Free was the epitome of the one dimensional late 70's/early 80's scoring star, but it was quite a fun dimension to watch so long as you didn’t care about your team winning many games. Irving is a better dribbler with more range. Free could drive a bit better, was a better athlete and had an infinitely better mid range…

Have you tried using the Marvel comics app for reading? It’s probably the best thing to read comics on as it does closeups on all the panels and breaks down splash pages for easy reading.

Salient points all around. Personally I’d love to see him playing shooting guard a lot more in the future and play to his strengths instead of forcing him to become a playmaker when it’s not somehing he necessarily adept at.

Agreed. In reality Irving is closer to being the next World B. Free then he is becoming the next Steph Curry. I’m not saying that as an insult to Irving either, Free was one of my favorite players when I was a kid. Their games and styles are almost identical. Both could drive to the basket on anybody, both could bury…

Agreed. He’s 6-9 with a 7-1.5 inch wingspan with the leaping ability of Blake Griffin. He’s a pretty good defender and was a very good shot blocker in college. I couldn’t believe that he averaged less than a blocked shot a game in the NBA. I think it’s partially due to the fact that Blatt and Lue constantly use him to…

“Kevin Love should be the one of the best complement players in the league seeing that he was that great in Minnesota and dominated both ends of the floor”

Oddly enough, Richard Jefferson was not only on the Nets and Cavs but also one of the 14 people you mentioned.

That’s Wayne Dade to you, sir.

He won’t apologize. Never does. There needs to be a warning for others that at no point will he ever apologize.

“So then the question becomes- is he elite???”

While I agree with most of what you’re saying in this article I think it should be noted that the exact same thing was said about Steph Curry at around the same age. Granted, by his 5th nba season Curry had vastly improved his defense. He really had no place to go but up, he was one of the worst defenders in the NBA…

I’d think they’d look to trade Irving in the offseason. I don’t know if we’ve seen the best from him yet as there’s still a lot of room for him to improve as a playmaker and a defender. But really he’s a poor man’s Steph Curry circa pre-2013. He’s got a great outside shot and is a wonderful ballhandler, but he’s…

Yeah, that’s a huge risk for Lue to keep James on Curry as it’ll tire him out on the offensive end by the end of the half.

Agreed. I can’t believe the Cavs were running traps on D. It led to a ton of open shots for GS. That added to the fact that Irving makes Harden look like Draymond Green in comparison. He’s a horror show on defense, can’t keep on anybody in defense and they can’t hide him anywhere. He’s the Achilles heel in the series.

I hear what you’re saying, but remember that when they signed him he was only 31, was coming off 6 straight years of 30+ HR’s and 100+RBI’s (including leading the league in Homers twice and RBI’s 3 times). There was a decline in 2010 and 11 but it wasn’t sharp enough to warrant letting him walk, and even if they did…

He looks like something that Jim Henson would voice.

So did that joke.

I always found this passage about Blatt to be telling:

It was a mismatch for sure, but he also looked to be way in over his head. He definitely tried running an offense that wasn’t dissimilar to what Kerr is running in Golden State. Lots of driving and dishing, lots of big men out on the perimeter left open to shoot 3's, tons of ball and player movement during multiple…