11. Kyrie Irving (2011):
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The stories about Kyrie Irving’s fearlessness, rare set of offensive basketball skills, and overall “alpha dog” demeanor began to permeate even when while Irving was sitting on the sidelines. There was an “X-factor” to Irving’s game that was greater than the individual sum of things like his innate feel for the game of basketball, ability to finish around the hoop in a profound number of ways, his body control when breaking down a defense, and ability to be a one-man offensive dynamo.
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The problem was, he didn’t really get to showcase any of those during his injury-curtailed season in Krzyzewski-ville, which led reliable scouting services to rank Irving as being in a tier just below guys like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Derrick Rose.
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