Prince Kyrie Most Valuable He, All-FIBA

Kyrie Irving and the USA Men’s National team won the FIBA World Cup of Basketball over the weekend and received gold medals for their efforts. After they routed Serbia in the final game, 129-92, Kyrie was named to the all-tournament team, and named tournament MVP. This is a stunning rise for Irving, who was not even the USA’s projected starter when the tournament began. After finishing 30th in points per game, and 18th in assists for the tournament, the award was unexpected. But while Harden was the top scorer for team USA, and Kenneth Faried brought unexpected and much needed energy to the squad, Irving was the man who steadied the ship for the team throughout the tournament. For the first time since I’ve watched him, Irving received accolades not as much for scoring, but for things that don’t always show up in the box score: defense, hustle, leadership, and selfless play. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that he went 6-6 from three in the final game and shot over 60% for the tourney). If this season marks the return of the King to Cleveland, Kyrie must surely be crowned prince.

The final was anticlimactic after France’s stunning defeat of expected finalist, Spain, in the quarterfinals. France was unable to get by Serbia in the semis, and the U.S. handled the Serbs after falling behind 12-5 early in the first quarter. On his final magic carpet ride of Team USA’s Iberian Nights, Irving was masterful. He had 26 points on 10-13 shooting, with four assists and two turnovers. He was +35  in 24.5 minutes of play. Irving controlled pace, helped limit team USA’s turnovers, and shot the lights out. Team USA didn’t exactly play its best defense in the final, allowing Serbia to shoot 48% from the floor and score 92 points, but Serbia was unable to stop the onslaught of the USA’s “run-run-run, shoot threes, and run some more” — One Jump Ahead — offense.

Early in the tournament, the story was, “had the rest of the world caught up to the U.S.?” In the final game, the question was, “How much further ahead is the U.S. than the rest of the world?” Considering that most of these countries value the World Cup even more than the Olympics, and that the U.S. was without LeBron, Durant, Love, or Paul, the answer is, “an Anthony Davis wingspan ahead.” That’s pretty big. The players who played in Spain will translate their growth from this summer directly onto the NBA court.

DeMarcus Cousins learned how to control his temper, and not do anything stupid when the calls aren’t going his way. Now that he’s seen FIBA refs, maybe he’ll have some respect for the much better NBA officials, and he’ll be able to keep his head in the game. Kenneth Faried’s confidence has to be sky high as well, after Spain. The Manimal brought the energy and was explosive around the basket on cuts, offensive rebounds, and dunks in transition throughout the tourney, and had a couple games where he played well when no one else did. Add his newly found right hand hook shot, and he’s going to be very hard to keep out of the point and rebound column this season. And that wingspan we talked about? It might just belong to the third best player in the NBA (Anthony Davis).

As for the Eastern conference, the tournament was definitely good for Derrick Rose, who needed the run. By tourney’s end he looked lightning quick, once again capable of those huge strides, and radical changes of direction when he has the ball in his hands. Now he needs to get in the gym and work on his J, because it’s not yet where he’ll need it to be to compete with, well, the Cavs. Thibs and Rose had to be wincing inside every time Irving splashed a three. Still, Pau Gasol’s return to form (until his ouster by France), had to be music to the Bull’s ears. Until their upset, Pau was the best player in the tournament. He posted 20 points, eight rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in 27 minutes a night off 69TS%. If he matches the activity and skill level he showed in Spain, Pau’s going to be a much bigger free agent pickup for the Bulls than anyone thought.

Andersjon Varejao also looked spry, and as much as we hated to see him lose, I think we were all relieved when he bowed out and ended the tourney without injury. Andy flashed his now routine “bigger than the box score” skillset, averaging 8.7 points, eight rebounds and +8.7 a night, and routinely frustrated opposing big men. He also clearly outplayed Wizards forward, Nene, who had some very bad games for Brazil, and the other Brazilian big, Tiago Splitter. I’m beyond excited to see what Andy can do when he’s singing “Friend Like Me” alongside Love and ‘Bron this fall.

But one must remember, that as good as these guys look, they’re mostly going against players who are NBA backup quality. Starting NBA players should dominate them. But many of these “backups” have been on their teams, playing with their teammates for years. They’re not going to beat themselves. As Spain’s loss to France shows: poise and focus matter in FIBA. In this respect, Kyrie Irving might have grown more than anyone from this tourney. I’ve already written of Kyrie’s defense — it’s the best I’ve ever seen it. He got skinny around picks and anticipating screen angles to get over them like I’ve never seen before. Now, most of this is on the ball. I fear that, like Kobe, Irving may always be a better on ball defender than off, because of his propensity for jumping passing lanes to force turnovers, and even on the ball he might be guilty of gambling too much, but there was a passion, an engagement, a “giving a s**t” on defense from Kyrie that I’ve only seen in five minute stretches before, and he gave it almost all tournament.

I am telling myself that this was the reason Irving was named MVP. I mean it could be the goofy system where Harden (the Americans’ leading scorer) didn’t even make the all-tourney team, and was replaced with the inferior Nic Batum because the FIBAns didn’t want too many Americans on the team with Gasol and Serbia’s Milos Teodosic. But Harden, as impossible as he was to stop on offense, really reverted to his non-defending ways as the tournament progressed. So yeah, Kyrie: MVP. Kyrie certainly seems a lot more “grown up” now than he does a year ago. $85 million and a gold medal will do that for you (and he didn’t even need a Genie! – and yes, I know this theme is tortured. Give me a break. It’s August and I can’t get that stupid “Prince Ali” song out of my head after my daughter watched it the other night.)

I’m hoping that Kyrie embraces this moment: the team play and the constant striving for excellence that the Americans imbued. I’m hoping all the petty BS and distractions from last year are gone. If he does, then the Cavaliers’ future looks truly bright. The Cavs could have the best guard and the best player in the NBA. It’s a whole new world [GROAN].