Kyrie Irving
Uncle Drew, Little Mountain, and Enigmatic NBA Superstar
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Perhaps no NBA player today is as exciting and yet enigmatic as Kyrie Irving. Martin Gitlin’s biography chronicles Irving’s brilliance on the court as a devastating one‑on‑one talent, examines the influence of his father, the untimely death of his mother, his growth as a basketball player in high school and college, and his journey in the NBA.
Nicknamed the “Isolation Assassin,” Irving has earned the distinction as the most incredible isolation player in the league, outperforming rivals such as Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook with his crossover dribble, drives to the basket, stop‑and‑go moves, and smooth, feathery jumpers, a distinction borne out, moreover, by his championship-clinching shot against Curry’s Golden State Warriors in 2016. Yet while he speaks of maximizing his talent, he has shown reluctance to maximize the production of his teammates by passing the ball, as well as his overall defense. Irving expresses his desire to win championships yet demanded a trade away from the franchise best suited to deliver him a second.
Off the court there is no one like Irving either. An educated individual who claims that the earth could be flat and that dinosaurs perhaps never existed, Irving is a man of puzzling contradictions who seeks self-actualization and contentment through a variety of pursuits, including reflection, music, and acting. Gitlin, a veteran writer who has followed Irving’s career from the beginning, has much to tell about one of the most mysterious and sensational athletes of our time whose appeal transcends his sport.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sports journalist Gitlin (Powerful Moments in Sports) misses the mark in this outdated and critical biography of NBA point guard Kyrie Irving, who in 2011 was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Gitlin traces the arc of Irving's life, from his upbringing in West Orange, N.J., where he learned the game via his father who played for Boston University, through his success at Duke University, and culminating in his making the key basket in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016 championship run. Gitlin posits that his subject is more interesting than other players by virtue of his off-court pursuits (he plays the saxophone and wrote, directed, and starred in a few Pepsi Max commercials), but provides only superficial insight into those aspects of Irving's life, mostly via secondary sources. Clunky writing ("One might argue that the paradox of Kyrie Irving negatively reflects modern thought") and dramatization (he imagines the thoughts of a 13-month-old Irving) distract from the narrative. Gitlin disparagingly argues that Irving is a selfish player and endeavors to be a team's alpha player, but this argument doesn't seem to hold given Irving's recent signing with the Brooklyn Nets to join superstar Kevin Durant. Ultimately, Gitlin sheds little new light on Irving in this disappointing biography.
