Despite his recent injury, the accolades continue to pile up for Kyrie Irving in 2013.

On the heels of winning the NBA 3-point shootout in February—along with making his All-Star Game debut—Irving was named this week to the Bloomberg Power 100 List for the first time.

Highlighted by his epic performance down the stretch against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, Luke Walton emerged as a potential candidate to soon enter my personal Hall of Fame for random Cavaliers to go on the most memorable runs in recent history.

Then, following Wednesday’s win over the Toronto Raptors, Walton officially joined that group headlined by the legendary Lester Hudson.

In his last two games, Walton has averaged 6.5 points, six assists and six rebounds in 22.5 minutes per night.

More important than the fact that he's essentially doubled his season long stat-line for each category, however, is that Walton has also helped lead a Kyrie Irving-less Cavaliers team to back-to-back wins in the process.

On Wednesday, Walton played critical minutes to help the Cavs' reserves out-score the Raptors bench 39-8.

His fit with that group, alongside Wayne Ellington, Marreese Speights and C.J. Miles, is the first thing I asked Luke about following the game.

Walton has now made 33 appearances for the Cavaliers this season averaging 16.1 minutes per night. What makes his recent tear most surprising is the fact that last season he played a combined total of only 30 games averaging 7.2 minutes. 

All of which led me to my next question for Walton, that I asked just after the local television news cameras dispersed having already acquired the requisite video of Luke Walton talking Cavs that their bosses are most certainly demanding these days.

As a guest of Joe Lull’s yesterday, on 92.3 FM in Cleveland, I predicted a triumphant Cavaliers' victory over the Heat in Miami on Sunday.

Despite getting blown out to close the 2nd quarter, and trailing by as many as 20 in the second half, I ended up being a lot closer than I thought I’d be as I reviewed that prediction at halftime.

While I wouldn’t agree that Kyrie Irving was specifically shut down to close out that game yesterday, I would admit that he didn’t have the mega star-quality performance we’ve started to see from him on a regular basis here lately.

Highlighted by dizzying displays of dribbling, that left him laying shots up off the glass it never appeared he'd have room to release, Irving wasn't without his moments of typical brilliance.

By game’s end, however, Irving’s 17 points on 6-16 shooting from the field along with 33 percent from three-point territory are all below his averages on the season. Regardless of that, however, the Cavaliers eventually gave the Eastern Conference's best team all they could handle for 48 minutes at their place.

That much is at least encouraging, despite how much more encouraging it would’ve been to cash that thing in  and actually win the game. So while I’m getting a little tired of tallying moral victories here, at the same time I was also left with three takeaways from yesterday's game that are inescapably encouraging to me. 

No. 1: How the Cavs starters took the court to begin the first quarter

I was excited by the attitude and aggressiveness that each of the five starters took the court and played with to open that game yesterday.

They did so under the belief that they could actually beat LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen and the Miami Heat, and played that way before giving up the huge second quarter lead when the bench came in.

There is no statistical data to support the idea that Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Tyler Zeller and Alonzo Gee should collectively believe that, either, but they did. Which is critical for a group of young players working to build towards winning ways in the future.

Highlighted in the opening minutes by Thompson’s footwork on both ends of the court, I was really pumped for that group. It wasn’t until Thompson sat and Luke Walton came in did Miami go on that monster run to close the quarter. 

If Kyrie Irving were a normal person he would've still been exhausted on Wednesday after competing for three-straight days at All-Star Weekend.

Fortunately for Cavaliers fans, however, dude is anything but normal. 

Below is a picture from our friends at RareInk.com that speaks to Irving's out-of-this-world-ness better than I can this morning.

Thought it was appropriate to include after what the Eastern Conference's best point guard did last night to the New Orleans Hornets.   

Scoring 35 points on 59 percent shooting to go along with seven assists and five rebounds is a totally ridiculous stat line in itself. Those numbers are only made to read more ridiculously when you watched the way Irving went about posting them.

The fourth quarter is when your leader and go-to guy steps up. We just try to space out the floor and let Kyrie do his thing. We know he's going to make the right plays for his teammates and himself."  - Tristan Thompson

With just under seven minutes remaining, trailing the Hornets by four, Irving rattled off 18 of the Cavaliers next 20 points to put Cleveland ahead for good.  All tolled, he finished with 20 of his 35 coming in the final seven minutes of the game.

This after not scoring his first basket of the game until the three minute mark in the first quarter.

But while the national television audience was able to witness Irving's brilliance last night for the first time, we've always known he's a special kind of superstar. One who seems to get better every time he steps onto the floor.

Thoughts on today's trade deadline: 

I haven't written much about the Cavaliers at the trade deadline because I haven't expected them to make a move. I discussed the 25 trades I thought most likely to happen for Bleacher Report on Tuesday and didn't include any Cavaliers on the list. 

Specifically, I didn't include Mo Speights. He had a rough game last night -- four points in 18 minutes -- and I have no idea what implication that could have -- if any -- on today's deadline. But if I was Speights, I'd pick up my player option for $4.5 million next season and then see how much I could earn from there. 

From the mustache to the swag, I have an infinite amount of respect for Matt Bonner aka the Red Rocket.

But like I predicted on Cleveland.com's Sports Insider show with Glenn Moore on Wednesday, Kyrie Irving was just too much for Bonner in the three-point shootout. 

The YouTube video—that will one day be what the '94 Mark Price shootout is for me to some kid in Cleveland who fell in love with the Cavaliers last night watching Irving do what he did—is below.
 

"This kid is trying take over the league." - Reggie Miller

It's easy to dismiss these type of All-Star weekend events as being meaningless when your guy loses.

But regardless of how hypocritical it might sound, they truly do become special nights when that same guy comes out on top.

Just like the NBA's fastest-rising superstar did last night for Clevelanders a world over.

Nice work down in Houston, Mr. Irving. The takeover continues.

You guys really need to watch Tristan Thompson dance.

He can break it down better than anybody in the NBA and had those moves of full display Friday during Rising Stars practice in Houston for All-Star weekend.

Here is that video below.
 

Okay Tristan, I see you. Keep doing your thing my man. 

Before we get into this yearʼs trade deadline debate letʼs take a trip back to January 22nd, roughly a month before Chris Grant usually does his damage.

When you can pull off a heist like this why wait?

So how exactly did this happen? Of course we all know Memphis was desperately trying to shed salary. But still, how could the Cavs turn Jon Leuer into Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, and a favorably protected future first round pick?

What was Chris Grantʼs starting point in negotiations if this is what Memphis ended up looking at as a good deal?

Itʼs my guess that the reason for this is because there were no negotiations at all. Chris Grant—and the relative patience of Cavs fans everywhere—had the team in a position as one of only three teams in the NBA with the ability to take on the salary needed to complete the deal.

Another team with enough cap space was Houston who needs all the space they can muster to try to sign a big name this offseason before their own cap nightmare begins in 2014 when the “toxic” years of Jeremy Linʼs and Omer Asikʼs contracts kick in.

The third team was the Phoenix Suns. The Suns seem to be waffling in how theyʼre trying to move on from the Steve Nash years. Are they gutting it or trying to sign high price talent?

It seems plausible that Phoenix, at that stage in the game with the deadline still a month away, just simply wouldnʼt commit to taking on the extra salary. It seems even more plausible looking back on it that Grant basically said, “Yeah Iʼll take a 25-year-old big man and a 25-year-old shooting guard whose shooting 40% from 3 point range.

Iʼll give you a D-League prospect named Jon Leuer; google him heʼs from Wisconsin. Yeah he had a buzzcut. Well, yeah they all had buzzcuts. Also throw in a first round draft pick, and letʼs try to make sure itʼs a lottery pick.”

Would he have had this deal if there were ANY other suitors?

So fast forward back to present day. 

Yesterday afternoon I caught up with our old friend and former co-host of the Wine and Gold Podcast Glenn Moore from Cleveland.com.

Mr. Moore and I discussed the chances of Kyrie Irving winning the 3-point shoot-out, an article  I wrote comparing Irving to Mark Price last week and the trade possibilities surrounding Big Mo Speights.

The link to that episode of Cleveland.com's Sports Insider is here if you want to check it out.

Later on in the day, I checked out the Cavs most recent on-court battle with the San Antonio Spurs from the Cavaliers Social Media Suite. The Cavs were nice enough to give my girlfriend Courtney the tickets and it was cool watching the game in the suite sponsored by Giorgio's Pizza.

If I bored you by typing out those last two sentences I apologize. I was trying to transition away from talking with Glenn yesterday afternoon to the final series of the Cavs / Spurs game last night.

Mentioning my girlfriend, Giorgio's Pizza and the Cavaliers Social Suite was the best I could do, I guess.

Regardless, as I posted on Twitter last night following the game, I am choosing to focus on Dion Waiters' ability to step up and hit a monster shot to take the lead against the NBA's best team with eight seconds left as opposed to spending time being frustrated or concerned by the event[s] that followed.

Fast forward to next year and nights like Monday, hopefully, will be unacceptable.

As for right now, a loss to a hobbled and reeling Minnesota Timberwolves is one that can be taken, reluctantly, with a grain of salt. Chalk it up to the growing pains of a young and inexperienced basketball team.

It's hard to tell if that eases the pain or enhances it--that the Cavs have seemingly turned a corner in 2013 and have mixed in some pretty exciting nights amongst some puzzling efforts--much like last nightʼs loss to Minnesota.

Over the last 24 games, the Cavs have put together a respectable, while not earth shattering, 11-13 record. The best thing along the way is that itʼs been the young core doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Kyrie Irving has been incredible.

Frankly, its to a point where he has to play pretty unbelievably for the Cavs to win games and that he has. For those concerned about a sophomore slump you can breathe easy.

All Irving has done is exceed expectations for his 2nd year while catapulting himself into some pretty impressive debates regarding where he stands among the current rank and file of superstars in the NBA.

With Kyrie having proven himself to be a more known commodity, the real story is the development of his fellow rising stars.

The first being fellow sophomore Tristan Thompson.

Thompson's meteoric rise in approval rating is soaring as he continues to demonstrate a legit NBA offensive game. Heʼs facing people up and beating defenders off the dribble from time-to-time. Heʼs playing tougher. Heʼs rebounding. He also has 12 more assists over this 24-game stretch than he had in ALL 60 games last season. 

Ryan Kern is an NCAA Basketball analyst who will be providing weekly updates on the nation's top college prospects here at StepienRules.com, starting today with Anthony Bennett from UNLV.

Anthony Bennett.

Remember the name, remember the number, and recognize game.

While the vast majority of the Nation is going to sleep, Anthony Bennett is going to work. The McDonald’s All-American from Brampton, Ontario hits the scales at 6-8, 230 and is turning heads of NBA scouts on his time—Mountain West time.

UNLV fans are quick to pull comparisons to Larry Johnson, but this talent doesn’t end with “Grandmama” commercials and Converse. Perhaps “Uncle Drew” commercials with Kyrie Irving are more appropriate, after this Freshman standout declares to become a lottery pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. 
 

On a typical night, Bennett plugs 18.3 PPG with 8.5 REB in for a team lacking a true PG and quite honestly an identity. Secretly loaded with star power, UNLV runs a high octane offense that features anyone open to shotgun and shoot. 

Bennett only takes an average of 11-13 shots per game as his teammates embrace their inner-Allen Iverson, hoisting callous shot selections. However, the one constant remains that when “Big Anthony” has the ball, no one can guard him.

Blessed with the ability to make you pay behind the arch, Bennett has a pure jump shot and is absolutely ferocious on the glass. Lose sight of him for a second and he’s flexing at your crowd.

This is the rare breed of “All-Dimension Game.”

This is who you want to watch in the NCAA Tournament. This is who you want to Draft with the 1st Pick.

This is NOT a bold statement.
 

Follow Ryan Kern on Twitter: @sharpncaa