If our interest is true, Kyrie has told Danny gone for good which is not surprising given the way he was treated. Too bad, I was trying to rack my brain when was the last time we had two bonafide superstars in their prime wearing green and drew a blank. Close in 80s but not quite two top ten players. Definitely not 07-08 as they were awesome but past their prime. We could have had Davis and Kyrie plus Hayward and Horford...what a shame...what a shame...
Nobody treated Kyrie poorly. He had it made here and did whatever he wanted. And Ainge is probably willing to bend backwards to assemble a roster Taylor made for him.
Danny treated him well. That I agree with but elements of our media and fandom did not. This is where I disagree. He was not embraced fully due to to lingering bitterness with IT situation and I did love IT. That coupled with expectations that we would miraculously vault to a mid 60s win team overnight. When that did not happen, the claws were out by many.
I really don’t understand the media and fans running him out of town narrative. He brought it all on himself. His comments and play brought on media scrutiny, of which will only be magnified in New York. If this was too much for him, New York will eat him alive.
People here seemed to bash Isaiah to death once we made the trade, so I don’t believe he felt any of that backlash from fans. He was embraced from day 1, especially when Hayward went down and he carried the load.
The bottom line is this team had championship aspirations, and fell wildly short. In his eyes, it’s Brad’s fault, it’s the younger players’ fault, it’s Hayward’s fault, and probably even Danny’s fault. Everyones but his. Statistically he had a fantastic season. He was also statistically abysmal to end the Milwaukee series.
He wants to be the leader when the going is good, but doesn’t want to feel the pressure when things are bad. Whether he goes or stays, I really don’t care anymore. But he is simply not the leader he believes he is.