Kyrie Irving (Officially) wins Rookie of the Year

Photo from Sportsmediaworld.com

No surprises.

Kyrie Irving officially won the Rookie of the Year on Tuesday by garnering 117 of the possible 120 first place votes. Irving averaged 18.5 points per game, 5.4 assists per game while leading the NBA in "crunch-time points." Irving becomes the first Cleveland player to win the Rookie of the Year since... Do I have to say it?

Kyrie is that special kind of player, he's humbled while at the same time a leader. He's a facilitator that is a scorer. On and off the court he sounds like the type of person everyone would like to be around.

Going into his second year, he's admitted to exceeding his own expectations in his rookie season. Byron Scott will expect much more of the 20 year-old kid as the entire Cleveland fan base will be eager to see what he'll be able to do.

What's evident to me, is the amount of fun he injects into this team. At his ROY press conference, Kyrie was all smiles and even cracked a few jokes. He talked about the third game of the season -- Kyrie's first career game winning shot which came against the Pacers -- and how in the huddle, Scott called a high pick-and-roll for Kyrie, to win the game. Kyrie smiled and proclaimed that it was neat that someone he barely knew would call a play for him with the game on the line.

"I didn't really know the bald head man." Kyrie joked.

Kyrie took the ball, got a good look at the rim, and exploded towards it, laying the ball in for the Cleveland win.

He made the 2011-12 season so much more enjoyable to watch over the 2010-11 season, even though the Cavs won only two more games. It was fun, there were flashes of great things this year, pieces are still missing and Kyrie is still learning, but dare I say the 21 win season was enjoyable to an extent, while the previous seasons 19 wins seemed like a train wreck.

The names of the NBAs top rookies of years past stick out. Most have done great things, individually and/or team oriented. Some of the greatest to ever play the game have won this award. While I'm not ready to compare Kyrie to anyone on this list, he's started off right. He's got the support of a wonderful organization, an owner willing to spend money and despises losing, a coach that can and will do wonders for a young point guard and the best fans in the NBA to back him.

This was step one in what will hopefully be a many step journey with Kyrie in Cleveland.