CHARLOTTE, N.C.: Shortly after taking over as head coach, one of Tyronn Lue’s first missions was convincing Kyrie Irving to block out the noise.
Stop fretting over your assist numbers, Lue consistently told him. Don’t worry about what people say. Attack the basket. No one can guard you one-on-one, so attack.
Yet a funny thing happened when Irving stopped worrying about assists. They began to rise. And rise and rise and rise.
In the seven games he has played since taking a week off to rest, Irving is averaging 10 assists. He has reached double figures in four of his last five games after doing that only once through his first 22 games.
“Just paying more attention to details and understanding that I have a lot of weapons to utilize on this team,” Irving said. “That’s including me and LeBron getting better in our pick-and-rolls and where I am seeing him on the floor and his cuts.”
The James-Irving tandem has taken time to blend. James was so frustrated with Irving’s facilitating during their first year together that he took the ball from Irving and spoke openly about “breaking bad habits.” James described last season how he almost had to teach Irving how to play the point in the NBA since he spent so much of his first few years in the league scoring.
Irving has long been sensitive over his assist figures and maintained that early in his career, when the Cavs were annually one of the league’s worst teams, he was playing the way coaches wanted him to play in order to give them a chance to win. When he was suddenly surrounded by so many weapons, it took time for Irving to learn how to use them all.
“Just the evolution and growth in my point guard,” James said. “He’s studying the game, he’s watching the game, and now he’s actually going out and playing the game. Just read and reacting and continues to get better every single day, every single month. And he’s showing that.”
Irving is a typical millennial — some of his best film study occurs on YouTube. Irving has long mentioned how he likes to watch clips of previous players and games and said this week he watched how Dwyane Wade played with James in Miami and how Mo Williams played with him in Cleveland even before that. He watched Williams drive up the left wing and pass to James, who cut to the basket for easy dunks.
“Obviously I feel like I am confident enough to get my shot in transition or in the half court,” Irving said. “But it’s also about everyone feeling good about the basketball and in a great rhythm.”
Irving’s and James’ assists have mirrored each other since they were paired together. In their first season together, James assisted on more of Irving’s baskets (74) than Irving did for James (65). Last season, after Irving missed the first two months with a knee injury, he assisted on 43 of James’ baskets in their 49 games together.
This season he has already assisted on 46 of James’ baskets through just 27 games, according to the league’s stats page, easily the best pace during their time together.
As for Lue’s unorthodox direction that his point guard shouldn’t worry about assists, there was a method to the madness. Lue knew that as Irving attacked, it would open opportunities for others, and eventually Irving would start finding open shooters. That appears to now be happening.
“I don’t think he can come down and just control the game with his passing like Jason Kidd or Magic or someone like that. He has to look to score, attack and be aggressive,” Lue said. “Then when he gets into the paint, that’s when his passing opens up. When he comes off looking to pass, it makes it tough on a lot of people. I want him to be aggressive looking to score, and that will open up his passing for him.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.