I had not planned on getting to him this quickly, but it is very relevant. The picture is of course of Kyrie Irving. The superhero might be unknown to some of you. Kyrie bears the symbol of Nightwing. Now, some of you are probably saying, who is Nightwing? Nightwing is Dick Grayson, who was the first young man that took on the mantle of Robin serving as the second to Batman. We have heard the Batman and Robin analogy so many times in basketball whether it was between Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, or Lebron and D-Wade. At some point, Robin got tired of being seen as less than Batman and decided that he needed to strike out on his own as Nightwing. Nightwing had been trained by Batman and was ready to take on the world and go to a different city and take up the same crusade that his mentor had undertaken in Gotham City. This past week, Kyrie Irving decided that he needed to go out on his own and it has left the league in a tailspin. The story continues to devolve with people reporting that Lebron might have been the one to leak Kyrie's trade request to the media. Yikes.
Kyrie Irving is still a member of the Cavaliers for the moment although that could change quickly. Kyrie thought he was going to be the face of the post-Lebron Cavs after James left in 2010. In 2011, Kyrie was the number one pick and played three years on some really bad Cavs teams before Lebron rejoined them. They immediately became contenders and Irving was seen as the one that would benefit the most from Lebron. Part of the reason that James was willing to rejoin Cleveland was because of Irving. After the murder of his parents, Dick Grayson was an orphan that was taken in by billionaire Bruce Wayne. Dick discovers that Bruce is really Batman and before you know it, Robin is born and Batman has a sidekick. Robin is not always treated as a threat by villains and is seen as second class in many ways. He is always by Batman's side, but there are still times when Batman questions if he should allow Robin to work with him, that it might be too much for him.
Besides the training he received from Batman, Robin is an acrobat with speed and quickness. He lacks the size and strength of Batman, but he is not someone to be taken lightly. He also lacks Batman's stubborn nature about working with others. Kyrie has it all offensively. He can shoot, he can dribble, he can score in so many ways under the goal and has been called by many, the best under the rim finisher in the NBA. He is a threat to drop 50 on any given night. While he is a handful to deal with offensively, there is some work to done on his ability to be a point guard and he has also struggled somewhat defensively and is in no way a stopper.
Nightwing is not as popular of a character as Batman and he never will be, but there are some things that Nightwing can bring to the table. He is Batman without the depressing quest that consumes his entire life. Nightwing has a personal life that he values and it is not always easy for him to manage. The dynamic of him trying to establish himself while still occasionally working with Batman is interesting. He gets so frustrated with Batman at times and it is due to the fact that Batman still sees him as Robin, a little kid. Nightwing is a great friend to Batman, but he no longer wants to be his sidekick. Kyrie is in the same boat. He has had the chance to do things he would have never gotten to do without Lebron. He won a championship. He has been to three straight Finals. He gained popularity from the exposure brought by Lebron. It still is not enough for Kyrie to be considered the sidekick. He feels that he is ready to get out of the spotlight and it is fair for him to think that way.
He and Lebron can still be friends, but Kyrie is ready to do his own thing. While Lebron was the driving force of that Cavs championship, they do not win it without Kyrie. I sincerely believe that. Kyrie hit the go ahead shot in Game 7. While Nightwing had his fair share of struggle without Batman, Kyrie is going to have a tough time. He will not be in the Finals next year. He will face waves of criticism from people telling him he should've never left Cleveland. However, any team that gets him will now have an unbelievable offensive talent that is absolutely one of the 20 best players in the league.
In many ways I respect Kyrie's decision to request a trade. He feels that he can be better and he wants to be the guy. Winning isn't always enough, some guys want to win on their own terms. Robin became Nightwing and in many ways he won the respect of Batman because he wanted to be his own man. In some ways, I am sure that Lebron understands that. He can't expect everybody to be elated about playing with such a force on the court. Lebron takes over everything because he is such a huge superstar. Kyrie is not going to be the man on any team with Lebron. However, he is now going to go back to what it was like playing without Lebron, can he win games, that is the question and that is what he will be judged by.
Kyrie Irving is still a member of the Cavaliers for the moment although that could change quickly. Kyrie thought he was going to be the face of the post-Lebron Cavs after James left in 2010. In 2011, Kyrie was the number one pick and played three years on some really bad Cavs teams before Lebron rejoined them. They immediately became contenders and Irving was seen as the one that would benefit the most from Lebron. Part of the reason that James was willing to rejoin Cleveland was because of Irving. After the murder of his parents, Dick Grayson was an orphan that was taken in by billionaire Bruce Wayne. Dick discovers that Bruce is really Batman and before you know it, Robin is born and Batman has a sidekick. Robin is not always treated as a threat by villains and is seen as second class in many ways. He is always by Batman's side, but there are still times when Batman questions if he should allow Robin to work with him, that it might be too much for him.
Besides the training he received from Batman, Robin is an acrobat with speed and quickness. He lacks the size and strength of Batman, but he is not someone to be taken lightly. He also lacks Batman's stubborn nature about working with others. Kyrie has it all offensively. He can shoot, he can dribble, he can score in so many ways under the goal and has been called by many, the best under the rim finisher in the NBA. He is a threat to drop 50 on any given night. While he is a handful to deal with offensively, there is some work to done on his ability to be a point guard and he has also struggled somewhat defensively and is in no way a stopper.
Nightwing is not as popular of a character as Batman and he never will be, but there are some things that Nightwing can bring to the table. He is Batman without the depressing quest that consumes his entire life. Nightwing has a personal life that he values and it is not always easy for him to manage. The dynamic of him trying to establish himself while still occasionally working with Batman is interesting. He gets so frustrated with Batman at times and it is due to the fact that Batman still sees him as Robin, a little kid. Nightwing is a great friend to Batman, but he no longer wants to be his sidekick. Kyrie is in the same boat. He has had the chance to do things he would have never gotten to do without Lebron. He won a championship. He has been to three straight Finals. He gained popularity from the exposure brought by Lebron. It still is not enough for Kyrie to be considered the sidekick. He feels that he is ready to get out of the spotlight and it is fair for him to think that way.
He and Lebron can still be friends, but Kyrie is ready to do his own thing. While Lebron was the driving force of that Cavs championship, they do not win it without Kyrie. I sincerely believe that. Kyrie hit the go ahead shot in Game 7. While Nightwing had his fair share of struggle without Batman, Kyrie is going to have a tough time. He will not be in the Finals next year. He will face waves of criticism from people telling him he should've never left Cleveland. However, any team that gets him will now have an unbelievable offensive talent that is absolutely one of the 20 best players in the league.
In many ways I respect Kyrie's decision to request a trade. He feels that he can be better and he wants to be the guy. Winning isn't always enough, some guys want to win on their own terms. Robin became Nightwing and in many ways he won the respect of Batman because he wanted to be his own man. In some ways, I am sure that Lebron understands that. He can't expect everybody to be elated about playing with such a force on the court. Lebron takes over everything because he is such a huge superstar. Kyrie is not going to be the man on any team with Lebron. However, he is now going to go back to what it was like playing without Lebron, can he win games, that is the question and that is what he will be judged by.