From Uncle Drew to winning rookie of the year honors, Kyrie Irving having a breakout year in the 2012 season would be an understatement coming fresh off a severe ligament injury in his 2011 career at Duke. With Cleveland in need of new sports icon with LeBron James leaving a year prior, the Cavs drafted Kyrie as the number one overall pick immediately came in made an impact on the team to lift the city giving them hope for the future with a star and finisher already on the team.
Here in the clip above, we go behind the scenes of the shoot with the young 20-year old Jersey native as he speaks on advice given from LeBron as well as his dad speaks on being thankful that people consider him the next star which he already is in my opinion after witnessing him drop the Lakers off with 41 first-hand a few weeks ago.
Kyrie then jumps into discussing his terrible defensive play coming into the lockout year out of shape in his rookie season not being prepared physically and mentally. In comparison to last year, he came into the season this year averaging nearly 23 points making his way to “elite” status. His goal is to make those in Cleveland “believe” once again no matter how the team is playing as the future definitely does look bright for Cavs fans.
You can check out the next issue of “ESPN The Magazine” on sale at newsstands everywhere on this Friday, December 28th. Subscribe today!
Click image to enlarge
OS REWIND: ESPN The Mag: John Wall
OS REWIND: “ESPN The Mag” The Magic Of Megatron