Kyrie Irving on if He Would Join Cavaliers Again

Jae C. Hong

If you think calling Kyrie Irving "the next LeBron James" is a compliment, think over again.

In his brief NBA tenure, the Cleveland Cavaliers point guard has filled the role LBJ vacated in all the wrong means. And there's a growing sense in Cleveland that this story—simply like the one that featured James—is going to end disastrously.

In some ways, the Cavaliers are doing this to themselves. Less accepted to success than almost every other NBA arrangement, the Cavs have no rings, 1 finals berth (in which they were swept) and an overall franchise record that is literally hundreds of games below .500.

Think of them like the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox—minus the hipster fans and Neil Diamond.

All that losing in Cleveland created a malaise befitting the Rust Belt. Being a Cavs fan wasn't fun; it was piece of work. It was pain. It carried a stigma of inevitable doom. The Cavs would never exist great because, well...they were the Cavs.

Until James came along and changed the narrative.

It couldn't take been scripted any better. James, the hometown child, was the best talent to enter the typhoon in memory. And he happened to exist available the twelvemonth the Cavaliers had the No. 1 selection. He was the savior, and his coming created something new in Cavs fans: promise.

TONY DEJAK

It wasn't but whatsoever promise, though. It wasn't a generalized feeling of optimism or a renewed faith in the organization'south power to build a winner. James had, after all, fallen into Cleveland'southward lap because the Cavaliers lost a whole lot of basketball games.

It was a specific hope, i that fostered a belief amid Cavaliers fans that 1 transcendent player could save the franchise from itself.

You couldn't blame them, really. Not later on decades of anticipated first-round outs in the '80s and '90s and nothing but the lottery from 1998 until subsequently James showed up.

Whatsoever form the Cavs' conservancy took in this pivotal instance would become a model on which fans in the city would base their future understanding of everything about their team—nigh how to build a winner and how to believe in one actor instead of a whole roster, front function or possessor.

Tony Dejak

Cavs fans aren't crazy. Under normal circumstances, they would have realized the danger of pinning all promise to one man. But they'd been traumatized by years of below-average basketball. It'south understandable they formed this flawed perception of how to succeed.

Ownership hasn't helped. Dan Gilbert reacted like a jilted lover when James left, proving in his overdramatic and infamous letter that he couldn't conceive of life without a savior/hero either.

That'southward why he'south and then determined nobody volition injure Cleveland like the last star did.

Per Ken Berger of CBS Sports:

Gilbert is ferocious in his decision not to lose Irving the way he lost LeBron, and league sources say the lessons learned from James' conclusion to go to Miami in 2010 will be the guiding force behind his search for an executive to lead the franchise forward.

Cleveland's non into diversification of hope. It puts every final shred of it into i guy and hopes he doesn't walk away.

James did exactly that in 2010.

Amy Sancetta

Irving hasn't yet, and he'southward asserted that he won't in language as stiff equally has been prudent, per ESPN'southward Brian Windhorst: "I'm in Cleveland. I relish myself. I savor going out and competing at the highest level for the Cleveland Cavaliers."

Merely permit'southward be existent: Irving should probably leave. Yes, there'due south that attracting pile of money the Cavs tin can offer him, but that's the extent of the leverage Cleveland possesses.

Irving tin't await at this Cavs organisation with any kind of confidence. He should see the ingrained unfamiliarity with winning, the coach who tin't construct an offense and the roster total of role players and attitudes but no stars.

Mark Duncan

And if he wasn't leaving before, he'south getting a serious shove out the door lately. Not deliberately, of course. Nosotros've already established everyone in Cleveland badly wants him around.

The constant badgering and speculation that comes out of that desperation is a real turnoff, though. Ironically, all the love for Irving, Cleveland's anointed singular hope, may be pushing him abroad.

And if the attention built-in out of love isn't enough to do that, the hate from those whousedto love him might be, per Grantland's Chris Ryan:

The very people who are questioning Irving's maturity, wondering whether he'south even worth a max bargain, calling him a coach killer…they're the same folks responsible for edifice him into a messianic figure in the showtime place. Irving was not just asked to learn the NBA game, but to salve a franchise still reeling from LeBron's departure. And he was asked to do so, more or less, on his own.

If James hadn't come (and gone) before, maybe Irving wouldn't detect himself so beset by desperate questions about his future.

It's funny, really. Irving isn't the kind of transformative talent James was. He doesn't defend, pouts plenty and, well, we'll permit Windhorst take it from hither (via Truehoop's Cavs: The Blog): "The affair near Kyrie: his talent is astonishing, but he'south so defeatist. He gets defeated way also easily. Yous'll see something bad happen to him and his head just goes down."

Despite Irving's many flaws, he'southward the best Cleveland's got. And since the city was conditioned past James to necktie the fate of an unabridged franchise to i guy, he'south that guy by default.

The Cavs can't allow him get.

Non considering the he'southward the cornerstone of a championship franchise. Non because he's worthy of a max deal.

Simply because if he leaves, it'll bear witness to the Cavaliers and their fans that this franchise is what it was before James always came along: hopeless.

Tony Dejak

The Cavs have already set themselves up for disaster past placing all their hopes in Irving. Non only because he might non exist the kind of superstar many think he is, merely because burdening one 21-year-old child with the fate of a whole organisation is a foolish practice in the beginning identify.

Even if placing all that hope in Irving is potentially disastrous, it's improve than having no hope at all.

If Irving leaves Cleveland similar James did before him, the Cavs will find themselves in an eerily familiar spot. And it'due south hard to know how they'll recover from having their world shattered a second time.

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2020994-cleveland-cavaliers-cant-afford-to-let-kyrie-irving-be-their-next-lebron-james

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