Why The Miami Heat Judged Things Correctly With Kyrie Irving

Miami Heat: Kyrie Irving Is A Great Player, But Is He Worth The Extra Stuff?

There is no denying the talent of Kyrie Irving, but you also cannot ignore the drama and problems he causes for your team.

The Case Against Kyrie

The biggest issue has been his availability for games. Most recently, his COVID-19 vaccine status left Irving out for the first half of the season.

It left the Nets searching for answers throughout the season. A team that once hoped to compete for a title was wondering what their roster would look like in the playoffs.

Eventually, some of the COVID mandates were lifted and the Nets were able to introduce Irving into the lineup at home. However, the damage was already done and the Nets were swept in the first round by the Celtics.

Last year was not the only time where Kyrie’s tendency to miss games has caused problems for his teams. He has missed games for many other reasons.

The Heat battled through last season with several injuries throughout their roster to start with. They couldn’t afford a lack of consistency when it comes to Kyrie Irving’s availability, especially considering the next part.

The second issue is how he would affect the Heat roster on the floor each night. Since he is a superstar and has a big contract, the Heat would need to give up a lot to add Kyrie to the team.

Usually, when a superstar becomes available, you should do whatever it takes to add that player. But with all the question marks surrounding Kyrie Irving, should the Heat have targeted him and risked losing the depth that would be playing for them on a guaranteed consistent basis?

In addition to risking depth, the Heat would have also risked getting worse defensively. Kyrie has never been a great defender.

The Heat already have weaker defenders on their team like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro. Although it would have probably meant sacrificing them to land Irving, they still, perhaps, would have gotten worse.

The Heat might’ve even needed to throw in another player like Kyle Lowry, who is a good defender and helps the Heat win in many different ways. The third part of the case against Kyrie is the way he affects others off the floor.

He has had some issues with coaching. Whether it was saying that he didn’t need a coach or holding his own practices, Kyrie Irving has made some questionable decisions when it comes to respecting his head coach.

Although Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra would never put up with something like that, it is not something you want to see out of a star player if you are thinking about trading for him. The major theme with Kyrie Irving is his unpredictability.

At one point, he threatened to retire if he were ever traded from the Nets. Although he later denied those comments, you never know.

You can’t predict Kyrie Irving. The closest you can come to doing so is to imagine the most outlandish thing possible— to which he might do something similar.