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| Lead on, dude! |
Kyrie Irving signed a max deal this
week in refreshingly drama-free fashion. No fuss, no muss, just a tweet from
Dan Gilbert and a video
of the newly minted gazillionaire dancing in celebration.
Life is good for the 22-year-old
point guard, and better for Cleveland fans tired
of the speculation that Irving
wanted out of town. At the very least, many thought he would take more than two
minutes to agree to a long-term extension.
That's not the case and Irving 's here for the long haul.
The next step for him is to return to the leadership role he was growing into during
his first two years with the franchise. Those were the "Mr. Fourth
Quarter" days, when the point guard with the illest dribble in the association
(Author's Note: "illest" is
street slang for "nothing better than") was breaking ankles and
crushing last-second jumpers in fearless fashion.
That Irving was sorely missing last
year. Blame Mike Brown's less-than-inspirational coaching techniques or Chris Grant trying outsmart to himself
with hipster draft picks, but Irving
took a step back. Too much hero ball, and too many moments when he looked disinterested
on both ends of floor. There were times when Irving seemed to chafe against being on the
court at the same time as Dion Waiters. And even on the days when he was
pouring in points, he was often matched bucket-for-bucket by his opposite
number.
Ideally, Irving would not be the keystone piece of the
team. Point-guard led championship squads are rare. And everyone knows you need
a "Big" something-or-other to make a serious run in today's NBA. With
That Guy in Miami