If the city of Cleveland wants a title of their own, they're going to need a few new players. As much as the people may like the name, "The Cav-ericks," this year's NBA Championship's only home is in Dallas.
After finishing the 2010-2011 season 19-63 and breaking the NBA record for consecutive losses with 26 in a row, one might say that they have room for improvement. OK fine, there is no way they can get any worse.
The Cavaliers do have the No. 1 pick (and the No. 4 pick) in this year's NBA draft, which is a great starting point. Although there is no certainty in who the Cavaliers will take with the first overall pick, all signs point towards one player: Kyrie Irving.
With every draft there are going to be discussions, arguments and disagreements about who should go No. 1 and this year is no different. We've seen the Greg Oden-Kevin Durant argument, the Derrick Rose-Michael Beasley discussion and many other discussions for the No. 1 pick, but if the Cavaliers truly want to be a contender in the near future, they must take Irving.
In what has turned into a point-guard driven league, the NBA has shown that having dominant point guards is the key to success. The list of young point guards in the NBA is indicative of this trend: Derrick Rose (the reigning MVP), Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and John Wall to name a few.
Take this year's NBA Finals for example. The Mavericks shocked the basketball world by winning the championship and they couldn't have done it if it weren't for the brilliance of their veteran, yet still very effective point guard, Jason Kidd.
Kidd proved that he could still play the game by making play after play to help the Mavericks beat the Heat. On the flip side, the Heat lacked a point guard that could set up their All-Stars.
The point guard position is so critical because the ball is in their hands every single possession. With the hand-checking rules that the NBA issues in 2001, the NBA became a league where quick first-step point guards can completely dominant.
Lets take a look at Derrick Rose. Rose's stats were off the charts this season as he averaged almost 25 points per game and eight assists per game. What makes Rose so dominant is his quickness and ability to get into the paint.
People knock Rose because his shooting percentage was an average 44.5 percent from the field, but this statistic does not truly tell the tale of his dominance. Rose's MVP status can only truly be understood by watching the man play.
Rose gets into the lane at will. While he either makes a layup or assists a teammate most of the time, even when he misses he is effective. When a team has a point guard that can penetrate and get into the lane whenever they want, defenses have to crash on him.
Rose often takes shots with multiple guys crashing on him, which allows players like Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer to get easy tip-ins and offensive rebounds. Even though he misses the shot, it doesn't mean he isn't helping his team.
Rose is a sample of how the NBA allows point guards to dominate and the Cavaliers have the opportunity to take a player who could potentially see this dominance one day in Kyrie Irving.
Irving showed at the collegiate level that he can play ball. He averaged 17.5 points per game in only 11 games, but anybody who watched this kid play clearly sees that he has a bright future. He can shoot, he can pass, he's smart, he has a positive attitude and one other thing: He can get into the lane whenever he wants.
Irving draws a lot of comparisons to Chris Paul, but I see him as more of a scorer than Paul, but can also pass the rock pretty well. In Irving's 31-point outburst against Tom Izzo's Michigan State defense, he showed he can play on the big stage.
Nobody is doubting that Kyrie Irving will be a very good NBA player for years to come, but what makes this Irving-Cleveland match so interesting is Cleveland's need for a point guard. Cleveland has a few young, promising players in J.J. Hickson, Boobie Gibson and Anderson Varejao, but they need someone that they can be confidant in with the ball.
The NBA, just like every other professional sport, is one where a player needs to put in as much work off the court as they do on. Irving has the potential to be good, or he could be great.
If on June 23rd the Cleveland Cavaliers take Kyrie Irving No. 1, they have the potential to have a great one and ever since a certain player "took his talents to South Beach," the Cavaliers have been in search of one.
Monika Kramlik Lacey Chabert Amber Brkich Gretha Cavazzoni Marla Sokoloff
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