Ball protection will be one of the most important parts of Kyrie Irving’s season
The Boston Celtics are handing the keys of their offense to Kyrie Irving, and that is something everyone should be excited about. We still do not know exactly how Irving will be used, but everyone should anticipate some changes from how he was used in Cleveland.
That being said, Irving’s actual skills will not be changing, and there is so much that he did in Cleveland that will be phenomenal in Stevens’ offense. It is easy to see what a special scorer he is. No one is able to do what Irving does at the rim and his isolation game should be the most feared in the NBA.
Irving’s offensive creation is as good as anyone in the NBA right now, and Stevens will find as many ways as possible to bring out every way he can destroy a team.
Pure scoring is not something the Celtics will have to worry about with Irving. It is how he runs the offense, and how effective he is as the primary distributor and ball handler that will be different.
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Even if he was taking a lot of shots in Cleveland, he was not responsible for running the offense, and that is exactly what he is going to do in Boston.
The good news is that Irving has already proven that he has one of the most important things Stevens needs out of that main offensive instigator, ball protection.
One of the most amazing things about Isaiah Thomas was his remarkable ability to be as aggressive as he wanted on offense, without ever falling into bad turnover troubles.
Irving should have no problem protecting the ball in an offense where fluid ball movement and limiting mistakes is always going to be important.
Last season Irving had the third best turnover ratio for point guards in the NBA, behind just Kemba Walker and, in very limited minutes, Terry Rozier. Thomas also cracks the top 10, but Irving should have no problem protecting the ball the way Thomas did, and that was always a key in making sure they did not waste opportunities.
The Celtics spent a lot of seasons with a lot of bad shooting. Stevens has invested a lot of time in developing offenses that make sure they are getting as many quality opportunities as possible, allowing them to overcome poor shooting.
Even though their shooting will finally be a strength this year, Stevens will not take that aspect out of his offense after the success it has given them in the past.
The only way it is possible to do that is by limiting turnovers, and a lot of that responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Irving.
A different kind of role could lead to more turnovers for Irving. That being said, he had to make a lot more difficult plays in Cleveland than he will have to in Boston, and a lot of his distribution will be about embracing all the movement involved in the offense.
Irving will not have to force the ball as a scorer or as a passer as much in Boston, and Irving had the skill to execute in that kind of offense flawlessly.
It is not a matter of his assists numbers going up. Running the Celtics offense is not always about making a play to find one open man. The offense uses ball movement across the board, opening up easier passes leading to a higher quality shot.
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We still do not know what kind of offense Stevens will be running, because he has been adapting it every year as his talent has changed. What we do know is that limiting turnovers has been a part of everything Stevens has tried to do on offense, and Irving is the exact person you want to protect the ball.