Mental Preparation: The above quote from Scott – “The biggest thing with him is he’s getting to that point where he has to want to take that challenge every single night.” – is telling. It’s obvious that if he wants to make the jump from being an average defender to becoming an elite defender, he needs to embrace the hard work and discipline that comes with the process. Prior to the game last night, Irving was watching film on a Macbook Pro; what he was watching for is anyone’s guess, but to make that quantum leap from average to elite, Irving will need to obsess over defensive matchups the same way his face probably lights up when he finds out he’s playing against the penetration-defenseless Lakers.
On-Ball Defense: “Irving can’t keep anyone in front of him,” said an advance scout during the Brooklyn Nets game on Saturday. Of course, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Yet, despite having the quickness and speed to stay in front of opponents, he has to buckle down for, as he stated, the whole entire game. In fact, instead of simply staying in front of his man, Irving needs to make it his mission to cause havoc on his counterpart on a nightly basis (which in turn will make him tougher to defend at the offensive end). The aforementioned mental preparation, along with the next bullet point, will help Irving to become a better defender in time.
Experience, Learning the ‘Tricks of the trade’: Irving regularly competes against players who, in most cases, have years of experience on him along with, in some cases, height and weight advantages as well. How can he compensate for these disadvantages? As Luke Walton explains, through time and experience, savvy will emerge. “You learn tricks,” said Walton. “You learn different ways to guard the pick-and-roll. The point guard position is probably the toughest to guard out of any position in this league. You have to do your best to know the traits of the other guy you’re guarding. If he likes to step back behind screens. If he likes to penetrate, does he like to go right? Does he like to go left? Just do your best to force him into his weaknesses.”
Walton prefaced his comments with this: “Be easy on him, you know? It’s something that’s tough in this league.”
With that, we serve to remind you that Irving is a 20-year old phenom who would be a junior in college if he was still in Durham, NC.
Irving will improve his defense in time; he has the basketball IQ, the speed, the savvy and the desire to do just that.
To go from being a middle-of-the pack All-Star contender to leader of the pack, improvement – both individual and team – are necessary.
It just so happens that in Irving’s case, they’re intertwined.
Jeremy Bauman is an aspiring scout and shooting coach. After covering last June’s NBA finals for this site, he’ll be blogging for SheridanHoops.com weekday mornings during the 2012-13 basketball season. Follow him on Twitter.