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| Kyrie is proving he has a solid handle on the NBA game. |
The Tipping Point is a book by Malcolm Gladwell that explores how little events or circumstances can have a dramatic effect on society. How certain products will seemingly become bestsellers overnight or how ideas and behaviors can “spread like viruses do.” Both Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio seem to be at their own personal tipping point. A point where players go from being “players” to “stars.”
In this case I am taking the term “tipping point” to mean more of a personal revelation, where both Irving and Rubio are transforming in front of our eyes from players who are supposed to be great into players who believe they are great and in fact are great. It is a point where the mental side of the game of basketball is beginning to become more valuable than the talent side of the game. Both players certainly have talent, but we’ve seen talent fail in the league over and over again. The players that rise to their expectations are the ones who have the talent and have the mental capacity to take advantage of that talent to make themselves and others around them better.
For Kyrie Irving, his tipping point may have been Sunday against the Boston Celtics. With the clock running down at the end of the fourth quarter and the Cavs down by one, Irving dribbled at the top of the key, began to drive right, took a pick at the foul line only to find himself sandwiched in a double-team. He then picked up his dribble, did a spin move into the paint to create separation between the two defenders and laid in a bucket with his left hand to give the Cavs a one-point lead with 2.6 seconds left on the clock. It would be the game winning shot.
Earlier in the season, in the Cavs’ third game, Irving found himself in a similar situation. With the game on the line the same play was called, only that game he missed. But on Sunday Irving attacked the rim with an extra purpose, not only did he have the ability to get that shot, but he believed he was supposed to hit the game winner. We all know Irving can put up numbers, but now we know he can also win games when his team needs him to.
As for Ricky Rubio, there is not a singular play in which we can look back upon to catch his tipping point, but rather a stretch of games. We’ve seen flashes of Rubio’s brilliance all season. In his third game he record his first double-double, going for 12 points and 12 assists in a two-point loss to the Miami Heat. The two games following that first double-double Rubio came back down to Earth, but then recorded his second double-double, going for 12 points and 10 assists in four-point loss to Memphis. This quickly became a trend. In the next handful of games Rubio would record a double-double in one game and in the next see a dip in his production, but in each successive round of this trend the dip in production became less and less. Then, in a stretch of three games, Rubio didn’t score in double figures or record ten-plus assists. Against the Kings he had 9 points, 8 assists; against the Pistons he had 9 points, 8 assists; against the Clippers he had 9 points, 6 assists. It brought about the question of whether Rubio is going to be only a facilitator or if he can score and facilitate. As if he knew the question was brewing in our heads, Rubio gave us an answer.
Over the past six games he has recorded double-digit assists five times with four of those games turning into double-doubles. Against the Jazz he went for 17 points and 11 assists; against he Mavs he went for 17 points and 12 assists; against the Spurs he went for 18 points and 10 assists; against the Rockets he went for 18 points and 11 assists and nearly recorded a triple-double by adding 8 rebounds as well. To me, this stretch of games displayed two things. First, Ricky Rubio can put up Chris Paul-esque numbers on a night-in, night-out basis. Two, that Ricky Rubio is not only able to put up these numbers, but he is now learning to translate those numbers into success, handily winning in that stretch against the Mavs, Spurs and Rockets; all playoff caliber teams.
At the end of the season, when we look back on the rookie campaigns of Irving and Rubio, we will turn to their tipping points and say, “that’s when he figured it out.” We will look at that game winning play against Boston as the moment when Irving proved he could be a star. We will look at the past string of double-doubles and the wins against the Mavs, Spurs and Rockets as the moment when we Rubio proved he is not just any point guard, but amongst the elite. Thus, for the first time in these rankings, we have ourselves a 1a and a 1b. With the edge going to Irving because I highly regard game winning talent.
Rookie Rankings
1a. Kyrie Irving- He is averaging 17.9 points, 4.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds and has the Cavs floating a half-game out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. LW: 2
1b. Ricky Rubio- His numbers continue to trend upwards, more importantly they are beginning to translate into wins for the Wolves. On the season he is averaging 11.4 points, 8.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. LW: 1
3. Kemba Walker- The rookie out of UCONN recorded his first triple-double of his career and only the fourth by any player this season against the Wizards on Saturday, going for 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. Only problem was that the Bobcats lost…again. LW: 6
4. MarShon Brooks- After stringing together nine games of ten-plus points and even adding some rebounding to his repertoire, Brooks missed three games and then returned to score only six points. His overall resume on the season is still top-notch, averaging 14.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. LW: 3
5. Kawhi Leonard- With Manu Ginobili being out with an injury, Kawhi has been given some valuable playing time. After scoring in double figures in six straight, Kawhi cooled off for a bit. In a win against Memphis on Monday, Kawhi recorded his second double-double, going for 12 points and 10 assists. LW: 7
6. Jimmer Fredette- Jimmer has had an odd season thus far, which is why he is gracing my rookie rankings for the first time this week. After an up and down start, he has scored 20, 13, 19 and 14 points respectively in his last four games. LW: UR
7. Brandon Knight- Knight has had a great season for the Pistons, averaging 13 points, 3.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game. With a core of Knight and Monroe, Detroit looks to have a bright future, but that future looks like it is waiting until next season at the earliest. LW: 5
8. Norris Cole- Cole got extreme praise for scoring 20 points in his second game of the season. Since then he has been a great role player for the Heat. Against the Hornets on Monday he came off the bench for 12 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists. LW: UR
9. Iman Shumpert- Shump Shump is averaging 10.9 points, 3.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. If the Knicks weren’t spiraling out of control he would be getting much more attention. LW: 4
10. Chandler Parsons- Last Wednesday against Milwaukee, Parsons went for 16 points and 7 rebounds, which could be a sign of his true potential. Over the past four games though he has cooled off. The reason he is still in the rankings? He does what is asked of him and puts team first. LW: 8
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