Lol don't even compare kyrie to LeBron

Kyrie gives 100% effort night in night out. The same can't be said about LeBron. He doesn't care. Kyrie actually wants to win... you can see how disappointed and angry is with all these losses we are having.

This post was edited by GiantTony on Mar 4 2019 04:30pm

Sources around the team told me that Irving’s persona has changed, too: He’s become disengaged and detached from those around the team. There is talk that Irving’s friendships on the team start and end with Tatum, with whom he shares an agent. Two sources peg Irving’s change in demeanor to early February, around the time he was asked about the possibility of joining the New York Knicks next season. That’s when Irving infamously said he’d make the best decision for his family and that he didn’t “owe anybody s***.”

That's knew. Haven't seen that before

? as much as i dislike LeBron, comparing Kyrie to LeBron is a compliment lol. LeBron is probably the 2nd best NBA player of all time... However, I do agree & believe Kyrie wants to win more than LeBron, after LeBron's "I don't need to win in L.A." (paraphrasing) comment, pretty much says it all.

Kyrie does not give 100% effort night in and night out IMO, especially on defense. I don't blame him either; he knows the 1 and 2 seeds aren't attainable, and dropping farther than 6th is extremely implausible - and why bust your ass for a team you may or may not be playing for next season that has little chance of winning an NBA title (this season)?

I'm not comparing their standing in the game. I'm comparing their effort. And this season kyrie has been lightyears ahead of LeBron..

Not sure where this lack of effort on defense comes from. Every game i've watched this season (which is all but 3, I think?) he has looked 100% commited on defense and for rebounds (unlike lebron) he doesn't pressure the full court like rozier or smart, but almost no one does anymore so who cares about that. He does his best to stay with the ball handler on the perimeter, works hard to get around screens and does a pretty good job of contesting jump shots given his size or lack of. He's also been far more active with his hands and knocking balls loose, fighting for loose balls and making a conscience effort to grab rebounds.

If anything, his effort is lacking on the offensive end... maybe 1 in 4 or 5 possessions he will just sit out at the perimeter and let brown/tatum/morris go iso, with no real desire to try and get open and have an involvement in the play. Whether this is him just taking a possession off due to preservation/tiredness or actual coaching calls from brad to let them go iso once in a while, I don't know. But imo we look our best when kyrie and horford play the 2 man game, pick and roll/pops which we should do far more than we currently do.

agree with bold 100%, or even once Baynes gets back to normal, Baynes to Kyrie/Kyrie to Baynes was a good duo early in the season.

I just don't think Kyrie is giving 100% effort for 48 minutes a game (well, the minutes he plays of course), like you mentioned, he seems passive on offense on occasion, which is puzzling because he can score like 10+ pts in a row, assisted or unassisted, almost any time he wants.

You might be right about preserving himself for playoffs taking offensive possessions off. I've often wondered why he's just camped in a corner 3 just standing there while Morris is jacking up contested jumpers on the other side of the court.

But as far as defense goes, I haven't seen kyrie slack off this season... which goes back to the original point that he is in no way comparable to LeBron..

well, i'm just going by what i've seen and heard. If you've watched all but 3 games, then you've seen way more than I so i'll take you at your word I guess. Maybe it just seems like he doesn't give max effort because his style is different than Smart or Rozier, who like you mention will play full court d/press, idk. I've heard the media question his effort ever since the all star break.

His effort against Houston was good.

He played harden well when he was guarding him and forced (poor choice of word as harden only has a square button) him to take some really difficult shots. It must have been pretty demoralizing harden making them from everywhere but overall he did well. He played really well on CP3 too.


More concerned with him only taking 11 shots for the game than his efforts on the other end.

This post was edited by GiantTony on Mar 4 2019 07:20pm

yea, i'm all aboard the less shots for Morris/Rozier/Smart, more for Kyrie train.