After last year, to be honest, I stopped browsing Celtics forum for a couple of reasons.
1) There were way too many trade Hayward threads, and I was staring to get tired of reading them. Not only does Ainge have a track record for not trading players in their down years, but because I felt like Hayward was getting way too much blame for a team that seriously fell behind on expectations.
2) People were so down on the Celtics, as was I. Last year left not only a bitter taste in my mouth, but I honestly stopped having interest in basketball.
3) Kyrie is a diva, and if anything from last year told me something: chemistry, and having someone that is a leader is extremely important.
4) There were a lot of negativity in these forums, and I simply couldn't come back here.
But not trying to be a negative Nancy any more, but... It's absolutely refreshing to see someone like Kemba, and I love him for these reasons because:
1) He gets to the line. Something we haven't seen since IT. He's getting to the line at 8.2 FTA, to put that in perspective, IT got to the line 8.5 in his stellar 2016-2017 year. It is so lovely to see someone that can actually get freebies, allows the defense to get set up and gives our players some breathing room to relax, and jot out plays in their heads.
2) He is always cheerful, and never having any kind of upset disposition. I remember he briefly told Tatum, "I don't care how many shots you take, KEEP SHOOTING!"
3) He is a leader, and if you seen his open mic's, he is always telling his teammates to keep going.
4) He's durable. These past 4 seasons, he's only missed a total of 5 games. I'm pretty confident he can keep bumping and getting free throws generated, although I do worry if his sheer amount of FTA's may wear and tear on his body eventually. But if he keeps shooting 3's at a high percentage, I think teams will have to start closing out him more, allowing him to make smarter players in traffic.
Either way, I'm super excited for Kemba, and I'm happy he's here. Not to mention he's also playing great defense, and drawing a lot of charges.
LET'S GO CELTICS!