Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Kyrie Irving: On A Mission

I cannot lie, before this season, Kyrie Irving was not on my radar.  I knew he had a successful rookie season, but he is stuck in utter obscurity in Cleveland, right?  I started paying closer attention to Kyrie and the work that he is doing after talking to one of my good friends.  He kind of put his rookie season in perspective for me. 

Kyrie's goals as a rookie were not to lead the league in scoring, or have the most highlights on sportscenter.  This guy wanted to accomplish a feat that is very, very rare.  He wanted to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from the three point line, and 90% from the free throw line.  In case you are wondering, there is a small, select group of players who have ever accomplished this feat.  Dirk and Steve Nash are two that immediately come to mind.  Kyrie did not meet his goal, but he came relatively close for a rookie on a terrible team.  His stat line was 47% from the field, 40% from the the three point line and 87% from the free throw line.  Impressive.

Then, my boy told me about the Olympic tryouts this summer and how Kyrie dominated some of the biggest names in the game.  Check out this clip.
Then I saw another clip of Kyrie challenging Kobe Bryant to a game of one-on-one.
This kid is only 20 years old and is focused on being the best. Many believe he is in the class with Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose.

This year, he has come out the gates with even more firepower.  His team is still not great, but that is not stopping him from putting up all star numbers.  This year he is averaing 24 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds per game.  And, he seems to really elevate his game when he goes against another elite point guard.  He played extremely well against CP3 and the Clippers.  He had 24 points and 10 assists that game and his team came away with a win.  Last night, he went at Deron Williams in a losing effort.  He had 34 points and 8 assists.  If you have not been paying attention to this kid, you better stop sleeping.


Peace

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