I thought it was obvious that most people would take the point guard who can pass better, defend better and still score at a way above average clip over the point guard who can just score better
It's not as simple as that, especially given the fact that this is the first season where Wall has been scoring at that clip. I mean Kyrie put up 25 ppg on 57 TS% throughout the playoffs last year (sprinkled with a # of 30-40+ games on ultra-high efficiency), and helped co-anchor a championship offense. Up to that point, for all Wall's playmaking and scoring he didn't have that sort of impact.
While Wall is the better defender (margin isn't as great on a general scale - especially when Kyrie ups his activity level in the playoffs), defense at the PG position is the least important of all the 5. And with Wall's offensive workload his defense has been wildly inconsistent, even to the point of him not even attempting to stay in front of his man during stretches. Being the better defender only matters in this context if you're actually having impact there on a regular basis, otherwise less-able defenders can have similar/same impact by just being able to work within the confines of abilities, and fulfilling their roles within the defensive scheme.
As a side note: Irving's defense throughout the majority of the playoffs was borderline great (mainly during the first 2-3 rounds), especially down the stretch of games where he'd make plays like this -
Kyrie doesn't just raise his game on offense in the playoffs (that includes his playmaking - it was basically a 60/40 split between LeBron and him during the EC-run), but his defense too. He can be bulldog when he wants to be.
Considering how heated this debate is, I guess I was wrong
The main thing to look at here is not which player is the better defender, passer, scorer etc etc, but exactly who has the most impact. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Just look at somebody like Gobert who arguably has more impact than any other big in the game - dude has a limited offensive skillset and is mostly reliant upon others to score. Although in saying that he is a pretty good passer and has good touch around the rim. But it's because of his defense that leads him to having more impact than arguably every other big man in the game (even the likes of edit: Brook Lopez who has greater offensive ability and can be a #2 option).
One thing I will co-sign is what
@Gil Scott-Heroin said about Kyrie's ability to play off ball. He works well with LeBron because of that, and I don't think Wall and Lebron would go right together.
Maybe it's because Kyrie isn't really a point guard, but mores so an undersized 2
Once you realize that these archaic positional takes are simply red herrings and start looking strictly at the impact a player has, regardless of what position that you've been fooled into thinking a player is or should be or roles they should adhere to, you'll start to see a clearer picture of what's actually going on.
