Welcome to the KAI Report - the deepest study of Kyrie Irving’s skill-sets ever performed. We tracked 10 consecutive games, 649 possessions, and reported every skill used. Amazingly, Kyrie Irving performed 176 unique skills in just 10 games.

Each possession, every dribble, every step, and every technique was tracked and reported, allowing us to better understand the skills and techniques used by the world's most skilled basketball player.

 

 DRIBBLE-STEPS

"The act of dribbling the ball in rhythm with the inside foot."

One of the most underrated and under appreciated, and important skills in basketball is the Dribble-Step.

But as you watch, consider these numbers.

Dribble-Steps: 1,893

Stutter Dribbles: 38

Dribble-Step Accuracy Rate: 98%

When diving in and performing deeper studies on basketball skills, it becomes more and more clear that a Dribble-Step is the most natural timing and combination of both dribble and step.

Within the Dribble-Step, a player will find natural rhythm within the game of basketball, move more athletically and coordinated, and will be able to access consistent reads and reactions.

Incredibly, in a span of 10 games, Kyrie Irving performed 1,893 Dribble-Steps, but only 38 Stutter Dribbles! Why does this matter? Because when a dribble is performed in rhythm with the inside foot, the ball handler is in the best position to make reads like stopping, shooting, changing directions, etc.

Quite simply, reads, reactions, and overall creativity is most accessible during the Dribble-Step. So the fact that Kyrie has a 98% Dribble-Step accuracy rate explains just how gifted of a ball handler he is. And that’s not to mention that many of the Stutter Dribbles that he did perform, like Punch Drags, were done on purpose! But we will study that next!