The Kyrie-LeBron situation is nearly similar to Shaq and Kobe’s stint in LA. As Kobe continued to emerge as a superstar in the NBA, that was where he was ready for Shaq’s departure so he could prove himself as a leader.
I get it. With a player of Kyrie’s caliber, he wants to be the man who leads the charge. But sometimes in order for that to happen you must be influenced and taught how to lead. Many of us knew that Kyrie has superstar written all over him. But without the leadership of LeBron James, it’s hard to tell how much success he would have achieved if he never returned back to Cleveland.
We gave Kyrie a pass during his first few seasons in Cleveland because he was young and the organization was borderline pathetic. To be honest, if LeBron never even made the decision to come back, who knows how the Cavs would have turned out from 2014-now. Continuing to play for the Cavs through those years could have possibly hindered Kyrie Irving as a player. With a player of that much talent in the NBA, it would be hard for us to consider Kyrie a great if he was on a losing team for most of his career.
LeBron could have easily come back and allowed Kyrie to play a lesser role besides him. Even though Kyrie wasn’t the face of the franchise anymore, his numbers were still phenomenal through 2014-2017. Irving averaged 22.2 points per game in his three seasons playing alongside LeBron. He was still allowed to play his style of basketball and even lead the team in delivering clutch baskets in the 4th. Even though he was playing alongside a superstar caliber player, his game was still able to elevate through the years and he saw much success out of the situation.
In the three years they played together, many could tell that LeBron wanted Kyrie to succeed as an All-Star. Being as unselfish as he is, LeBron allowed Irving to play his style of basketball, at times being the driving force of the Cavs success. Many will say that Cleveland doesn’t win the championship in 2016 without Kyrie’s late game heroics. He showed that he could come up big under immense pressure, and it resulted with a ring in the end.
The Kyrie-LeBron situation is nearly similar to Shaq and Kobe’s stint in LA. As Kobe continued to emerge as a superstar in the NBA, that was where he was ready for Shaq’s departure so he could prove himself as a leader.
Irving is very similar to Kobe in that aspect. He believed that he could be valued more if he were leading on his own. In that case, he requested his way out of Cleveland and headed to Boston. That was where we learned that Kyrie still needed a little more time to learn about leadership.
In Kyrie’s two seasons in Boston, he realized how difficult it can be leading a group of young guys. He never seemed to build much chemistry with his teammates, which drew unhappiness for him.
Even calling out teammates in the media didn’t make things even better. Kyrie, who has shown to be an intelligent, outspoken person, didn’t allow his voice to be heard in the locker room as far as being the leader.
It’s hard trying to bring a group of guys together. And Kyrie realized that in his two seasons in Boston. Now that he’s in Brooklyn, his role will primarily return back to what it was playing in Cleveland. Maybe Kyrie is better off being alongside another superstar after all. It seems as if he had his best seasons doing so and he was able to play more comfortably as the point guard.
I can understand that Kyrie wants to be his own man and be the face of his own franchise. But I do wish that he would appreciate the wisdom that LeBron gave him through their years together. It seems as if Kyrie has forgotten the dominance that LeBron has had over the past decade.
Maybe there is some bad blood between the two that we have no idea about. Either way it goes, Kyrie should show more appreciation for what LeBron James has done in the three years they were together.
