Reaction: 11 Great Games and Kyrie is Gone

So the announcement has been made.  Kyrie Irving is done at Duke.  With Irving back, as stated before, Duke would’ve been a title contender.  Now without Irving, Duke is still a contender but even younger in leadership than they would’ve been if a would be sophomore with 11 games of experience had come back.  Duke will more than likely now be lead by freshman Austin Rivers.  Rivers will be the main scorer and with what I’ve seen of his maturity he will also be the main vocal leader.  But that is a discussion for later on; let’s focus on Irving right now.  I have two reactions to this expected announcement. 

Fan Reaction:

As a fan I am not happy.  I wish he’d come back and given us all the thrill of seeing Irving and Rivers paired up in the back court together next year.  I wish Duke would’ve again been the favorites to win it all next year, even though in the past decade the favorite preseason rarely wins it all in the postseason.  I wish I could’ve seen more than just 11 games, 8 healthy and 3 not quite 100%, of Irving in a Duke uniform.  In the end though that is me being a selfish Duke fan, and isn’t really fair.

Big Picture Reaction:

If you are a guaranteed top 3 pick, like Irving is, you go pro.  There is no reason to risk dropping in the draft and losing as much as 4 million in just a few picks.  Even if Irving had another great year, didn’t get injured and led Duke far into the tournament, he still may not be top 3 next year.  New prospects come into the NBA sights and more of your flaws are shown the more you play as a prospect, and the “experts” out there would start picking on Irving for not having as much upside as some other freshman phenom.  I think it’s the right move for Irving to be moving on if I look at his situation without letting my fandom enter into my opinion.

Coming soon, we’ll look at the future of Duke next year more and move on from the players who will never suit up for Duke again.

Also, podcasting coming soon on STOB.