New York Knicks: How George Costanza can help with Kyrie Irving

The Argument Against a Trade

Let’s start with the obvious.

Kyrie Irving, for all of his transcendent offensive abilities, does not profile as the guy you mortgage your future for.

Some players demand that you give up the farm for them the moment they become available. If and when Anthony Davis gets put on the block, he falls into this category. There might be a half-dozen other names who join him in that group. The only way a team would ever take a call on someone like Davis is if he demanded a trade or was about to become a free agent and the team was hopelessly out of contention.

Kyrie doesn’t fall into this category of player.

There’s no way to know just how serious talks with the Suns – the ones centered around Irving, Bledsoe and the 4th pick – got around draft time. But the fact that they happened at all is telling. And not altogether surprising.

For starters, Irving is painfully bad on defense. This point has been made again and again and again, and doesn’t need to be belabored.

This can be a problem in a league where the second most important element a team needs after the ability to get into the paint is the ability to keep opposing guards out of it.

The good news is that you can survive in the NBA with half of your backcourt resembling a sieve. If this weren’t the case, the Cavs wouldn’t have been able to win with Irving two years ago. The Celtics did fairly well this year with (by some metrics) the worst defensive guard in the sport playing 34 minutes a night. Steph Curry and James Harden are nobody’s idea of a stopper.

But all of those guards are have been paired with an elite-level wing defender – the type of player who can cause headaches for the opposing team’s primary ball handler. Avery Bradley, Patrick Beverly, Klay Thompson, and yes, even J.R. Smith can mask a lot of issues.

Tim Hardaway Jr. does not fall into that category.

Although he’s much improved from his first stint with the Knicks, it’s easy to get better when your starting point is that of a sub-replacement level player.

With THJ in the fold at almost the same annual salary as Irving, it’s tough to imagine them not sharing ample time together in the backcourt.

Of course, the Knicks JUST drafted a player who projects to grow into an elite wing defender – someone who can guard the opposing team’s best playmak-

Oh wait…that’s right. The Knicks are almost certain to send out Frank Ntilikina in any trade for Kyrie Irving. Courtney Lee could masquerade as a stopper from time to time, but he’ll be spending a lot of his time at the three since the Knicks won’t have a true small forward on the roster once Anthony is gone.

Throw in the offensively brilliant but defensively-challenged Willy Hernangomez, as well as KP having to chase around small-ball fours on the perimeter, and it’s easy to see the next two years devolving into more of the Swiss Cheese D that Clyde oh so loathes.

No big deal though…with All-Stars at point guard and power forward, and legit offensive talents at the other three positions, the Knicks can just outscore opponents, right?

Wrong. Over the last ten seasons, there has been exactly one team to finish in the bottom ten in defensive rating and win 50 games. That team? Last year’s Cleveland Cavaliers, who eeked out 51 wins after sleepwalking through the second half of the season and getting by with a historically great offense.