Kyrie at crossroads, and what type of point guard will he be?
Kyrie Irving isn't having the best of times.
Forget Irving's numbers, because Stephon Marbury once put up great numbers. But as former NBA coach and current analyst Jeff Van Gundy once asked of Marbury, "Yeah, but are they winning numbers?"
Winning numbers. That's something for which Marbury was never really known. He scored, he passed, he was a fantastic one-on-one player. And won nothing.
Irving has won nothing, either. The Cavaliers' point guard is finishing his third pro season and has yet to make the playoffs. That's not a huge deal, because a lot of really good players (and renowned winners) didn't make the playoffs for a while.
But like Marbury, Irving is a point guard. He is the guy expected to lift his team, to make sure the ball keeps moving, to act as the coach on the floor. Has Irving been those things? Well, probably not enough. At least, not nearly enough in his first season under Mike Brown.