Didn't we discuss this last year...
This ain't the article I was looking for but highlight the change early in the season
Is Kyrie Irving Really Playing Better Defense?
Posted by Sean TshikororoDate: December 15, 2014in: Coaching Breakdowns
Prior to the season, it became cliché to praise the offensive potential of the Cleveland Cavaliers while in the same breath question the defensive capabilities of their young stars. Such commentary only gained steam as the Cavaliers got off to a 5-7 start, struggling to find an identity on offense or any cohesion on the defensive end of the floor. While Kevin Love’s interior defense was the subject of quite a few hot takes leading into the season, Kyrie Irving’s defensive effort and ability also took considerable heat. That heat was deserved; prior to this season, Kyrie’s defense had a less-than-stellar reputation.
Irving and his team are making strides, however. Before losing back-to-back games in Oklahoma City (without LeBron James) on Thursday and in New Orleans on Friday, the Cavaliers had seemingly managed to right the ship in putting together an eight-game winning streak. Their defense was not elite during that stretch, yet improvement on that end was definitely a contributing factor to their success, and believe it or not, Irving deserves some of the credit. Kyrie made some headlines a few weeks back when he announced that he wanted to take on a bigger role on the defensive end of the floor, which primarily meant he wanted to start defending the opposing team’s top guard (an assignment that in the beginning of the season was usually going to whoever the Cavaliers were playing at the two).
To provide some perspective, over the first 12 games of the season the Cavaliers were 26th in the NBA in defensive efficiency, giving up 107 points per 100 possessions. They were even worse defensively with Kyrie on the floor, giving up on alarming 109.3 points per 100 possessions. Cleveland were 5-7 over those 12 games, and after embarrassing losses in Washington and at home versus Toronto, LeBron used the word “fragile” to describe the state of the Cavaliers.
Since then, and since Kyrie announced his desire to take on more defensive responsibility, Cleveland has been anything but fragile. During the Cavaliers’ eight game winning streak, they only surrendered 98.6 points per 100 possessions, the fifth best mark in the NBA during that period of time. Perhaps even more remarkable, since Kyrie’s “declaration of defense”, if you will, the Cavaliers have actually been better defensively when Kyrie is on the floor, giving up just 97.6 points per 100 possessions in that span. When combined with the fact that during the streak Cleveland also scored 118.5 points per 100 possessions when Kyrie was on the floor (nearly five points better than when he was off the floor during the same stretch), and you can begin to understand the reason for the Cavaliers’ resurgence.
Even in their losses to the Thunder and Pelicans, in which Cleveland’s recent defensive improvement seemed to temporarily fall by the way side, the Cavaliers were better defensively when Kyrie Irving played. Against Oklahoma City, the Cavaliers surrendered a below-league-average 106.5 points per 100 possessions (again, without LeBron) with Irving on the bench; with Irving on the floor, that number dropped to 105.1 points per 100 possessions. Against the Pelicans the Cavaliers surrendered an atrocious 129.3 points per 100 possessions, but with Kyrie on the floor that number dropped to a slightly less atrocious 123.6 points per 100 possessions.
From a big picture perspective, after 22 games this season Kyrie has a defensive real plus-minus of -0.66. This is still a negative number, but it is one trending in the positive direction after Irving’s sub-par defensive play to begin the season. It is also a far better number than the -3.38 defensive real plus-minus Irving posted last season (416th out of 437 ranked NBA players and 66th out of 75 ranked point guards). When combined with the +4.31 offensive plus-minus Kyrie is posting this season (6th best in the NBA thus far), Kyrie has an overall real plus-minus of +3.65, good for 22nd in the league and 8th best among point guards. (Last season, Kyrie’s overall real plus-minus of -1.40 was 43rd among point guards and 231st among all NBA players.)
So what exactly is Kyrie doing out on the floor that is so drastically impacting his advanced defensive metrics?
Dude is foolish. Rose is sometimey and Butler isn't that offensive closer yet.
