John Wall Says Kyrie Irving More Likely for Olympics
Former Duke Guard Kyrie Irving may have a smoother road to the Olympic Team than previously thought. That was the opinion of one of his primary competitors anyway. Ben Standig of CSN-Washington interviewed John Wall, the Raleigh native turned Washington Wizards star point guard. Wall, who is doing everything right to be considered for the 2016 Olympic Team, said that there was little chance that he would be the theoretical third point guard on the roster.
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Wall mentioned Chris Paul and Stephen Curry of course as two of the men in front of him. Paul is the NBA’s reigning top point guard in terms of floor generalship and defense. Curry is the League MVP with the defending League champions. Those were not the North Carolina connected point guards that were ultimately going to keep him off the roster though.
According to Wall, that would be Kyrie Irving, formerly of Duke.
If there is one thing that Kyrie does that Wall does not, it is the three point shot. Irving has been much more consistent at the three than Wall over their respective careers. Shooting has been a traditional weakness of the US Mens Basketball team in recent cycles. Irving also has his performance in the 2014 FIBA World Championship to hang his hat on.
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There are a couple of other factors that Wall did not comment on that play in Kyrie’s favor. First he is the current teammate of LeBron James. If you do not believe that James can throw his influence around, you have not been watching the Cleveland Cavaliers since the last off season. If James wants Irving on the team, then he will most likely get Irving on the team.
The second factor is familiarity. The head coach of Team USA is Mike Krzyzewski, Irving’s college coach. There is probably no one better at knowing what Irving can do than Coach K. Right now all these things seem to be getting Irving to the 2016 Olympics.