Kyrie Irving has earned the respect of all his peers for being a fearless hooper that is acutely aware of the incredible dribbling and finishing skills he has got.
was talking about the time he and Irving were put on the USA Select Team to scrimmage against the 2012 Olympic Team and had a story to tell about Kyrie trash-talking .
"Obviously, it was cool to be on the Select team, it was a dream come true. What people don't see from that moment is how tough it was. I don't know if you've seen that clip where Kai is doing some special sh*t, he's breaking down the whole team, putting it behind his legs.
That play happened because we could not get the ball past half-court. Bron, Kob, Melo, they're all picking up full-court, they're like in our sh*t. It was crazy because Kai took it upon himself. It was after his rookie season and we were watching it like, 'ohhh'. He went at Kobe too, he was feeling himself."
Kyrie has one of the greatest handles the game has ever seen, so in a setting like those highly motivated scrimmage sessions for the Olympics, Irving probably got deep into his bag. Players around the league have always respected Irving's abilities, and his doing stuff like that to legends like Kobe is one of the reasons why he's so well-appreciated.
The Dallas Mavericks were four games above .500 when they traded for Kyrie Irving and they are now one game below .500. The fit hasn't worked too well as the Mavs have also health with injury issues for both Kyrie and . They need to fight through their last few games this season to ensure they don't fall behind in the play-in race.
The offensive potency of Doncic and Irving as a duo has already been seen, with the Mavs having an almost record-breaking offense with the two All-Stars together. The defense has been a nightmare and it doesn't look like they can fix that this season. If Irving stays and the team has a summer to construct a roster that fits what Luka and Kyrie need, the Mavericks may be a threat in the near future. Not this season, though.
