Defense is a lot about effort. Don’t really mind that he’s not putting in the effort because easy to turn on for the playoffs as long as you have the ability, which he does.
You say he can turn it on whenever he wants. I'd say bad habits are hard to break. Even if he starts working harder and 'turns on' his effort in the playoff, he won't have the necessary discipline you'd expect. To be a good defender, not just a few possessions, you need the discipline and experience to make the impact we need to go far. Even he knows this, he just only applies it to his offense.
Well in that case then no use in complaining about because it ain't changing (since his "bad habits" predate the cetlics).
I'm complaining because he was defending for the first 25 games, then he started doing his old thing. I just want him to hold himself up to his commitment. I get Hayward went down so there was a front to convince everyone the season wasn't over. Now that adrenaline wore off, he reverted. For me, it was like saying he acknowledged the team wasn't going all the way. It may not be the truth and he just is trying to save his energy, but it is still fishy.
It's hard to compete on defense at a high level and carry an offense for the whole year.
Very few players do that.
You can count them on 1 hand.
Major disservice to the guys who do and tend to be the best players in the league. If you were to step slightly outside the role of "carrying a an offense," there's a whole lot more than five.
More than 5 guys compete hard on defense and carry their offenses like Irving does?
no way.
Steph and Durant both play hard enough on both sides but neither need to carry that offense. They can split that burden. Paul George is a really good offensive player and he competes on D but he doesnt carry that offense.
I'd say Embiid and AD probably do it, but I think it's different as a big. They dont have to work nearly as hard on either side of the ball to have an impact. I dont watch enough Giannis to know if his defensive workrate is good or if he just coasts off his massive length.
After that, I really cant think of many people. Wall's defensive workrate is bad. Kawhi's was good, but he's not even playing right now. James doesnt really try on D. Jimmy Butler was one of the guys who did, but even he didnt have nearly the offensive responsibilities of Kyrie.
After that you've got who else? Oladipo?
There just arent that many guys who can work as hard as Kyrie has to work on offense then turn around and compete at a high level on defense. It's just one of the drawbacks of smaller guys.
A giannis, or a KD, or an AD can relax on defense and still by ++ players. Point gaurds generally can't. I think if Hayward was healthy, you could demand a lot more from Kyrie, but the #2 option on this team right now is Jaylen Brown. Kyrie has to create a ton and is the sole focus of defenses. Its the same reason IT's defensive workrate was pretty bad last year. Same reason Russ didnt play D last year. Same reason Lebron doesnt play D in the regular season any more. It's virtually impossible to be tasked with that level of offensive creation and still really compete on defense for a full year.
Plenty of guys do it for the playoffs, a small handful do it for 82 games.