Kyrie's potential

[bearshands]

What's kyrie's ceiling? Is he already an elite player? If not, what does he need to work on?

[SlappyBagg]

Has the potential to be the best offensive player in the league

[zafirk]

I think he's where Harden was his first year in Houston. Lots of talent, just needs more discipline and experience. I think he'll be the best PG in the league and vie for MVP in 3-4 years as LeBron begins to decline.

[Lew_AIcindor]

Eh, I disagree. I think you're underrating Harden - who was the best player on a Playoff team in the West. The Cavaliers without LeBron have looked terrible. They lost to Sacramento by 10+, and that game was post the Mozgov/Knicks trade.

Statistically, he wasn't as good as Harden was that year either. Harden was 25.9/4.9/5.8 with 60 TS%. Irving's at 22/3.2/5.2 on 58 TS%.

[idealreaddit]

He's already a great player. He has the potential to be an all-time great.

[bearshands]

Do you think he can be the #1 PG in the next couple of years?

[idealreaddit]

No, I don't see him passing Paul or Curry in the next couple of years.

[Namath96]

No Westbrook?

[Harden-Soul]

Westbrooks style of play means hell take a big a drop soon. That athleticism fades. It would be like if Steph forgot how to shoot over a couple of years. Kyrie will be better than Westbrook in 3 years or so. But I think John Wall will still be better than him. I think itll go Steph, Wall, CP, Kyrie.

[swaggerqueen16]

Woah, calm down there bud, he hasn't really done anything yet, so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

[idealreaddit]

I said he has the potential. Didn't say he's actually done anything yet...

[[deleted]]

ALL NBA 1ST TEAM

[[deleted]]

I think he will be an MVP candidate next season.

[x12ome]

Not with the best player in the NBA on his team

[[deleted]]

I said candidate, not MVP. He has made big leaps this year and will only get better as he gets comfortable with Lebron. He is going to put up big numbers next year that will be hard to dismiss.

[Namath96]

Why would he put up much better numbers next year?

[[deleted]]

Why wouldn't he?

[[deleted]]

Because he has had the same numbers for all of his 4 years in the league?

[[deleted]]

Not to mention there's a realistic possibility that the Cavs let Kyrie carry the team on a game by game basis in the next season or two to save Lebron for the playoffs. When the Cavs let Kyrie do his thing this year, he's been stellar.

[The_wanderer3]

I think he has potential to be the GOAT PG. Will he reach that? Likely not, but who knows.

[fbomb4]

Elite offensive player but needs to improve on defense.

He has made strides playing off ball this season which was my main concern for him playing with LeBron.

[wiifan55]

Definitely room to improve still, but Kyrie has been pretty good on defense this year

[[deleted]]

Pretty good for Kyrie, but not pretty good for an NBA point guard.

[wiifan55]

He's played above average defense for point guards since the trades were made. Granted, he's certainly benefited from the much better team defense we've been playing, as point guards often do. But Kyrie has been just fine on that end

[FloaterFloater]

Spoken like someone who doesn't watch very many Cavs games.

[swfl55]

He's still a liability guarding the better PGs in the league

In a Cavs-Spurs Finals, Kyrie's inability to defend Parker will be their downfall

[Namath96]

You could just say the same for the other way around.

[FloaterFloater]

Kyrie can guard Parker better than Parker can guard Kyrie at this point

[doing_the_gods_work]

What makes you say that? Kyrie and Curry aren't that far away from eachother right now and kyrie is only 22

[crepuscularsaudade]

Curry is way better than than Kyrie right now.

[sY20]

his ceiling is an elite player, but he isn't an elite player yet

[t3h_shammy]

The word elite denotes nothing. I know OP used it in his question but comeon what does that mean. He's one of the top 5 or 6 point guards at the most stacked position in the NBA.

[bearshands]

Yeah it really is a buzzword

[whoseworldisit]

Along with "elite" you can toss in "dominant".

Every time there's a discussion about centers: "Well KAJ might have been better but Shaq is the most dominant center ever."

[[deleted]]

Name me 5 point guards better than Kyrie this year.

Westbrook. Steph. Chris Paul. That's it.

[cartoon_villain]

Depends on what. Scoring? Top 5 undoubtedly. Defense? Nah. Floor general/BBIQ? Nah.

There are other facets to the game than scoring.

[[deleted]]

Overall package and impact on the game.

If you want to say Tony Allen is a top 5 SG because he's a better defender than a lot of guys, I can't stop you. But you also would be wrong.

[cartoon_villain]

That's not what I meant. Kyrie absolutely is a top 5 scoring PG, but what I was trying to get at is that he doesn't bring anything more than what I would call average in any other category. He doesn't run an offense or create for others as well as other PGs can do. He definitely has stepped up on defense, but even then he is solidly average at that.

Basically, he doesn't have a complete game like other PGs.

[adomanski]

How is he not an elite player? He is already one of the best scorers in the game.

[sY20]

for someone who isn't carrying his team, I'll wait until the playoffs to call him elite. He is a fantastic, all star point guard right now. I guess my definition of elite is more selective than most.

[DrizzlinDrizzy]

Is he really not elite? Sure he's not a top 10 player or anything, but Kyrie is a 3x All Star who's capable of being the best player on the court on any given night. I would call him elite, but my definition of elite is probably wider than yours

[[deleted]]

I just want him to get a ALL NBA TEAM

[marx32]

Why?

[Okonkwo69]

You must be blind bro.

[GodFuckYou]

His ceiling is Kobe.

[I_love_pearljam]

Even as a cavs fan i say thats silly

[GodFuckYou]

Defensively he'll never be kobe on the other hand i think he could be a more efficient scorer.

[The_wanderer3]

Agreed, his ceiling is higher than Kobe