Marion signs with Cavs

[D.o.s.]

We also have a stat for that: BPTP2S

Best player That Peaked 2 Soon. The 2 is a 2 because Prince.

[Vox_Populi]

... he was dead last on his team in dRAPM

I don't have any faith in this stat.  It puts Lebron, for instance, as the 162nd best defender in the NBA, wedged between Hedo Turkuglu and Jeremy Lin.  Klay Thompson is 215th, very close to Steph Curry (231st).

There are dozens and dozens of similar examples.

Ah, I see. You misunderstood me. I wasn't referencing RPM, which I agree is fishy if only because ESPN have been hesitant to explicitly describe the calculation process. But RAPM. The two are similar in their attempt to reduce the noise of +/- and APM, but RPM makes use of box scores to try, similar to xRAPM but with some other additions, to improve the prediction quality.

Still, your argument still stands - if inadvertently - because there is a high correlation between RPM and RAPM. RAPM has issues, but it's defensive split is one of the better measures of defensive performance. James' dRAPM for this season is still a negative, just like his defensive RPM. The best explanation I can offer is that he was coasting throughout the majority of the season, something most can attest to. During the Playoffs, his dRAPM was much higher.

I hope all this doesn't deter us from my original point, which was, Irving was very bad last season.

[Vermont Green]

Vermont Green - how can you say that Kyrie can't be the best player on a championship team?  I mean, okay, he hasn't made anyone better, but he also hasn't even made it to the playoffs, which, being in the east, doesn't exactly help his cause   I haven't seen a lot of him play, but I do know that he is an assassin in the 4th quarter, so that tells me that he can flat-out take over a game...with his scoring and shooting.  We'll see about his passing, or at least I will lol because I haven't seen him pass that much at all, really

My point is that when he was the best player on the team as was the case the last couple of years in CLE, expectations overshadowed his ability.  I think playing with LeBron and Love is going to allow Irving to play with less pressure and responsibility.  I think he will be better than say Tony Parker and that will more than enough for what CLE will need from him.