Iman Shumpert Thinks Making The Finals Without Kyrie Will Be Tough

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Iman Shumpert Thinks The Cavs Future Without Kyrie Is Grim

Iman Shumpert was the guest on this Friday’s episode of Everyday Struggle. DJ Akademiks asked Shumpert whether or not he thinks the Cavaliers minus Kyrie Irving’s presence will be a good enough team to return to the Finals. Iman was quick to point out how important Irving was to the team during last season’s playoffs, and simply said, “it’s going to be harder” without him. He spoke on how important he was to the team saying, “plenty of games, we should lose the game. We gave that man the ball and everybody went to the left side of the court and we watched Kyrie win the game.”

He also address the whole media debacle during Irving’s trade to the Celtics: “This isn’t just a Kyrie/LeBron thing. The media will turn it into that for y’all, and that’s what I mean about the internet. It’s the story. That’s the clicks. ‘LeBron and Kyrie hate each other!’ No. It’s two dudes that need the ball. LeBron needs the ball. Kyrie needs the ball. Kevin [Love] needs the ball. [J.R. Smith] can’t shoot unless he has the ball. Kyle Korver can’t shoot unless he has the ball. I love getting to the basket and dunking, but if I get the ball so that I can make sure I get my 20 a game, that takes away from LeBron’s 40 that you want LeBron to score. It takes away from Kyrie’s 40. It takes away from Kevin’s 40. Somebody got to get the short end. And it’s like, a lot of times, fans can’t all the way understand that. They think it’s 2K. ‘Bron can score 40. Kyrie can score 40. Iman should have 20. J.R. should have 30.’ It’s like, dog, it don’t work like that.”