Prediction: Mavs Star Kyrie Irving Will Silence Critics
As the old adage goes, you can’t always please everyone, and that’s certainly the case with Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving, who will always have critics until he silences them.
Despite having done everything right so far since he was traded to the Mavs in February, it seems as if many national media pundits — especially ones with rooting interests in his former teams, the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets — refuse to believe that Irving is in the best place spiritually and mentally he’s ever been in.
"Simple ingredients, simplifying life has allowed my love to grow for others," Irving said in an interview earlier this year. "Allowed my love to grow for myself because self love’s the best love. Self respect is the best respect and people start treating you differently when you start treating yourself differently. Creating those healthy boundaries with any and every relationship.
"Though my journey has not been perfect, I’ve been through some crazy situations based on things I’ve done or things that I’ve said. I believe those situations are avoidable now because I’m in a balanced place: emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. It’s all been something I’ve been able to learn and I’m grateful for that."
It’s true that Irving has had a handful of controversial situations in his past, but it’s also true that a good, healthy work environment created by the people in charge will boost an employee’s productivity. That’s what owner Mark Cuban, GM Nico Harrison and head coach Jason Kidd are banking on, as the Mavs re-signed Irving to a three-year, $126 million contract this summer.
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"I think Kyrie is just misunderstood," Cuban said in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio. "Everyone sees all the noise and everything around him, but when you actually talk to him, I like him. He's open, he's smart, he's always looking to learn things. To me, he's an interesting guy that's just misunderstood."
Irving, who no longer has to worry about his immediate financial future now that he has both a new NBA contract and signature shoe deal, can fully focus on continuing to build chemistry with his co-star Luka Doncic. One of Irving's biggest goals in the next few years is making the Mavs title contenders again, and if health permits, we predict that he'll do just that.
In 20 games played with the Mavs last season, which included a nagging plantar fasciitis injury that he played through, Irving averaged 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 51.0 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from deep and 94.7 percent from the free-throw line. In 444 minutes played together, the Irving-Doncic due had an offensive rating of 119.2 and net rating of +4.2.
Adding defensive-minded players like Grant Williams, Dereck Lively II, OMax Prosper, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dante Exum around them should only improve that net rating due to the team's defense being better overall.
"We just didn't have a team that was committed to their roles," Cuban said on the Pat Bev Podcast this week when discussing last season’s failures. "Like the year before when we went to the Western Conference Finals ... everybody knew their role and everybody just played their role perfectly. This past year, that just wasn't the case.
"It wasn't Kyrie or Luka, they knew their roles. But once other guys start playing for themselves or not playing for the team, every mistake that you can possibly have is magnified to know end. So we made a lot of changes ... on and off the court."
Although it's easy for outsiders to be down on the Mavs based on how they finished last season — Dallas missed the postseason for the first time since Doncic’s rookie season in 2018 — the several key offseason roster additions, paired with Irving being fully locked in, will not only help Dallas become a real threat in the West again, but it will help Irving silence grudge-holding critics that don't seem to believe in human beings being capable of growing and maturing as time goes on.
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