Post by Rog on Jan 1, 2018 22:13:06 GMT
The 104th nominee for the NBN Hall of Fame, and last from this class that includes two years, Kyrie Irving was an absolute stud who had an argument as the best point guard in the league at a time. He led the Hornets to a title in a historic performance and was a constant winner. Was he a Hall of Famer or do parts of his case fall short? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
38.0 MPG, 25.8 PPG, 9.9 APG, 3.7 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.9 TOPG on 47% from the field, 84.8% from the line, and 42.6% from three
Best Season
Philadelphia 76ers(2017) - 29.1 PPG, 9.6 APG, 4.6 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.7 TOPG on 47.4% from the field, 85.8% from the line, and 40.8% from three
Career Highs
Points: 61
Rebounds: 12
Assists: 23
Steals: 9
Blocks: 2
Achievements
Championships: 1
Player of the Game: 384
Player of the Week: 14
Player of the Month: 5
Double Doubles: 661
Triple Doubles: 9
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Points - 14th
Assists - 3rd
Steals - 10th
Three Pointers - 13th
Awards
2012 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2012 - Rookie of the Year
2012 - All-Rookie Team
2013 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2013 - All-Star Game Participant
2014 - All-Star Game Participant
2014 - All-League Third Team
2016 - All-League Second Team
2016 - Playoff MVP
2017 - All-Star Game Participant
2017 - All-League Third Team
2018 - All-League Second Team
2019 - All-Star Game Participant
2020 - All-Star Game Participant
2021 - All-Star Game Participant
2021 - All-League Third Team
2022 - All-League Third Team
2025 - All-Star Game Participant
Arguments For Induction
- Kyrie is absolutely by far the most decorated player in the current class of writeups. He has his title and a Playoff MVP from the Hornets, one of the best runs by an individual player in league history. He also played in seven All-Star Games and was named to two All-League Second Teams and Four All-League Third teams.
- Beyond anything for Kyrie, he was an All-World Scorer, something that is the basis of players getting inducted with relative ease. He averaged 25.8 points per game for his career. Nine seasons in his career he averaged at least 26.4 points per game. He had some down years but for his entire career he never averaged less than 21 points per game, which is incredible. He also had longevity, finishing 10th All-Time in scoring.
- Not only was he a great volume scorer, but Kyrie was also a versatile scorer and an exceptionally efficient one as well. His career line of 47/84.8/42.6 shooting is absolutely outstanding. What is crazy too is that normally has a bit of a high and a bit of a low, but you look at Kyrie's career and he was incredibly consistent with his percentages, never straying too high or low. Kyrie knew what he was and took the shots he knew he could make, and it was a lot of them. Another notch too is he was 13th all time in 3 pointers made.
- Its hard to sort these things, as good of a scorer that Kyrie was in his career, he was just as good of a passer. His career average of 9.9 assists per game has got to be among the best all time, if not the actual best. And his career number ranks 3rd in league history as well, so his longevity was no slouch either. He also carried a 5.2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, which also has to be among the best ever in league history. He had 7 seasons in his career over 10 assists per game, truly the benchmark for being elite.
- While no awards and no crazy great statistics, but Kyrie definitely held his own defensively and even excelled at times. Kyrie carried a consistent 'A' rating through his career, and he also averaged 2.2 steals for his career. Except for his rookie season, he never averaged less than 2 steals per game in his career. Two is a near elite number.
- Overall, there isn't a case to make against Kyrie. I almost don't want to try, its impossible. He is a 27 point, 10 assist, 4 assist, 2.3 steals, and didn't turn it over and shot the ball with excellent efficiency. If those prime numbers don't equal a Hall of Famer, maybe ranking 3rd in assists and top 10 in points is enough. He has his title and then he went on a crazy tear with the Cavaliers, winning 60 games almost at will. He might not be of the very, very best point guards in the league's history, but he is the next level, which is still a Hall of Famer, with ease.
Arguments Against Induction
- He is absolutely awarded enough to be heavily considered, but enough to be inducted? Uh, no first teams so no, it can't be possible right? Reaching at straws here.
- His biggest flaw was easily his lack of rebounding, which could hurt a team if not built a right way. You should be building teams around Hall of Famers, not needing to cover up for their issues.
- I really don't have much of a case to make, his lack of top end awards and his rebounding are about the only thing here to even punch at. You can say he wasn't an elite "enough" scorer, but he was still elite. He might have not been the in league history, but he certainly is one of them. Sure, no defensive awards but he wasn't a liability. Kyrie Irving was absolutely a Hall of Famer.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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