The Kyrie Irving free agency thread(to sign 4yr/$141M w/Nets page 105)

[Moranis]

Kyrie sick again? Perhaps?

29 points? He didn't look sick with 29 points tonight. The rest of his team and Brad Stevens looked sick tonight though.

He had a very strange game.  He came out on fire, but then disappeared for long stretches of the game after that.  He also ended up not shooting all that well at 8 for 22 (36%).  Got to the line finally (and a lot), but wasn't super aggressive in many other areas.  Just a very strange game from Irving overall.  I actually think he was the one starter that underperformed despite being the leader scorer by a pretty wide margin.

I think Brad benching him for so long in the second quarter got him out of rhythm. Which is what Brad does almost all the time to the hot hand, so unsurprising

If sitting on the bench causes you to lose rhythm you arent a star in this league.

How many stars get sat for 8 minutes straight after scoring 13 in 10 minutes?

Irving missed only 6 minutes of game time the entire game.  Now if you are counting commercial breaks, then Giannis in this exact game sat on the bench that long.  I mean he was pulled with 4:07 left in the 1st quarter and didn't come back until the start of the 2nd quarter.  During that 4 minutes and 7 seconds of game time, Boston called a full timeout, there were 2 foul line trips, there were turnovers and fouls stopping the clock, and of course the end of the quarter time out.  In other words, Giannis was on the bench for a very long time and he had scored 8 points in that just under 8 minutes of playing time.

[gouki88]

Kyrie sick again? Perhaps?

29 points? He didn't look sick with 29 points tonight. The rest of his team and Brad Stevens looked sick tonight though.

He had a very strange game.  He came out on fire, but then disappeared for long stretches of the game after that.  He also ended up not shooting all that well at 8 for 22 (36%).  Got to the line finally (and a lot), but wasn't super aggressive in many other areas.  Just a very strange game from Irving overall.  I actually think he was the one starter that underperformed despite being the leader scorer by a pretty wide margin.

I think Brad benching him for so long in the second quarter got him out of rhythm. Which is what Brad does almost all the time to the hot hand, so unsurprising

If sitting on the bench causes you to lose rhythm you arent a star in this league.

How many stars get sat for 8 minutes straight after scoring 13 in 10 minutes?

Irving missed only 6 minutes of game time the entire game.  Now if you are counting commercial breaks, then Giannis in this exact game sat on the bench that long.  I mean he was pulled with 4:07 left in the 1st quarter and didn't come back until the start of the 2nd quarter.  During that 4 minutes and 7 seconds of game time, Boston called a full timeout, there were 2 foul line trips, there were turnovers and fouls stopping the clock, and of course the end of the quarter time out.  In other words, Giannis was on the bench for a very long time and he had scored 8 points in that just under 8 minutes of playing time.

Kyrie simply doesn't have the ability nor the favour of the officials to be able to score 32 on 13 shots.

I don't know if many players do

[Banner18now!]

The excuses for Kyrie never end. He was sick, he sat on the bench to long, ect.. He never hesitates to tell everyone how great he is and such a genius and here he is in his first playoff run without Lebron and so far has disappeared in key moments. Again he tells everyone how much of a 1a player he is but hasn’t backed anything up so far in Boston without  Lebron. Maybe he needs to just shut up and prove it.

[Somebody]

The excuses for Kyrie never end. He was sick, he sat on the bench to long, ect.. He never hesitates to tell everyone how great he is and such a genius and here he is in his first playoff run without Lebron and so far has disappeared in key moments. Again he tells everyone how much of a 1a player he is but hasn’t backed anything up so far in Boston without  Lebron. Maybe he needs to just shut up and prove it.

Completely agree-he was inefficient on offense tonight and his defense was nonexistent. Kyrie needs to start facilitating and defending when he can't make his shots.

[blink]

The excuses for Kyrie never end. He was sick, he sat on the bench to long, ect.. He never hesitates to tell everyone how great he is and such a genius and here he is in his first playoff run without Lebron and so far has disappeared in key moments. Again he tells everyone how much of a 1a player he is but hasn’t backed anything up so far in Boston without  Lebron. Maybe he needs to just shut up and prove it.

Completely agree-he was inefficient on offense tonight and his defense was nonexistent. Kyrie needs to start facilitating and defending when he can't make his shots.

Kyrie's def was bad at times tonight.  He gave up some easy buckets to Hill which helped them build the lead in the 3rd.  When we have to worry so much about Greek and Middleton, we need our point guard to contain Hill. 

[Somebody]

The excuses for Kyrie never end. He was sick, he sat on the bench to long, ect.. He never hesitates to tell everyone how great he is and such a genius and here he is in his first playoff run without Lebron and so far has disappeared in key moments. Again he tells everyone how much of a 1a player he is but hasn’t backed anything up so far in Boston without  Lebron. Maybe he needs to just shut up and prove it.

Completely agree-he was inefficient on offense tonight and his defense was nonexistent. Kyrie needs to start facilitating and defending when he can't make his shots.

Kyrie's def was bad at times tonight.  He gave up some easy buckets to Hill which helped them build the lead in the 3rd.  When we have to worry so much about Greek and Middleton, we need our point guard to contain Hill.

The worst thing was that he failed to score on Hill to even things out.

[Moranis]

Kyrie sick again? Perhaps?

29 points? He didn't look sick with 29 points tonight. The rest of his team and Brad Stevens looked sick tonight though.

He had a very strange game.  He came out on fire, but then disappeared for long stretches of the game after that.  He also ended up not shooting all that well at 8 for 22 (36%).  Got to the line finally (and a lot), but wasn't super aggressive in many other areas.  Just a very strange game from Irving overall.  I actually think he was the one starter that underperformed despite being the leader scorer by a pretty wide margin.

I think Brad benching him for so long in the second quarter got him out of rhythm. Which is what Brad does almost all the time to the hot hand, so unsurprising

If sitting on the bench causes you to lose rhythm you arent a star in this league.

How many stars get sat for 8 minutes straight after scoring 13 in 10 minutes?

Irving missed only 6 minutes of game time the entire game.  Now if you are counting commercial breaks, then Giannis in this exact game sat on the bench that long.  I mean he was pulled with 4:07 left in the 1st quarter and didn't come back until the start of the 2nd quarter.  During that 4 minutes and 7 seconds of game time, Boston called a full timeout, there were 2 foul line trips, there were turnovers and fouls stopping the clock, and of course the end of the quarter time out.  In other words, Giannis was on the bench for a very long time and he had scored 8 points in that just under 8 minutes of playing time.

Kyrie simply doesn't have the ability nor the favour of the officials to be able to score 32 on 13 shots.

I don't know if many players do

moving goalposts now.  And Kyrie absolutely has that ability he just hates contact and plays soft.

[RJ87]

Probably sick of carrying this team's offence. Rozier providing literally nothing on offence makes Kyrie's life on that end that much more difficult

And Gordon.

Tbh our whole bench really. Semi was the only one who exceeded expectations on offence, but he got screwed by garbage calls and got into foul trouble early.

Our bench got embarrassed tonight. The Great White Hope only went 2 for 8. For that type of production, we should've just kept Evan Turner for half the price.

[gouki88]

Probably sick of carrying this team's offence. Rozier providing literally nothing on offence makes Kyrie's life on that end that much more difficult

And Gordon.

Tbh our whole bench really. Semi was the only one who exceeded expectations on offence, but he got screwed by garbage calls and got into foul trouble early.

Our bench got embarrassed tonight. The Great White Hope only went 2 for 8. For that type of production, we should've just kept Evan Turner for half the price.

Lol. ET hasn't scored more than 4 points this playoffs

[Tr1boy]

Probably sick of carrying this team's offence. Rozier providing literally nothing on offence makes Kyrie's life on that end that much more difficult

And Gordon.

Tbh our whole bench really. Semi was the only one who exceeded expectations on offence, but he got screwed by garbage calls and got into foul trouble early.

Our bench got embarrassed tonight. The Great White Hope only went 2 for 8. For that type of production, we should've just kept Evan Turner for half the price.

Lol. ET hasn't scored more than 4 points this playoffs

was he sick again tonight?

[keevsnick]

Kyrie sick again? Perhaps?

29 points? He didn't look sick with 29 points tonight. The rest of his team and Brad Stevens looked sick tonight though.

He had a very strange game.  He came out on fire, but then disappeared for long stretches of the game after that.  He also ended up not shooting all that well at 8 for 22 (36%).  Got to the line finally (and a lot), but wasn't super aggressive in many other areas.  Just a very strange game from Irving overall.  I actually think he was the one starter that underperformed despite being the leader scorer by a pretty wide margin.

I think Brad benching him for so long in the second quarter got him out of rhythm. Which is what Brad does almost all the time to the hot hand, so unsurprising

If sitting on the bench causes you to lose rhythm you arent a star in this league.

How many stars get sat for 8 minutes straight after scoring 13 in 10 minutes?

I don't care. If you are a superstar no excuses. Play better. I'm not saying Stevens is perfect, but after the way Kyrie played last game he doesn't get excuses. Play better, dish more than 6 assists. Dont get stripped over an over or pinned against the baseline.

I think giving excuses and having an appreciation and understanding of context are very different things

Yes they are, and the bench thing is an excuse. Not context. The difference between Kyrie and the true superstars in this league like Kawhi, Curry, Giannis, KD are that those superstars impose their will and manufacture the shots they want to take, while Kyrie is really good at making the shots he's forced to take. This means that when they are he primary offensive engine they are prone to struggle on days their shot isnt falling. I Like Kyrie, I hope we keep him. I also hope he's the second  best guy on the Celtics next year because they arent winning it all if he's their bets player.

[gouki88]

Kyrie sick again? Perhaps?

29 points? He didn't look sick with 29 points tonight. The rest of his team and Brad Stevens looked sick tonight though.

He had a very strange game.  He came out on fire, but then disappeared for long stretches of the game after that.  He also ended up not shooting all that well at 8 for 22 (36%).  Got to the line finally (and a lot), but wasn't super aggressive in many other areas.  Just a very strange game from Irving overall.  I actually think he was the one starter that underperformed despite being the leader scorer by a pretty wide margin.

I think Brad benching him for so long in the second quarter got him out of rhythm. Which is what Brad does almost all the time to the hot hand, so unsurprising

If sitting on the bench causes you to lose rhythm you arent a star in this league.

How many stars get sat for 8 minutes straight after scoring 13 in 10 minutes?

I don't care. If you are a superstar no excuses. Play better. I'm not saying Stevens is perfect, but after the way Kyrie played last game he doesn't get excuses. Play better, dish more than 6 assists. Dont get stripped over an over or pinned against the baseline.

I think giving excuses and having an appreciation and understanding of context are very different things

Yes they are, and the bench thing is an excuse. Not context. The difference between Kyrie and the true superstars in this league like Kawhi, Curry, Giannis, KD are that those superstars impose their will and manufacture the shots they want to take, while Kyrie is really good at making the shots he's forced to take. This means that when they are he primary offensive engine they are prone to struggle on days their shot isnt falling. I Like Kyrie, I hope we keep him. I also hope he's the second  best guy on the Celtics next year because they arent winning it all if he's their bets player.

I agree with all of this. I think he's a number 2 guy on a true contender (unless it's like a SAS situation where we have 3-4 guys of his caliber). However, I still think Brad's coaching helped him go cold

[ozgod]

On an appearance on Boston Sports Tonight, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer said that Kyrie is most likely to stay with the Celtics. That said, he could be influenced by where KD goes. KD's mooted move to NY has apparently felt less certain, as he will consider the Clippers and the Nets as well.

I think what's going to happen has been pretty consistent all along. (Kyrie Irving is) most likely to stay with the Boston Celtics. They're going to be in the running for Anthony Davis. But he's also going to weigh his other options.

And I think the other factor to consider though is the fact that Kevin Durant -- in at least recent weeks maybe about the past month -- the noise about him going to the Knicks has felt less certain. He also is going to consider the Knicks still, but I wouldn't rule out the Clippers or the Nets for that matter. And that has also been reported by other outlets as well.

I think with KD perhaps being a little less likely to go to the Knicks, that also applies to Kyrie. Because that was the appeal, them joining forces.

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/kevin-oconnor-kyrie-irving-most-likely-stay-celtics-could-be-influenced-durant

Note that I don't know if this is his opinion, or an educated guess based on something he knows.

I was thinking about this when I was reading the end of the game thread last night, about what would happen if we lost in the 2nd round and Kyrie bailed. Someone was saying we would be a 41-win team if that happened. While I would absolutely love Kyrie to stay and try to win a title here long term, I don't want anyone here who doesn't want to be a Boston Celtic and if he feels he has a better chance at a title elsewhere, then good luck to him. I don't think that's the end of the road for us though. We still have the team that made the ECF last season plus a healthier Gordon Hayward. We would free up some money to sign someone else.

What we wouldn't have though, is a clear hierarchy. You would think it would be Gordon, but he doesn't really play like he's an alpha on this team, I don't know if not having Kyrie would change that (or if the others respect him enough to defer to him, losing his first season while they all excelled really put paid to that). He obviously joined our team knowing that (at the time) he would be the No2 behind IT. Who becomes our alpha if Kyrie leaves? Al isn't really an alpha either. It would probably be Jayson, who would not be 22 yet? I think the lack of a pecking order might become a problem.

[mr. dee]

Jaylen have shown last year that he can be an alpha until he hurt himself. There is also still the draft. But while Danny had drafted decent players, they are very flawed in some ways.

- Olynyk, the guy we draft over Giannis is smart and unselfish but a soft, mentally weak player.
- Rozier, while have all the athletic gifts seems to have a low BBIQ
- Smart is the heart and soul of this team but he cannot be relied consistently on the offensive end.
- Tatum have the chance to be that alpha, but he looks more like Harrison Barnes to me so far.

In case Kyrie leaves, I think Danny should try to slide down the draft and roll the dice with Ja Morant or Coby White. Otherwise, replace the bad fit role players (Rozier) with a potentially solid young prospect who could contribute right away.

[Somebody]

I trust in Danny to get us back on track, even if Kyrie leaves. Jaylen is still a beast, and Tatum will probably have more game time and opportunity to bounce back from his sophomore season slump. That's a pretty nice wing duo to build on.