The Growth from 2 to 1, Kyrie’s Case to be the Captain
You’ve probably heard the news, Kyrie Irving has requested a trade from his current team the Cleveland Cavaliers. And it seems like everyone’s losing their mind. Rightfully so, but while this is a huge headline, I am simply not surprised.
When I was around 10 years old, I played little league football in the suburbs of a town 40 miles west of Chicago, called Naperville. This was my 4th year playing and in the first three years, my efforts to win a championship were unsuccessful. Between coaching, talent, and heart my teams just didn’t have what it took to go the distance. But this fourth year, this fourth year was different.
Before there was a huge debacle on “super teams” my father and two of my previous coaches from my third year came together to form the first. Along with these two coaches came my childhood best friends Luke and John. While Luke played ran the show, John and I carried it in the backfield. We formed the first super team.
The three of us were easily the best trio the NYFL (Naperville Youth Football League) had seen that year. It wasn’t just us though, our team had players who knew the game and others who didn’t. While the three of us and a couple more players lead our team, the coaches gave kids who didn’t know why they were playing, something to play for, each other. There was only one issue.
Now if you’ve played sports, you know how important your number is to you. All my life I’d been trying to imitate legendary Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. I would dodge, juke and evade, often losing yards but most of the time the outcome was positive. The one thing I could never do though was wear Barry’s number. 20, it’s all I ever wanted to be.

Again, this year was different, the number 20 was finally available to me, there was only one issue. The jersey was a large and I wore a small. I could fit a medium, as long as my mother used her magic to dry it, but a large was, well, just too large.
I was furious, I cried, I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I called my Grandma. Everybody knows Grandma’s have magic, they can do things that simply make them superheroes. I asked her “Grandma, is there any way you can make me fit into that jersey or can you shrink it down.” Her response brought more tears, “baby, I can’t do that for you, but one day you’ll wear it, you can’t force growth honey, you can’t.”
Kyrie was drafted back in 2011, nearly a year after Lebron’s infamous free agency special “the decision.” He was set to be the franchise player, it seemed as if a new age of Cleveland would begin. In his first season he lead his team to a subpar 21–45 record (the lockout season shortened the number of games). The second ended with a 24–58 and the third improved slightly as the Cavs won nine more games than the previous year, finishing at 33–49.
By this time Kyrie was in the final year of his rookie contract, so he and management worked out a five year $90 million deal. Things were looking up, the team was improving. But everything was about to change.

The King was coming home. Lebron James made his return to Cleveland in 2014. Things could’ve been sour, but Kyrie didn’t take that route. He set his pride aside and recognized that Lebron is an unstoppable force, you either get on, or get out of the way.
Mr. Irving got on board, and in his three years with the king he has captured the same number of finals appearances and captured one championship. The road to these accomplishments hasn’t been easy at all whatsoever. The Cavaliers have had to soul search to find the dominance they’ve displayed in the East. There have been disagreements, sideline debates, coaching changes, but it’s all apart of being a team. Every team goes through it.

So what exactly is the issue? Three finals appearances in a row, and arguably one of the greatest offenses the NBA has ever seen should not come with the baggage the Cavs carry.
There is no doubt that King James is one of the greatest ever to play the game of basketball, and one of the things we continuously hear about is how he makes his teammates better. This is true, Lebron’s team hasn’t missed a finals appearance in the last seven years. However, this comes with a price, when James left Cleveland to go to Miami the team had to adapt to Lebron’s style. The Heat went to the Finals 4 straight years, winning two of the four.
What I want to look at though is the numbers upon Lebron’s arrival. While players do get better, their numbers diminish. So let’s take a look at all 4 of Lebron’s partners on both “Big Three” teams.
- Chris Bosh
Averaged 20+ points four times when he played on Toronto, in his four years with Lebron he never averaged twenty.
- Dwyane Wade
In the first year, Dwayne hardly dropped going from 26.6 points to 25.5 but the remaining three years, the numbers slightly fall to 22, then 21, and eventually down to 19.
- Kyrie Irving
With Kyrie the numbers fluctuate, in his first year he rises a point from the year before at 21.7, then they fall to 19.6, and once again rise to 25.2. (He also averaged 3 more shots and went to the free throw line more)
- Kevin Love
Mr. Love is the most apparent, his shot attempts fall from between 16 and 19 before Lebron to 12 to 14 with him. His hasn’t averaged nine rebounds since departing Minnesota, all while dropping nearly 10 points as he fell from 26 points to 16 with Cleveland.
This is not to say that Lebron is a bad teammate, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Mr. James is a great team player, it just comes with a sacrifice of less production. Is it worth it? Absolutely, he’s been to the finals seven straight times and ruled over the East for nearly a decade.
For Kyrie though, he’s been in Lebron’s shadow for what has seemed like his whole career. Is Kyrie concerned with the legacy of being a sidekick? Does he have an issue with playing with Lebron? Why now, coming off three straight finals appearances? Many questions remain unanswered. And it’ll probably stay that way for years to come.
I believe the simple fact is that Kyrie has outgrown the sidekick role. Irving just had the best year of his short career scoring wise and there are still areas where he can improve (defensively and getting teammates involved). Improvement comes with time, and with the an all-time great work ethic, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw these renovations to his game this season.

In my 10 year football career from little league to my freshman year of high school I never did grow into Barry’s iconic number 20. Other players wore it and I never became big enough to fit the it the way I wanted to. Instead, I donned the number 16. In an attempt to make it my own number instead of trying to live up to Mr. Sanders.
Kyrie wears the number two, he’s openly said it doesn’t mean anything in a Sports Illustrated Kids magazine during October of 2012. Well, five years have passed since then, and today the number means something entirely different. It means sidekick, right hand man, wingman, whatever you want to call it. He has sat under Lebron’s wing for three years now, and has never once said he hates playing with him, that’s not the issue. In fact Irving, says he has learned more from Lebron and implemented the things taught into his style of play.
Yet, they are still two different beasts, Kyrie resembles Kobe more so than James. Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” is still widely mentioned amongst players, coaches and fans alike. While he isn’t in the NBA anymore when you look around it seems as if Kyrie is probably the only player (Honorable Mention Damian Lillard & Isaiah Thomas) that has constantly channeled Kobe’s spirit. A side affect of this may come with the desire to be the top dog on the block the same way Kobe did with Shaq. The Black Mamba went on to win two more rings without his former teammate, the question we are all asking ourselves now is, can Kyrie win too?

With all that being said, there’s more to Kyrie than the number two. Where I never grew into the number I aspired to be, Kyrie’s grown out of his, maybe that’s why he requested a trade, maybe not, what I do know is he’s fully capable of being a number one. He’s served as a lieutenant for three successful years, that time is likely coming to a close sooner rather than later. We’re going to find out if Kyrie can lead a ship, as captain.
