NEW ORLEANS _ Kyrie Irving will reprise his popular "Uncle Drew" character from Pepsi commercials in a full-length feature film.
He's poised to make his fourth appearance and second start in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night at Smoothie King Center.
The Cavaliers' defense of their NBA title looks on track with a 7-1 record in February and Irving is averaging 24.4 points per game, his highest at the break in his six-year career.
His reputation as the league's best big-shot maker is growing by the week. He followed up his 3 for the ages in Game 7 of the NBA Finals with similar heroics this season against the Warriors, Raptors and Wizards.
Irving seems on top of the world, and he's only 24.
But Irving admitted Friday during All-Star interviews at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans just how tough the transition was when LeBron James returned in 2014. Irving spoke candidly about the personal traits he had to shed as he went from being the brightest star on a losing Cavs team to playing with the best player on the planet and being No. 2 in the Big Three.
"It was definitely an eye-opener, an opportunity to reach another level that I thought I could get to, but I wasn't sure how long it would take," Irving said. "You're around great players every single day, great people every single day that just want to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Then you have a great player like 'Bron that's leading the whole thing and you're able to follow suit and find out where your role is and where your identity is, then you start thinking about solidifying that spot with him. It came in pieces.
"I was trying to figure it out all at once so it took a while, it didn't look perfect. A lot of the arrogance I had and the aura that I had I had to let go of completely. Let go of that complete ego, the selfishness that we all want to have it and being that player every single night. The truth is you can still be that player with other great players, you've just got to figure out how to do it."
Irving spoke confidently and seemed comfortable in the spotlight. It surely had nothing to do with the fact that James, supposed to be sitting at the closest table, was not in town, missing Friday's interviews due to a family obligation. Kevin Love, the Cavs' other All-Star, is sidelined following arthroscopic knee surgery and was replaced by Carmelo Anthony, who was also absent Friday.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, who will head the East All-Stars, has witnessed Irving's growth. Jumping from Butler University to the NBA in July 2013, Stevens said he was with Irving as a core coach for USA Basketball when Irving was 18.
"Two minutes into the scrimmage _ Jeff Capel was the head coach _ Jeff came over and said, 'You can take him out, he made the team,' " Stevens said, referring to Duke's associate head coach. "I said, 'I'm here for two days, I'm trying to win. He's playing.' I took him out like I was supposed to.
"He's a special talent. But when you have multiple special talents on the floor it just makes everybody better. Everybody's a little bit different with LeBron. Everybody can be a little bit more themselves and play to their best ability when you have LeBron on the floor."
Irving seems to be growing tired of the question of why he excels at the big moments and what shots like the 3-pointer over Stephen Curry with 53 seconds left in The Finals did for his confidence.
"I don't know how many times I've got to say I love those moments," Irving said. "I love preparing for them, I love thinking about 'em. When they actually happen, it seems like the reaction is a lot bigger from the outside than it is from me because of that comfortable space that I'm in.
"I enjoy it because it's the unknown. It's the uncertainty that gets me excited. I go in with full-fledged confidence and sometimes people wonder why. It was because I prepare for it. I want it. I don't go into it with any uncertainty in myself, regardless of what's going on."
In that regard, Stevens said he doesn't believe Irving has changed.
"I think he's always kind of had that in him," Stevens said. "That's always been kind of who he was going to be. He's a special shot-maker, which is hard. He's a tough guy to guard."
While he acknowledged that Irving's comfort zone is "always on the right-hand side," Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors, whom the Cavs ousted in six games in the 2016 conference finals, shares Stevens' opinion.
"I think Kyrie's always had the confidence," Lowry said. "I think he's always worked hard at his game and worked on being him. At the end of the day he's comfortable in his own skin. Kyrie's earned the things he's done."
When asked what he wants to improve in his game, Irving didn't mention anything technical. He didn't cite his defense or his tendency to over-dribble or his penchant for lapsing into the isolation basketball of his first few years in the league. His answer was about consistency and success and championships. He sounded comfortable in his own skin in that sense as well.
"Just the understanding, the completeness of it. Being able to play at a high level that's sustainable, not over the course of a 48-minute game, but over the whole entire season," Irving said. "(I've) put together some great snapshots of what I feel I can accomplish, what I can lead my team to do and what we can ultimately accomplish as a team.
"When you start putting together pieces of history that honestly no one can take away from you, that's what I want to be a part of."
