Jackie Mac article on Kyrie and what's been happening here in Boston

[tenn_smoothie]

Can't help but wonder how Bird would've handled this year.

"handled" ??  Bird would not have "handled" anything - he would have spoken his mind and played his ass off and we wouldn't be worrying about what his daily mood was and how it might effect his teammates.  Good Gawd, I've had all I want of Irving and his moods and his proclamations and never-ending dribbling.

Bird broke his hand in a bar fight during the playoffs. He wasn't some paragon of good emotional control.

complete non sequitur -  you are comparing apples to ............................. I don't know what ?

The comments about teammates feeling the need to walk on eggshells around Irving just sticks in my craw - No, you don't have to love each other, but you can't have teams feeling like that and then having the chemistry to win titles. I remember a quote from Dave Cowens, who was the Big Dog of the 70's title teams - he talked about caring about his teammates more than he did himself.

[gpap]

Very good read (though I am not sure anything was really resolved after tonight's loss.)

I must say after reading this, it's a tad bit disheartening.

I don't ever remember reading about a team having so much drama. I mean, is basketball really that complicated?

5 guys start, 5-7 guys come off the bench, that's it.

I love Kyrie as a player. He's not just my favorite Celtic but my favorite player in the NBA. But he's a very, very complicated person. On one hand he talks about how he doesn't care what people think and all the media gossip, yet throughout the season he's been publicly critical of his teammates with the media. He also revealed to the media that he called Lebron (a player not even under contract with the Celtics) to "apologize."  You can't have it both ways.

If the team wasn't on the same page, then it's up to the players, the coach and the GM (if need be) to pow-wow and work out the kinks. That's what adults do. Some of this is sorta reminiscent of a bunch of kids in kindergarten.

All I know is if everyone puts aside individual agendas, plays collectively and wins, the rest takes care of itself.

Not sure I understand why this season was so filled with drama. If anything, this write-up (well done by Jackie Mac) only confuses me even more.

[Ogaju]

Very good read (though I am not sure anything was really resolved after tonight's loss.)

I must say after reading this, it's a tad bit disheartening.

I don't ever remember reading about a team having so much drama. I mean, is basketball really that complicated?

5 guys start, 5-7 guys come off the bench, that's it.

I love Kyrie as a player. He's not just my favorite Celtic but my favorite player in the NBA. But he's a very, very complicated person. On one hand he talks about how he doesn't care what people think and all the media gossip, yet throughout the season he's been publicly critical of his teammates with the media. He also revealed to the media that he called Lebron (a player not even under contract with the Celtics) to "apologize."  You can't have it both ways.

If the team wasn't on the same page, then it's up to the players, the coach and the GM (if need be) to pow-wow and work out the kinks. That's what adults do. Some of this is sorta reminiscent of a bunch of kids in kindergarten.

All I know is if everyone puts aside individual agendas, plays collectively and wins, the rest takes care of itself.

Not sure I understand why this season was so filled with drama. If anything, this write-up (well done by Jackie Mac) only confuses me even more.

Kyrie calling LeBron was all about Kyrie throwing his teammates under the bus. If simply wanted to apologize to LeBron, he could have done that withuot revealing it to the public in the context that he did. He basically threw his teammates under the bus by stating that they were doing the very same thing that he deemed it necessary to apologize for.

[LarBrd33]

Can't help but wonder how Bird would've handled this year.

"handled" ??  Bird would not have "handled" anything - he would have spoken his mind and played his ass off and we wouldn't be worrying about what his daily mood was and how it might effect his teammates.  Good Gawd, I've had all I want of Irving and his moods and his proclamations and never-ending dribbling.

Lol Bird's antics would get him murdered in modern social media.  Dude broke his finger in a bar fight in the middle of the Eastern Conference Playoffs and ruined his shooting form for the rest of the playoffs.  He'd be absolutely murdered for that.

There's also plenty of articles out there about how he was a jerk to his teammates and even people like Kevin McHale didn't like him.

Things are really different these days.  Kyrie comes out and admits the team isn't focused and the media spends weeks acting like he stabbed his team in the back.  It's ridiculous.

[nickagneta]

I see people concentrating on certain parts to rip on Kyrie or the team as a whole. What I took out of the article was confirmation of what I knew and then the part how the team evolved out of all the drama.

Jackie discusses how Brown, after the drama, centered himself and turned the rest of the season into some of the best ball he has ever played. Kyrie went to everyone individually and discussed what was needed for playoff success and helped to get everyone prepared for the playoffs. Everyone started playing for the team.

I like that the team has seemingly put all the crap aside and has been able to play much better in these playoffs, the last two third quarters being the exception to the rule.

[gpap]

I see people concentrating on certain parts to rip on Kyrie or the team as a whole. What I took out of the article was confirmation of what I knew and then the part how the team evolved out of all the drama.

Jackie discusses how Brown, after the drama, centered himself and turned the rest of the season into some of the best ball he has ever played. Kyrie went to everyone individually and discussed what was needed for playoff success and helped to get everyone prepared for the playoffs. Everyone started playing for the team.

I like that the team has seemingly put all the crap aside and has been able to play much better in these playoffs, the last two third quarters being the exception to the rule.

In my eyes, two major issues right there. First, the point about Jaylen Brown.

"He center himself and improved his play." That's great, but that's also an individual accomplishment driven by an individual agenda. "Kyrie going to teammates INDIVIDUALLY"....why individually?

Why couldn't everyone just get on the same page together, as a team?

Why did certain guys feel the need to prove themselves?

It's no big deal, but obviously there were alot of individualistic agendas this season. Happens all the time. But that's part of the issue. The word "TEAM" wasn't prevalent enough this season.

I know the Ubuntu stuff with Doc was kinda corny, but that's how a team should conduct it's business, as a collective unit.

[pearljammer10]

I see people concentrating on certain parts to rip on Kyrie or the team as a whole. What I took out of the article was confirmation of what I knew and then the part how the team evolved out of all the drama.

Jackie discusses how Brown, after the drama, centered himself and turned the rest of the season into some of the best ball he has ever played. Kyrie went to everyone individually and discussed what was needed for playoff success and helped to get everyone prepared for the playoffs. Everyone started playing for the team.

I like that the team has seemingly put all the crap aside and has been able to play much better in these playoffs, the last two third quarters being the exception to the rule.

In my eyes, two major issues right there. First, the point about Jaylen Brown.

"He center himself and improved his play." That's great, but that's also an individual accomplishment driven by an individual agenda. "Kyrie going to teammates INDIVIDUALLY"....why individually?

Why couldn't everyone just get on the same page together, as a team?

Why did certain guys feel the need to prove themselves?

It's no big deal, but obviously there were alot of individualistic agendas this season. Happens all the time. But that's part of the issue. The word "TEAM" wasn't prevalent enough this season.

I know the Ubuntu stuff with Doc was kinda corny, but that's how a team should conduct it's business, as a collective unit.

Because even though it is a TEAM game, individual players control that. Kyrie going to player individually and giving them feedback is essential to those individuals playing their role for the betterment of the team.

This happens in every profession. Teaching evaluation, professors evaluations, business evaluations, employee evaluations etc.

It's probably already come from Brad, but this just shows another great step and piece of Kyrie's leadership.

[nickagneta]

I see people concentrating on certain parts to rip on Kyrie or the team as a whole. What I took out of the article was confirmation of what I knew and then the part how the team evolved out of all the drama.

Jackie discusses how Brown, after the drama, centered himself and turned the rest of the season into some of the best ball he has ever played. Kyrie went to everyone individually and discussed what was needed for playoff success and helped to get everyone prepared for the playoffs. Everyone started playing for the team.

I like that the team has seemingly put all the crap aside and has been able to play much better in these playoffs, the last two third quarters being the exception to the rule.

In my eyes, two major issues right there. First, the point about Jaylen Brown.

"He center himself and improved his play." That's great, but that's also an individual accomplishment driven by an individual agenda. "Kyrie going to teammates INDIVIDUALLY"....why individually?

Why couldn't everyone just get on the same page together, as a team?

Why did certain guys feel the need to prove themselves?

It's no big deal, but obviously there were alot of individualistic agendas this season. Happens all the time. But that's part of the issue. The word "TEAM" wasn't prevalent enough this season.

I know the Ubuntu stuff with Doc was kinda corny, but that's how a team should conduct it's business, as a collective unit.

Because even though it is a TEAM game, individual players control that. Kyrie going to player individually and giving them feedback is essential to those individuals playing their role for the betterment of the team.

This happens in every profession. Teaching evaluation, professors evaluations, business evaluations, employee evaluations etc.

It's probably already come from Brad, but this just shows another great step and piece of Kyrie's leadership.

Yeah, my point was that it appeared that once the drama came to a head in February, that Kyrie and Brown and Rozier and others became more self aware of what was happening and their role in it and changed.

Brown stopped letting criticism get to him and calmed his basketball mind and proceeded to play some unreal basketball. Kyrie started acting like a real leader and told them to forget the regular season, we have to prepare for the post season and started helping everyone. Rozier realized he needed to play for team instead of his next contract. Etc.

The team came together and grew and their play exemplifies that.

That's the positive I took from the article.