been no secret that for years Mark Cuban has been looking to draw superstars to Dallas, without much to show for it. He finally has traded for arguably the most talented player that will ever play in Dallas in recent years, outside of Luka. With that, the question begs, will this work?
Your first assumption would probably be, absolutely not. Many folks will point to Luka being the main ball handler, and there certainly is something to be said for the amount of usage Luka gets. Some will say Kyrie and Luka simply will not mesh, both being ball dominant offensive players. Christian Wood is a perennial loser, and has tanked locker rooms everywhere he’s been, quickly being moved.
However, I would argue that this, while a ticking time bomb, could be one of the most underrated rosters in the west moving forward. The Dallas offense is now extremely versatile, and VERY hard to stop. While Kyrie is technically a “point guard”, he is a phenomenal spot up shooter, and can play off ball as well as any other guard in the league. This also now gives the Mavericks the ability to stagger Kyrie with the second unit, finally giving them that second option Luka has never had. One other thing that is being overlooked, is this now takes pressure off of guys like Tim Hardaway and Christian Wood. While this teams floor may not have gotten a whole lot higher, their ceiling certainly has.
The only thing that could stop this team is the obvious: Ego. There are A LOT of ego’s in that locker room, head coach included. How well of a job will Jason Kidd do of properly managing the personalities on this team, and how far will they go because of it? If you ask me, this is Mark Cuban going all in, because this could absolutely end in a flaming mess, with Kyrie walking at the end of the season. But if you look at the potential, I’m sure Dallas fans are extremely optimistic.
And hey, it doesn’t hurt that Doncic and Kyrie agree about the shape of the earth…
Pattys Prediction: 45-37, Conference Semis Loss in 7.
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