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Kyrie Irving is 22 years old.

I feel like I should point that out because he took a lot of criticism for not being a leader in his first three seasons in the NBA. He is a talented player, of course, but to expect a young man, no matter how talented, to come in and be a polished leader of a professional franchise at 22 is ridiculous. I don’t want to print what I was getting into at age 22, let alone 19, the age Irving came into the league.

For his part, Irving recognizes he hasn’t been a great leader so far, but he’s eager to improve.

In an interview with RealGM’s Shams Charania, Irving said: “I haven’t been a leader – not at all.”

He went on:

“I’ve just been a kid trying to figure it out. There’s no perfect way to be a leader, and coming in as a 19-year-old kid and having everything bearing on your shoulders, there are a lot of ups and downs. Now it’s about being the best every single day and not being afraid.

“I’m more than excited with our new veterans. I’m really excited just from the standpoint of how the locker room is going to go and how to really be a professional. I’m not saying that the veterans that we had weren’t professionals themselves, but we didn’t have enough. Given the right and wrong things to do in the league, I’ve had to learn on my own and that’s what some of us been doing.

“Now, we have guys who’ve been in the league for years, guys who’ve won championships and have had to give a piece of their game for the greater good of the team. It’s something I admire and something I’m going to learn from.”

If you’re a Cleveland fan, what more can you ask for? Irving was expected to be a leader right away and it took him some time to figure it out. He’s owning that, and now he wants to learn from LeBron James, Shawn Marion, Mike Miller and Kevin Love when he arrives. He’s deferring to the veterans, wants to learn from them and still take on some responsibilities as a leader on the team.

Will it work that easily? Who knows? Irving may not like being bossed around after being the man or whatever for a few years. The wins might not come easily right away. Any million things can go wrong on a basketball team, but for right now, Irving is saying the right things. He’s 22 — what more can you ask for?

(Thanks to Ball Don’t Lie for sharing.)