3. Ball-Handling Supremacy
The ways of the samurai teachings used to infer that a true swordsman saw his sword not as a separate weapon, but more as an extension of one’s own body, at least that’s the way I understand it from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
For Irving, the basketball is his samurai sword.
When Irving dribbles, separating him from the ball involuntarily is nearly impossible, and defenders most likely feel confused after a trip through the spin cycle. Irving’s handles are so nasty that even Allen Iverson has stated that Irving is better than him in this department.
Statistically, Irving has been at his best this season with the basketball. He turned the ball over just 124 times in 53 games, and put up the best turnover percentage of his career at 11.4 percent.
Irving has been widely known as one of the games elite ball-handlers for quite a few years, but the best description of why Irving is so dangerous comes from one of his peers, Jamal Crawford, who said this in The Players’ Tribune back in January.
“Kyrie’s handle is top notch, probably one of the best ever. As a shot creator, that makes him so shifty, so elusive. And he always has a counter move,” said Crawford. “Add all the crossovers, hang dribbles and everything else, and with that handle Kyrie may use four moves in a matter of seconds while you’re just frozen on the floor. That’s when he’ll explode.”
And that’s the thing that makes Irving so special, is that he doesn’t just use his handle to embarrass players, he uses it to create his own shot, which brings us to the next point.
Next: Isolation Assassin
