Irving is a 19-year-old kid who's played 11 college basketball games. James is an eight-year NBA veteran with 17,362 career points to his name. No comparison.
And yet Irving, the likely No. 1 pick in a shallow NBA draft this spring, is being likened to the previous Cleveland Cavaliers franchise player more and more every day. The last Cavs icon left and took his talents to South Beach a year ago; the next is about to be anointed.
Inevitably, people will talk.
"The comparisons will come regardless," Irving said at this week's combine. "That’s something I'm prepared for. As for right now, I just want to contribute to whatever team I go to."
Irving's saying the right things. But he knows the truth — the Cavs will inevitably take him with the No. 1 pick next month, and once they do, he'll have to face years of LeBron comparisons. They're going to haunt him. No matter what he does in the NBA, he'll almost certainly never be LeBron, and he'll always have to accept that.
LeBron has actually been friends with Irving for a while — he tends to strike up relationships with rising young stars early on, as he did in the past with John Wall, Derrick Rose and Chris Paul. He's played a mentor role with Irving, giving him advice about being a sought-after young prospect and encouraging him to return from a foot injury during his freshman year at Duke.
It's an awkward situation, since LeBron broke Cleveland's hearts, and now his friend Irving has a chance to make amends for the past. But if it doesn't work out right away, the city's tortured fan base has to stay patient.
LeBron inherited a team that won just 17 games in 2002-03. He doubled that win total immediately. Three years later, he put the Cavs in the Finals.
Irving isn't likely to have that same impact. He's not a top-notch No. 1 guy — he's the consensus top pick in a bad draft. We're headed for a lockout. Many of the top Americans are staying in school, and the top foreigners are still unknown commodities. Irving is No. 1 by default.
He probably won't make the Cavs into contenders singlehandedly. At least not anytime soon. But that's OK. We shouldn't expect too much from a 19-year-old kid being rushed into the big leagues.
Fans rioted in the streets, burning jerseys and shouting obscenities, when LeBron left Cleveland. Needless to say, they're anxious for a savior. But finding one might be more difficult than they can imagine.
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