>>That has EVERYTHING to do with the talent around them
>>If you're the PG and the best scorer on the team you're
>gonna
>>take more shots, a lot more
>
>like Isiah did when his teammates were ... remind me ... his
>teammates were Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Joe
>Dumars -- who else? who else was Isiah depriving of the ball
>cuz they all sucked? oh wait...
Does Kyrie have ANYONE like that on his team, ANYONE?
And you realize when the Pistons were winning titles Isiah did take far more shots than anyone else on that stacked team? Why, because he was the best player

>>If Lillard was on the Cavs he'd take a lot more shots too,
>>because he would be the best scoring option there as well
>>Kyrie's shooting out of necessity, not out of selfishness.
>>Nobody decided that, it's the truth. He wouldn't be shooting
>>nearly as much if he had an Aldridge, Batum, or even Wes
>>Matthews. The 2nd best player on the team is Alonzo
>>Gee...c'mon
>
>so Kyrie wouldn't ballhog so much if his teammates were
>better? what if Kyrie's teammates could be better if Kyrie
>didn't ballhog so much? ever thought about that?
Wow, you honestly think that Kyrie averaged less points that his team would be better? You honestly think that Tristan Thompson, Alonzo Gee, Omri Casspi, CJ Miles, and others would get better if Kyrie wasn't scoring? You honestly think that Kyrie is holding these guys back because he shoots too much?


or did you
>seriously say to yourself "Nic Batum = borderline All-Star"
>when the preseason predictions came out. stop bullshitting.
>or did you seriously say "the team with the lowest bench
>production in the NBA would be 1 game over .500 in the West"
>did you really say that?
WHO CARES about the preseason predictions? Nobody had Brandon Jennings as an all-star or Carlos Boozer as an all-star either in the pre-season predictions. Nobody had the Lakers being terrible, or Golden State being this good in the preseason
Point: As of right now Batum is a borderline all-star. Who cares if they didn't say so in the pre-season...he's playing very well.

the Blazers are outperforming
>expectations cuz they play like a TEAM, move the ball, and
>everyone hits shots. here's to hoping Kyrie is taking notes.
Their TEAM is better than Cleveland's TEAM...there is nobody on Cleveland that's nearly as good as Aldridge or Batum. Matthews is solid and is still probably better than everyone on Cleveland. Waiters has potential but is very inconsistent. Outside of that, there isn't anyone that can really score outside of Kyrie.
That's like saying the Wizards would get more wins if they move the ball around...or the Bobcats.


>>There's an All-star, a borderline all-star, and a few decent
>>players on Portland. There is NONE of that in Cleveland. The
>>2nd best player on Cleveland is known more for defense, and
>>he's been hurt.
>
>decent? first off -- did you really have Lamarcus > Kevin
>Love preseason? no, you probably didn't. do you really think
>Wes Matthews > any other SG in the West right now? like name
>ONE starting SG worse than West Matthews. then when you're
>done with that name two. it's a SHORT list. and Nic Batum is
>effective cuz he GETS THE BALL WHERE HE NEEDS IT, or do you
>really think he's initiating his own 17 pts/gm?
Let's handle a couple of things
I asked a question a while ago about the best PF in the West and I personally went with Zach Randolph, however
LA is outplaying K-Love because K-Love has missed damn near half the season. LA is balling, but lets not act that K-Love had a full season to work with
And if you want me to name SG's in the West, or in the NBA worse than Wes Matthews, well:
ATL starts Deshawn Stevenson (Lou Wills comes off the bench)
I don't even know who ORL starts (Reddick comes off the bench)
In the West:
OKC starts Thabo Sefolosha...and Matthews is BETTER than he is
He's also better offensively than Randy Foye and Tony Allen
As for Batum, it's not just that. He CAN and DOES create his own shot. He has a Luol Deng type of game, where he can get aggressive when he has to be, but stays in the cut and lets Lillard and LA be the primary options. Lillard isn't spoon-feeding Batum his points all the time. A lot of Batum's points are aggressive drives to the basket off the dribble.

And is there ANYONE on Cleveland as good as Batum or Aldridge? ANYONE?

>there are table-setters and there are ballhogs. using "shitty
>teammates" as an excuse doesn't prevent someone from being a
>ballhog.
If you think Kyrie Irving is a ball-hog, that's on you. But you said that if he shared the ball more Cleveland would have more wins which is completely false. If he's the first option, he's the first option, much like Derrick Rose was in Chicago. But on Cleveland, Irving doesn't have a Boozer or a Deng or a Batum or an Aldridge to pass the ball to. He's passing the ball to ALONZO GEE AND TRISTAN THOMPSON...come on