Comparing and contrasting Kyrie Irving and Mike Conley’s surprisingly similar analytics

Defense

When Kyrie Irving’s critics cite their largest complaints, defense is almost always brought up. However, in nearly every metric, Irving has a surprising advantage over Mike Conley.

Irving closes out slightly better on shots, as his opponents shot 0.6 percent below the league average last season—a solid mark for point guards considering their usual lack of size means they get taken advantage of in the paint. 

Conley, on the other hand, allowed his opponents to shoot 1.6 percent better than the league average. Though, his opponents did shoot 1.5 percent lower than the league average for 3-pointers, a mark 1.1 percent better than Irving. However, he struggled on closing out on anything inside the arc.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Irving’s defensive rating (team points allowed per 100 possessions when he’s on the court) of 106 was also better than Conley’s mark of 110. Similarly, Irving’s defensive box plus/minus of -1.4 was also better than Conley’s -1.9.

I said we’d dive into the win shares later on, didn’t I? Well, the time has come. Conley had a slight edge, contributing 5.3 wins to the Memphis Grizzlies’ total of 42, while Irving had 5.0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 57 wins.

Irving, considered one of the league’s most talented offensive players, actually had a lower number of offensive win shares than Conley, however, trailing 4.2 to 3.2. There’s more to offense than just shooting. However, Irving had a 1.7 to 1.1 advantage in defensive win shares, a stat I doubt anyone saw (I mean, I sure didn’t) coming.

The one defensive area Conley had an advantage in was steals per 100 possessions, where he outnumbered Irving 2.0 to 1.7.

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