CHICAGO --- No, the Cavaliers have not called former Duke point guard Kyrie Irving to tell him he?s going to be their man with the No. 1 pick in this year?s draft. Not yet, at least. And that?s all right with Irving.
?I am not surprised,? Irving said. ?I don?t think they?re supposed to tell me.?
What is something of a surprise to Irving, though, is that he is somehow still in the mix?more accurately, the favorite?to be the No. 1 pick in this year?s draft. That?s because, as Irving remembers it, he wasn?t considered the top prospect until he went to Duke, played in eight games for the Blue Devils and saw his stock soar. After suffering a nasty toe injury in December, he would play just three more games for Duke, for a total of 11, and averaged 17.5 points on 52.9 percent shooting.
Irving?s immediate reaction after the injury: so much for jumping to the NBA after his freshman year. He said as much to his father.
?After December 8, around December 15, I remember I called my father and asked him if I was still going to come out this year,? Irving said. ?And he said, ?Yeah, you?re fine.? I didn?t believe it until I came back for the NCAA Tournament and I was still rated the best prospect, or so-called prospect. That was something I was worried about the whole entire season when I was hurt, but you know my father kept on telling me good things, kept me grounded, kept on telling me things I needed to hear to get me through the process.?
Still, the math doesn?t quite add up for Irving. If he wasn?t the top player coming into the year, and if he spent all but 11 games of the season in street clothes, how did he manage to earn status as the NBA?s No. 1 prospect? ?I have no idea,? Irving admits with a smile.
Now, Irving says, he is completely healthy. He is skipping the workouts here at the NBA Draft Combine, but only because he wants to wait to work out for teams individually. He doesn?t need to wear special shoes for the toe, though he does wear a protective shank at all times as a precaution. Because he is healthy, he has the chance to validate himself as the No. 1 guy. Even if Cleveland isn?t telling him so, just about everyone around the league acknowledges Irving will go first, and Irving is determined to hold that spot.
?That is something that I think about every single day,? Irving said. ?That is something I think about that I want to work toward, that I want to uphold that position. It really just proves that in high school, no offense to the guys who were ranked ahead of me, in high school I wasn?t the best point guard in the class, which was fine. But I worked every single day to be in that spot, and now that I am there, I want to stay there for a while.?
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