Is Kyrie the skill-wise basketball equivalent of Ronaldinho?

[Im Still Ballin]

Obviously, Kyrie has never been as good at basketball as Ronaldinho was at football. Ronaldinho won a Ballon d'Or and was probably the best player in the world for 2-3 years. Kyrie has never been close to that. Maybe borderline top 5?

Anyways, this thread is about that breathtaking, elegant, fluid type of skill. Is Kyrie the best the NBA has to match Ronaldinho?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1diW_2W-cM&ab_channel=iLance7i

[Wally450]

I'd agree with that. Back in 2014 when there was a thread here called "Kyrie is a unicorn", it was just crazy dribbling clips of Kyrie and clutch last second baskets.

I had always told others that Kyrie had the best in the handles in the league and there was a gap before #2. Steph Curry has closed that gap since then, but back in 2014-15, it was Kyrie far and away for best handles.

[RRR3]

When the hell was Kyrie borderline top 5? :roll: :facepalm

[pandiani17]

In terms of highlights and joy brought to the fans, I would choose VC for that role. Ronaldinho was a player whose aim was to make the game fun and get a smile in people's faces with his amazing skills, I think VC also did that in his early Raptors years. Jason Williams from Sacramento could be another one.

[noonereal]

Obviously, Kyrie has never been as good at basketball as Ronaldinho was at football. Ronaldinho won a Ballon d'Or and was probably the best player in the world for 2-3 years. Kyrie has never been close to that. Maybe borderline top 5?

Anyways, this thread is about that breathtaking, elegant, fluid type of skill. Is Kyrie the best the NBA has to match Ronaldinho?


My daughter trained with Ronaldinho in Brazil having been touted one of the best players in American when she was U16. He gave her his Jersey at the end of training. Very cool.

[Overdrive]

Obviously, Kyrie has never been as good at basketball as Ronaldinho was at football. Ronaldinho won a Ballon d'Or and was probably the best player in the world for 2-3 years. Kyrie has never been close to that. Maybe borderline top 5?

Anyways, this thread is about that breathtaking, elegant, fluid type of skill. Is Kyrie the best the NBA has to match Ronaldinho?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1diW_2W-cM&ab_channel=iLance7i

More like Jay Jay Okocha.

[nineiron]

don't insult Ronaldinho like that.

[beau_boy04]

dammm lol this is showing no respect to Ronaldinho. and the funniest part was kyrie top 5 at one point. :roll::facepalm

[WhiteKyrie]

I'd agree with that. Back in 2014 when there was a thread here called "Kyrie is a unicorn", it was just crazy dribbling clips of Kyrie and clutch last second baskets.

I had always told others that Kyrie had the best in the handles in the league and there was a gap before #2. Steph Curry has closed that gap since then, but back in 2014-15, it was Kyrie far and away for best handles.
I’m a huge Kyrie fan, but no. People failed to mention Chris Paul consistently, amazing handle. Jamal Crawford at that time, amazing handle. Steph Curry didn’t magically become a vastly superior ball handler since then. He’s always been a great ball handler. Now, I did think Kyrie was the best of that group, but those guys all were right there, there wasn’t that big of a gap.

[AirBonner]

Kyrie is more the the professor from and 1 mix tapes

[ArbitraryWater]

I like the comparison.

[ShawkFactory]

Why are people saying it's disrespectful to Ronaldhino? OP said that they obviously aren't on the same level as overall players.

But the smoothness of their respective handles and creative finishing ability can absolutely be compared.

[ImKobe]

dammm lol this is showing no respect to Ronaldinho. and the funniest part was kyrie top 5 at one point. :roll::facepalm

It is kind of disrespectful as good as Ronaldinho was at his peak but you could argue Kyrie was arguably top 5 in the league at one point.. heck, he was the 2nd best player in his Conference for a while there with how weak the East was. I think Kyrie has a good argument for being a top 5 player at least in the POs in '16 and maybe even '17, and he was the best player on the 4th best team in the league in '18 while being up there in all the advanced stats too (top 10 PER, 5th in BPM, 11th in VORP). Skill-wise I can see the comparison a little as most players and even Kyrie's biggest haters recognize that Irving has some ATG skills as a ballhandler and as a finisher at the rim and he's part of the 50/40/90 club and he did it while averaging 27/5/6, that's a very elite club with Dirk, Bird, KD, Irving & Steph being the only players to do it while averaging 20+ ppg.

[GimmeThat]

in terms of impact when it comes to iso coverage, double coverage, and triple coverage. sure

[PeroAntic]

More like Neymar, never the best player in the world and also enigmatic. Ronaldinho apart from being skilled was also the best in the world for a time and he wasn't moody or a special character.

[iamgine]

Individual one on one skill wise, Kyrie can absolutely be equated with Diego Maradona, Garrincha, or any GOAT of soccer. He's that skilled.