OT- Kemba Kyrie?

[superjohn]

Why is everything in free agency always linked to Kyrie Irving? You hear it over and over, if the Knicks get Kyrie they also get Durant. If the Knicks get Kyrie they get Durant and Davis. Why does all this stuff always revolve around Kyrie and never a peep about Kemba?

Kemba is almost 2 years older but Is Kyrie that much better than Kemba? I see two comparable players at this point, one of which is a great teammate and the other shows signs of being a headcase.

 

[formerlurker]

Why is everything in free agency always linked to Kyrie Irving? You hear it over and over, if the Knicks get Kyrie they also get Durant. If the Knicks get Kyrie they get Durant and Davis. Why does all this stuff always revolve around Kyrie and never a peep about Kemba?

Kemba is almost 2 years older but Is Kyrie that much better than Kemba? I see two comparable players at this point, one of which is a great teammate and the other shows signs of being a headcase.

Mad Dog thinks the same thing and I agree with you both:

Q: What are your hopes and fears for the Knicks in free agency?
A: I wouldn’t touch Kyrie (Irving) right now. I think Kyrie is poison. If you are talking about Irving and a draft pick then I’d prefer Kemba Walker. He’s the perfect No. 2 man. Now if Durant comes and Irving comes with him that’s a little different. But Kyrie and a Knicks draft pick would scare the hell out of me. I don’t think he is a leader of a franchise. I know the Knicks would do it because they are desperate, but I think it’s a mistake.


Chris Russo talks Francesa-Kay battle, new deal and Kyrie Irving

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

As someone who has seen a lot of both I’d take Kemba 11/10 times. He has taken a team where the second best player is Jeremy Lamb to the playoffs or brink of playoffs the last few years.

Kyrie took a team that was #1 in the East and on the brink of the NBA finals with him out and turned them into trash.

 

[superjohn]

Mad Dog thinks the same thing and I agree with you both:

Q: What are your hopes and fears for the Knicks in free agency?
A: I wouldn’t touch Kyrie (Irving) right now. I think Kyrie is poison. If you are talking about Irving and a draft pick then I’d prefer Kemba Walker. He’s the perfect No. 2 man. Now if Durant comes and Irving comes with him that’s a little different. But Kyrie and a Knicks draft pick would scare the hell out of me. I don’t think he is a leader of a franchise. I know the Knicks would do it because they are desperate, but I think it’s a mistake.


Chris Russo talks Francesa-Kay battle, new deal and Kyrie Irving

Everything I'm talking about is Kyrie in addition to Durant or Kyrie in addition to Durant and Davis. Same goes for Kemba.

We all know Kyrie or Kemba on their own doesn't move the needle much.

 

[UofCT]

As someone who has seen a lot of both I’d take Kemba 11/10 times. He has taken a team where the second best player is Jeremy Lamb to the playoffs or brink of playoffs the last few years.

Kyrie took a team that was #1 in the East and on the brink of the NBA finals with him out and turned them into trash.

If Kevin Durant was so good how come the Warriors play better without him.....

 

[superjohn]

If Kevin Durant was so good how come the Warriors play better without him.....

He's awesome but the Warriors have always gone as Curry goes. Durant is a good passer but the ball moves a lot better when it's in Curry's hands and Curry, Klay, and Green all just play better without him. Warriors win 90% of their games without Durant, they win 60% of their games without Steph.

Don't think the Warriors ever really needed Durant but I think they probably will against the Bucks.

 

[Hugo]

As someone who has seen a lot of both I’d take Kemba 11/10 times. He has taken a team where the second best player is Jeremy Lamb to the playoffs or brink of playoffs the last few years.

Kyrie took a team that was #1 in the East and on the brink of the NBA finals with him out and turned them into trash.

Kyrie "may" be the more talented player, but Kemba is by far the better team player and he gives 100 % every game unlike Kyrie who only plays hard when he feels like it. Kemba is the choice here.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As someone who has seen a lot of both I’d take Kemba 11/10 times. He has taken a team where the second best player is Jeremy Lamb to the playoffs or brink of playoffs the last few years.

Kyrie took a team that was #1 in the East and on the brink of the NBA finals with him out and turned them into trash.

One of the Kyrie/Lebron Cavaliers' teams went on a tear when Kyrie was out too. He is absolutely poison. If I was an old, bad team that wasn't ready to compete and needed to sell tickets, like the Grizzlies or the Magic if Vucevic leaves, I might sign Kyrie. Otherwise, it would be a hard pass.

Kemba and Durant would be two great signings by the Knicks, and be competitive in the east. I wouldn't dump everything in sight to get Davis before taking a hard look at whether two alpha dogs on one team was enough. The Bucks get by with 1.

 

[navery12]

I would obviously take Kemba but Kyrie is #1 on my wishlist for the Knicks. I want KD but don't expect it. I will be unhappy if Kyrie is not a Knick next year

 

[Robertelamin]

Why is everything in free agency always linked to Kyrie Irving? You hear it over and over, if the Knicks get Kyrie they also get Durant. If the Knicks get Kyrie they get Durant and Davis. Why does all this stuff always revolve around Kyrie and never a peep about Kemba?

Kemba is almost 2 years older but Is Kyrie that much better than Kemba? I see two comparable players at this point, one of which is a great teammate and the other shows signs of being a headcase.

Is Kyrie even better then Kemba? I don’t watch enough NBA to know. If Kemba spent a few years with LeBron he would probably be a superstar too and if Kyrie didn’t play with LeBron he would be in relative obscurity like Kemba.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I love Kemba, much more than Kyrie (and I'm a Celtics fan).

But can we stop with this. Kyrie Irving is a superior player to Kemba Walker.

Kyrie works as a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team. Not the main guy. Doesn't mean Kemba is better. With all due respect, Kemba hasn't won squat in the league. But that doesn't mean Kemba can't also be a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team.

 

[Robertelamin]

I love Kemba, much more than Kyrie (and I'm a Celtics fan).

But can we stop with this. Kyrie Irving is a superior player to Kemba Walker.

Kyrie works as a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team. Not the main guy. Doesn't mean Kemba is better. With all due respect, Kemba hasn't won squat in the league. But that doesn't mean Kemba can't also be a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team.

He’s done nothing without LeBron though.

 

[superjohn]

I love Kemba, much more than Kyrie (and I'm a Celtics fan).

But can we stop with this. Kyrie Irving is a superior player to Kemba Walker.

Kyrie works as a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team. Not the main guy. Doesn't mean Kemba is better. With all due respect, Kemba hasn't won squat in the league. But that doesn't mean Kemba can't also be a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team.

What makes him so much superior to Kemba? They are both scoring points who can go off like crazy. They assist and rebound the exact same, they both have killer handles/crossovers, they both are all world finishing in the lane. Kyrie shoots it at a little better clip, Kemba turns it over a little less. Kyrie used to be better but at this stage I don't really see anything that separates them.

The only difference I see is Kyrie has played with an absurd amount of talent while Kemba has played with probably less talent than any great player in the league.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I would obviously take Kemba but Kyrie is #1 on my wishlist for the Knicks. I want KD but don't expect it. I will be unhappy if Kyrie is not a Knick next year

Kyrie gives serious Carmelo Anthony vibes.

Carmelo was the sort of guy that got his, but never made his teammates better and wasn't a winner. As a Knick fan, I knew exactly what he was going to entail, and the result was entirely as expected. Having a guy like that as your #1 put a major ceiling on what the team can accomplish.

I don't see Kyrie being much different in that respect.

 

[Devland]

The reason Kyrie and Durant are being linked is because there is a strong belief that the two have a pact to play together next season. If this is true, it is highly unlikely that a team is signing Durant without signing Kyrie. So a Kemba/ Durant combo isn't likely.

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

If Kevin Durant was so good how come the Warriors play better without him.....

I don’t know what you are trying to infer but if you don’t think Durant is the best player in the world right now your smoking some good stuff.
Doesn’t mean the warriors can’t win without him they have the second best player in the world on that team too

 

[navery12]

Kyrie gives serious Carmelo Anthony vibes.

Carmelo was the sort of guy that got his, but never made his teammates better and wasn't a winner. As a Knick fan, I knew exactly what he was going to entail, and the result was entirely as expected. Having a guy like that as your #1 put a major ceiling on what the team can accomplish.

I don't see Kyrie being much different in that respect.

I don't want to derail this thread but I'll never understand the people who talk about Melo and being compared to him as if it's a bad thing. I loved every minute of Melo on the Knicks just like I would enjoy Kyrie, and hopefully Kyrie would have better players with him since the Knicks aren't moving the whole team to get him

 

[superjohn]

I would obviously take Kemba but Kyrie is #1 on my wishlist for the Knicks. I want KD but don't expect it. I will be unhappy if Kyrie is not a Knick next year

What? You want Kyrie as your #1? There is no way I want any part of Kyrie unless he's the #2 or #3.

 

[superjohn]

I don't want to derail this thread but I'll never understand the people who talk about Melo and being compared to him as if it's a bad thing. I loved every minute of Melo on the Knicks just like I would enjoy Kyrie, and hopefully Kyrie would have better players with him since the Knicks aren't moving the whole team to get him

You loved every minute of Melo as a Knick? You must love losing.

 

[the Q]

What makes him so much superior to Kemba? They are both scoring points who can go off like crazy. They assist and rebound the exact same, they both have killer handles/crossovers, they both are all world finishing in the lane. Kyrie shoots it at a little better clip, Kemba turns it over a little less. Kyrie used to be better but at this stage I don't really see anything that separates them.

The only difference I see is Kyrie has played with an absurd amount of talent while Kemba has played with probably less talent than any great player in the league.

Kyrie has been significantly better as a Celtic than as a cav.

It’s not even close.

One fluke shot over Steph curry doesn’t change that.

 

[navery12]

What? You want Kyrie as your #1? There is no way I want any part of Kyrie unless he's the #2 or #3.

He's #1 on my wishlist, not that I want him as my #1 player on the team. I'm not in any fantasy world where I think the Knicks are immediately title contenders so draft RJ Barrett, sign Kyrie and if you strike out on KD wait until 2020 to get the #1 option

 

[navery12]

You loved every minute of Melo as a Knick? You must love losing.

Melo was not to blame for the losing

 

[KingAG]

You loved every minute of Melo as a Knick? You must love losing.

I mean Melo did give the Knicks their best season in 20 yrs. Melo wasn’t the problem in NY. Management did a terrible job building the team around him. For example using the amnesty on Chauncey Billups instead of Amare cost them Chris Paul(who wanted to play with Melo. A team of Chris Paul, melo, and Tyson Chandler wins games. Melo probably was never going to be the best player on a championship team. But ppl seem to forget that he was a consistent winner until he got to the Knicks. He damn near beat the championship lakers in the WCF. Those same Lakers swept the magic. Imagine if that Melo Denver team was in the East. Is he still viewed as a loser? Point being Melo was a winner until he got to he Knicks. So who was actually the issue?

 

[superjohn]

Kyrie has been significantly better as a Celtic than as a cav.

It’s not even close.

One fluke shot over Steph curry doesn’t change that.

Cool. That doesn't address any of my post.

 

[Tenspro2002]

You loved every minute of Melo as a Knick? You must love losing.

Who doesn't love an iso stepback 19-footer every possession?

 

[KingAG]

I love Kemba. But Kyrie is better only because he’s proven he can produce on the biggest stage. He closed that Cavs championship. Give me that guy as my number 2.

 

[HuskyFich]

I love Kemba, much more than Kyrie (and I'm a Celtics fan).

But can we stop with this. Kyrie Irving is a superior player to Kemba Walker.

Kyrie works as a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team. Not the main guy. Doesn't mean Kemba is better. With all due respect, Kemba hasn't won squat in the league. But that doesn't mean Kemba can't also be a 2nd or 3rd guy on a championship team.

This exactly.

The media is going to pay more attention to a guy that hit a game 7 finals winner over Steph Curry in the biggest finals upset in recent history, don’t ya think?

Kemba is a god amongst men. But in a popularity contest, isn’t even close.

He could be equal to or better than Kyrie, but that won’t even be a conversation until Kemba can do something(qualifying for starters) in the playoffs.

 

[upstater]

Mad Dog thinks the same thing and I agree with you both:

Q: What are your hopes and fears for the Knicks in free agency?
A: I wouldn’t touch Kyrie (Irving) right now. I think Kyrie is poison. If you are talking about Irving and a draft pick then I’d prefer Kemba Walker. He’s the perfect No. 2 man. Now if Durant comes and Irving comes with him that’s a little different. But Kyrie and a Knicks draft pick would scare the hell out of me. I don’t think he is a leader of a franchise. I know the Knicks would do it because they are desperate, but I think it’s a mistake.


Chris Russo talks Francesa-Kay battle, new deal and Kyrie Irving

What does the draft pick have to do with it?

I thought Irving was a free agent.

 

[UofCT]

I don’t know what you are trying to infer but if you don’t think Durant is the best player in the world right now your smoking some good stuff.
Doesn’t mean the warriors can’t win without him they have the second best player in the world on that team too

Usually if you lose the best player in the world your team does not improve.

 

[the Q]

Cool. That doesn't address any of my post.

You said he’s not as good as he used to be. He’s barely been in Boston...so when was this?