Kyrie Irving says LeBron James helped teach him how to be a professional
By Andre Pruitt
Kyrie Irving says LeBron James has helped teach him how to be a professional.
Kyrie Irving is having himself a great year. Not only will he most likely be the starting point guard for Team USA in the upcoming Olympics, he also helped the city of Cleveland end their 52-year title drought in June.
Irving played a major part in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors. Irving was arguably the best player in the Finals, other than a guy named LeBron James.
The three-time All-Star averaged nearly 27 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals a game in the seven game series. His clutch shot in Game 7 over Stephen Curry helped to pretty much put the game away for the Cavaliers.
With all of his success this season, Irving is still trying to improve as a professional. He feels that the return of LeBron James has helped him improve on that.
On how he has learned from LeBron, Irving stated “I think the biggest thing is how to be a professional. There were times during my young career where I wanted to be the leader, but I didn’t really know how. I understood that I had a lot of talent and did some great things out on the floor, and I brought a lot to the team, but there are a lot of intangibles that go unnoticed that can separate a good from a great team, or even a bad team from a good team.
As most expected, the return of LeBron has made a key impact on the 24-year-old Irving’s career. That is because before LeBron came back to Cleveland, Irving was unable to lead the Cavaliers to the playoffs in his first three seasons. Though within two years, Irving is now starting to look like a leader and is a defending champion.
For more NBA coverage, check out our hub page.