Kyrie Irving. NBA champion. 4x NBA All-Star. All-Star Game MVP. All-NBA Third Team. FIBA World Cup MVP. 2 time USA Basketball gold medalist (FIBA World Cup 2014, Rio Olympics 2016). NBA Rookie of the Year. The most fearsome finisher in the NBA today. His handles are arguably the best in the league, (at worst, he’s top 3), he can create off the dribble, and he’s a scorching sharpshooter. He is one of the few guys in the league that can go get you a bucket regardless of what you throw his way. Kevin Durant said Kyrie is more skilled than Allen Iverson (to put it in context, he said that "Kyrie is better than AI…skill for skill” (he didn’t say he was the overall better player, so settle down). Allen Iverson himself said of Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving, “those guys are next level. I didn’t have the handle they do.” Add to that his fearlessness, ferocity, and the force with which he finishes, and you have the foundation for one of the most explosive offensive players in the league. Throw in the fact that he has arguably the most outstanding off-hand in the game and you’d be hard pressed to find a way to stop him. Irving uses that insane ability to carve out space. Trying to keep him in front of you is trying to catch water in your hands, and his jumper is equally as wet. He finished this past season with a career best 25.2 points per game (while posting career numbers of 47.3% from the field, and 90.5% from the foul line), which was 11th best in the league (just ahead of guys like Karl-Anthony Towns, KD, Jimmy Butler, and Paul George). That number jumped up to 25.9 points per game during the playoffs. Let’s not mince words here: Kyrie is likely the single most scintillating offensive talent in the league with his ability to get you a bucket no matter what you throw in his way, and he might legitimately have more talent in his left hand than even some natural lefties in the league.
A veteran of 3 consecutive NBA Finals, Irving has grown exponentially in the 6 years he’s been in the league. An injury risk the bulk of his early career, this past season showed his durability given how he attacked the basket every game he played. While he talks about the "Mamba Mentality” and how Kobe has influenced him, his forceful forays to the rim remind me of young Dwyane Wade with his “fall down 7, get up eight” campaign. His game was also influenced by his godfather Rod Strickland, but the Blue Devil is a whole new breed. His work with Micah Lancaster is the stuff of legend, and his footwork is supremely sumptuous. He can drag dribble, pull back, step back, side step, pivot, spin, reverse pivot, shoulder shimmy, and fade seemingly all in the same move and still be on balance enough to make the shot. This dude is a problem.