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Cavaliers Season Preview: Kyrie Irving Among NBA's Most Important Players

SB Nation is in the midst of an extensive NBA season preview with only two days to go before the season officially starts. Mike Prada recently published a list of the NBA's most important people and Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving was listed as one of those most important personalities:

These are three young point guards poised to become stars this season, but all have different obstacles to overcome. For Rubio, it's the weight of expectations, as well as his own issues as a scoring threat. His passing is great, but he has to prove he can hit a jump shot and finish himself at the rim to keep the defense honest. For Irving, it's the weight of carrying a downtrodden franchise on his shoulders, even though the talent around him is subpar.

Expectations are not high going into the season, especially with the Bulls and Pacers within the Central division expected to be among the Eastern conference's best teams.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.