Could Kyrie Irving sneak out an NBA MVP award over some of the other candidates? It’s very possible and here’s why
Buckets for Days:
I don’t think anyone can watch the Boston Celtics and say anything besides “Kyrie might be the most spectacular scorer in the league right now”. When the man wants a bucket, he’s going to get it by going around, over or through a defender.
Every Day He’s Hustlin’:
Uncle Drew has seemingly untapped energy reserves, whether it’s going up for boards, pressing in on defense or creating his own shot off the dribble, Kyrie is excellent. Just look at how he worked over Jimmy Butler on Christmas Day. In fact, just watching the man put in work against the 76ers on Christmas Day was probably the best present I got.
Elite Level Defense:
Kyrie Irving is probably Boston’s best defensive player when he’s on the floor. Marcus Smart is good, very good, but Irving is something special. His combination of high basketball IQ, fast hands, even faster reflexes and sheer determination make him a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end.
More Clutch than a Purse Convention:
Both gladly, and sadly as a Celtics fan, we’ve witnessed Kyrie come up big in big moments. Back when he was in Cleveland, Kyrie drove the dagger through the hearts of C’s fans. Then gave it a twist for good measure. Now that he’s draped in green, we get the pleasure of watching Irving’s late-game heroics to secure or pull out a win. He’s done it countless times in his career, and it’s a major reason Boston continue to remain competitive.
Did I Mention Buckets?
Just to be safe, let’s cover it again. The man scores at will, at will people. No amount of you, me or the combined powers of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Heart (seriously bruh heart?), is going to stop Kyrie Irving if he decides he’s going to go get that bucket.
Dropping Dimes on Dimes on Dimes:
Dude can pass. There I said it. Irving looks just as comfortable running and facilitating Head Coach Brad Stevens’ offense as he does scoring for himself. He’s able to read the floor and find the open man with the right pass, for often easy buckets.
Leadership:
Just this week Irving has come out and said he looks forward to developing chemistry with struggling Small Forward Gordon Hayward, for “a few years to come”. This isn’t the season Hayward was hoping for, but this is essentially his first year playing with the team after losing his entire initial season to injury. Kyrie builds his guys up when they’re down, he pushes them when they need it, and puts the team on his back when the job needs to get done.
MVP Means Most Valuable Player:
It’s silly to dissect the meaning of the acronym MVP, we all know it means Most Valuable Player. Yet sometimes it’s just turned into the “who balled the F out this year award”. I’m happy to admit it’s been fun watching the likes of Westbrook (OKC), Curry(GS) and that infernal Beard from Houston in the last few years, but their teams did well without them. In the case of Steph Curry, he’s at times been supplanted by Kevin Durant, or out entirely through injury and the team has looked fine.
When Kyrie is on the floor, the Boston Celtics look substantially better than when he’s not. That should be the definition of the player who’s “most valuable” to his team. Who is so indispensable that when he’s not out there everyone notices? Not just a case of who’s playing so lights out that we may have to question if they suddenly started hanging around with Brock Lesnar.
Dope Kicks:
Lastly, and quite possibly most importantly the Nike Kyrie range is just hot. The Kyrie 4 Green Lobster was amazing, and the Kyrie 5 is straight fire. I sadly missed out on the pair of Kyrie’s going to the first few to reach 99 in NBA 2K18, so am waiting for a green(ish) colourway of Kyrie 5 to drop before I cop a pair.
