I am confident World B Free would've won a Championship if he had of had LeBron James as a teammate.
LeBron carried those Cavs teams. Witness how they fell apart whenever he missed a game or went to sit on the bench for a few minutes. They went from title contender to fringe playoff team (and that is being kind).
World B Free would've been awesome with his shot-making ability next to a player like LeBron James.
But I don't remember World B having the handles OR the ability to get to the rim like Kyrie does.
Pure shooter? Yes. Handles and getting to the basket? No.
Clutch Gene? Don't think so. Don't remember World B hitting game winner shots in the Finals...don't see him having the same impact as Kyrie.
Handles are nice but I think they're overrated. It's similar to how no matter how good Kobe actually was, many fans thought he was even better because of his penchant for hitting tough shots. The flash factor doesn't actually make the buckets worth more.
As for clutch, Kyrie was sure clutch in the 2016 Finals.
Where was the clutch gene when he was playing for the Celtics in the playoffs?
"Clutch" is context specific and can fade fast.
So the ability to get to the basket via dribbling...ability to get through traffic via dribbling...is overrated?
Aren't many of us on here berating Jayson Tatum because of his lack of handles?
And as for Kyrie's lack of clutch in the playoffs last year - well ask Gordon Hayward and the whole team - GH because he simply was not himself yet. Ask the entire team because, well - Marcus Smart himself said the entire TEAM did not mesh.
For someone with such good ability to get to the basket, he sure takes a lot of early-in-the-shot-clock stepback threes and tough midrange ISO shots
No doubt.
A good number of them went in, though.
LOOK - I'm seeing (like I think many of us here are) that Kyrie Irving needs a definitive "ALPHA" with him to be successful. In his CLE years this was of course LeBron.
Last year it was SUPPOSED to be Gordon Hayward. Kyrie Irving has even REPORTEDLY been on record as saying that he wanted to play with GH.
It is a horrible reality that Kyrie is not getting THIS YEAR'S GH...and no - Big Al - while a fine complimentary piece - is NOT an Alpha. It is not in him and that's fine.
Gordon Hayward - THIS GH - is a bonafide Alpha..proven to carry a team...take pressure OFF of a team. Kyrie did not get this.
Kyrie WILL, however - get his Alpha in Durant, soon.