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

[RJ87]

Even with that said, Kyrie is one part of this team. There are other guys who have more experience (Al) , longer tenures in Boston (Smart), even higher salaries (Gordon) whose leadership should also be counted on, but one guy continually gets thrown under the bus win or lose. It's weird to me.

The problem is two-fold:

1) Kyrie acts like he should be the one that everybody looks to, win or lose.

2) The young players clearly look to Kyrie first and foremost, not the other guys you mentioned.


I agree that it would be ideal, and would make more sense, if Horford and Smart were the leaders in the locker room and on the court.  It would be ideal if the media treated them as such.  The team would be better off if the younger players tried to emulate Horford and/or Smart rather than Kyrie or Morris.


Unfortunately, that's not what has happened.  For better or worse, the most famous, highest scoring guy on your team is going to tend to be viewed and treated as the leader. 

Yes, Kyrie is not a natural leader and clearly has a lot of work to do in that area. That shouldn't be an excuse for him.  Rather, it means that currently he's not as well equipped to be the lead guy on a good team as we hoped.

I never said it should be an excuse for him. Rather, I said he hasn't been a good leader but that I don't understand why there's a rush to write him off as we've seen other players lack in that area grow into the role.

And again, there's a complete lack of accountability for other guys on the roster that's odd. The best teams, the ones we should be trying to emulate, haven't been led solely by one guy. GSW has Curry and Draymond, the Spurs teams had Timmy/Manu/Parker - even as Kawhi emerged as the team's best player. Mavs had Dirk and Terry. Even the Heatles had Wade and Bron, and to some extent, Bosh.

Kyrie has been in the league for 8 years.  He is who is at this point.  He isn't going to change and all of a sudden morph into the leader we want him to be.  That quite simply has never been his personality and it never will be.  And speaking of that, he is a pretty strange dude and always has been.  His odd world views aren't the easiest to get along with.  Couple that with his tremendous ego (and I'm not saying that is a bad thing in and of itself), and Kyrie quite simply shouldn't be the face of a franchise for his personality (let alone his actual game which isn't good enough).  Irving is at his best when he has someone as good or better than him next to him.  A person to take the spot light off, but that also recognizes that Irving can be the best closer in the game when he is on.  That is why him and James worked so well on the court and why I wouldn't be all that surprised to see Irving in a Lakers uniform next year.

I get you hate the guy, but to declare the person you are in your mid-20s is who you're always going to be is incredibly short-sighted and wrong.

I would just be happy if Kyrie would keep his mouth shut and dribble the ball less - Isaiah Thomas was not seen as the team leader when he was here - just as our most explosive scorer.

Ah. The "shut up and dribble" spiel. But even IT didn't keep his mouth shut, he had his share of quotable moments, too. Including him calling out the coaching staff and the rotations ("We can't be experimenting in game 63"), and saying other guys had to step up and make shots.

[Monkhouse]

I would just be happy if Kyrie would keep his mouth shut and dribble the ball less - Isaiah Thomas was not seen as the team leader when he was here - just as our most explosive scorer. Why can't Irving be happy being a great scoring guard in the league, an all-star and help a team win multiple titles, the Boston Celtics no less. That would be enough to get your #11 retired. Problem is, Kyrie Irving, by nature, is a restless soul. He is always going to find discontent in his current circumstance, for whatever reason that is. He gets in his own way.

You do realize Isaiah Thomas's big mouth, and backing the 'Brinks Truck,' comments inevitably led to his departure from the Celtics?

[Green-18]

I would just be happy if Kyrie would keep his mouth shut and dribble the ball less - Isaiah Thomas was not seen as the team leader when he was here - just as our most explosive scorer. Why can't Irving be happy being a great scoring guard in the league, an all-star and help a team win multiple titles, the Boston Celtics no less. That would be enough to get your #11 retired. Problem is, Kyrie Irving, by nature, is a restless soul. He is always going to find discontent in his current circumstance, for whatever reason that is. He gets in his own way.

You do realize Isaiah Thomas's big mouth, and backing the 'Brinks Truck,' comments inevitably led to his departure from the Celtics?

The opportunity to acquire Irving is what led to his departure.  Ainge would have looked to make the deal even if IT hadn't injured his hip.  Also, Danny Ainge couldn't have cared less about IT's comments. 

As for comparisons between IT and Irving, the major difference is that IT was consistently an emotional player who wore his heart on his sleeve.  He played hard, spoke loud, and carried himself with the same demeanor at all times.  Kyrie's mood is much more inconsistent and unpredictable.   

I'm not anti-Irving but I think it's fair to assume that the chemistry of this team would be completely different if Irving shared IT's personality.

[CelticsElite]

https://theathletic.com/946789/2019/04/26/charania-for-core-four-east-teams-much-will-be-at-stake-in-second-round/


he Los Angeles Clippers made a preliminary trade call to the Boston Celtics before the trade deadline to inquire on the availability of Kyrie Irving.

The call came before the Clippers traded Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Celtics quickly said they were not interested in discussing a trade of Irving.

Irving will be a free agent this offseason and the Clippers figure to have enough cap space to sign two max players.


Take that Jerry west

[SparzWizard]

They wanted to pair Irving with Leonard.

or Irving with Durant.

[ederson]

Did they expect DA to trade Irving for Harris? They are smarter than that (at recently they been...)

[Androslav]

Its OK to call, but DA isn't making that trade even if he knew there is a good chance that KI might leave.

[ozgod]

This is one of those "this call is a waste of time but I may as well make it anyway" calls.

[gouki88]

This is one of those "this call is a waste of time but I may as well make it anyway" calls.

Yeah, precisely. Zero risk, 100% reward.

[jambr380]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

[SHAQATTACK]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

gonna suck to see us get ZIP .   If that was NY and Durrants plan , looks like DA could have traded Irving for Zinger ..given how they basically pushed him out the door and for not much .

[gpap]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

The issue though is where would the Celts have played Harris with Tatum, Hayward, Morris and Horford already on the roster?
So Ainge probably figured it was best to just keep the team we already had.

[jambr380]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

The issue though is where would the Celts have played Harris with Tatum, Hayward, Morris and Horford already on the roster?
So Ainge probably figured it was best to just keep the team we already had.

I understand the issue and I certainly prefer to keep Kyrie, just trying to play the hindsight game. Besides, if you assume Horford gets all non-Baynes C minutes and Hayward fills in the gaps for SG/SF/PF, then you should be all set. I imagine if we were bringing in Harris, another move would have been made to send out Morris as Harris is a premium version of Morris (reminds me of LB's Kroger vs Kraft Jimmy Butler/Ricky Davis threads a couple of years ago)

[td450]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

If you wanted to place your bet on our young core instead of shooting for a Kyrie/Davis centered squad,
Gilgeous-Alexander would the kind of point guard that would be an ideal fit. It would be a lot of fun watching him with Brown and Tatum.

I'd rather root for that team.

[RJ87]

If Irving walks (and we don't win the championship), a Harris/SGA/picks package might look pretty good. The story I read (not sure if this is the same one) painted a picture of how this was a great look for LAC in their pursuit of Kyrie - as it showed they were willing to trade assets for him even with no guarantees. I actually see it as a positive for the Cs. The fact that they shut it down immediately shows that they are committed to Kyrie and that might help when he is making his decision as a FA.

If you wanted to place your bet on our young core instead of shooting for a Kyrie/Davis centered squad,
Gilgeous-Alexander would the kind of point guard that would be an ideal fit. It would be a lot of fun watching him with Brown and Tatum.

I'd rather root for that team.

Then run it on 2k and knock yourself out.