Report: Irving has grown 'Disengaged, Detached' From Celtics

[fairweatherfan]

Oh but it's totally not Kyrie's fault that the team is in a funk, it's all because fans and media talk about him too much.

The media wrecked the locker room!  Funny that the media never wrecked our locker room before we got Irving though.

Eh. We’ve had plenty of locker room problems over the years.  The difference is that club media amplifies everything more now than they did even a couple of years ago. 

We have seen the same thing in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015, at the very least,  and that is just stuff that was public at the time. Add one of the biggest media lightning rods in the NBA, and things get blown up to the point of absurdity.

I'm trying to picture what the response to Jae Crowder or Keith Bogans' statements would be if they were as prominent as Kyrie.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Everyone's got "sources" these days. Good grief, there's no accountability for any of these so-called "journalists." All they have to do is say they have "sources," none of which can be confirmed, and they have a "story."

[philr13]

He looks really disengaged on the Celtics instagram story

I know. The pics and vids of the teams practices in SF lately look like a hoop party. He's goofing around and laughing as much as anyone on the team.

[philr13]

I've always liked Kevin O'Connor's talent evaluations and draft coverage. He's been pretty spot-on in recent years regarding the Celtics draft choices.

I'm not sure what his source is for this story, but I'm not sure I'm buying what he's selling here.

[SparzWizard]

Well, looks like Irving is gone then.

[BringToughnessBack]

One thing I know is that if Kyrie was not on this team this year, we would be jockeying for a lottery pick right now. No way that Brown, Tatum, Rozier, Hayward and Horford would have us in a better spot right now. Zero....Careful what you wish for Celtics fans, next year with Rozier running the point and no bona fide star to carry us at the end of the games, and we will be back in the lottery. Yes, Tatum might develop into that in a few years but it will be mighty painful waiting for us to maybe have a chance at making the finals.

The media is out of control in all aspects of our lives...it almost feels like the insanity we see on political sites has infused its way into sports sites as well. It has literally killed my joy for the game. I dread coming to this site as well lately. I know there will be a multiple latest discussions posts on Kyrie, Kyrie and how the Celtics stink... If I am sick and tired of it, I can only imagine what Kyrie is feeling. I cannot even go on the internet anymore without seeing an article about how Kyrie so unhappy and leaving for the Knicks, one of the best run franchises in all of sports...no magnifying glass in the Big Apple..right? Kyrie is not the only one disengaging from things online lately, I am right there with him.

If I worked at a company that had me under a microscope daily, no matter how much money I was getting,  I would choose to leave for somewhere else. If I did not feel appreciated for putting everything into that company, I would leave for somewhere else. If I felt misunderstood despite vocalizing my allegiance to that company, I would leave for somewhere else. At the start of this season, I thought Kyrie was 90 percent staying. Now, I would put that at maybe 25%..and you know what, I don't blame him for bolting at all. I would do the same.

If Kyrie leaves- fine...he leaves...and that means no Davis and No Super Star on our team. We stand Zero chance of beating teams like the Bucks, Raptors, and Sixers without stars and negative zero chance in beating a team like the Warriors as well.

That Kings pick is not going to change our fortune either unless Danny pulls a Giannis out of his backside which is highly unlikely.

[SHAQATTACK]

he has great basketball skills , can be a good teamate

He just does no have the correct personality to be a great leader of a team.

He might makeagood mentor to some.

He just is not a 24/7 team leader .    Thinkhe can help lead on the court and be a cheerleader off.   His demeanor is not that of a leader .   He lacks the automatic motivation skills and is unclear how to assert himslef in stressful situations.

This lack of leadership , is causing Kyrie to be down on himself as well.  I think he is frustrated with the job of leader and wants to hide in hole.   Stevens needs to take over and do more to straighten the team direction out

[LarBrd33]

Former CB writer Kevin O’Connor seems like a nice enough guy, but he has never struck me as having legitimate NBA sources, in Boston’s front office or elsewhere.

If sources are telling him that Kyrie looks disenchanted, I assume that’s because they are watching the games and seeing the same thing we all are. He appears at times frustrated, and at other times disengaged during some of our recent losses

I'm a fan of KOC and have exchanged emails with him in the past.  He's a big star now, though so I imagine he'd be too busy to respond to a question about this... but I had to wonder if "source around the team" means an actual Celtic player/employee or if it means someone in the media who is around the team a lot.   Because "disengaged" and "detached" is similar to Jackie Mac recently saying that Kyrie seemed "in a funk" during a recent interview.  I watched that actual interview... he seemed totally fine to me.  And while it's clear he's become "disengaged" and "detached" from the media, that doesn't necessarily mean that's how he interacts with his teammates.  LIke, this is literally a video of Kyrie and Jaylen Brown yesterday... https://streamable.com/o50xl  ... Does he look disengaged and detached? 

Oh boy, JB just called this team “toxic.” Pretty sure he’s referring to Irving.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2823623-celtics-news-jaylen-brown-says-bos-needs-to-fix-toxic-environment-around-team

So I can't find a video of this interview, but be mindful that the quote here is that THE LOSING is not a good feeling and is toxic.  I'm gonna take leap here and assume this is the latest in a long line of quotes that are taken out of context.  Brown saying that losing is toxic and them representing it as him saying the culture and relationships are toxic.   I just did an entire deep-dive into Kyrie Irving's last two months of interviews and my big takeaway was that almost all of what he said was fair and reasonable and just got blown way out of proportion by a thirsty 24/7 NBA media news cycle:  https://youtu.be/cRA52uftRrA

I'd go as far as to say the "bad leader" label is unwarranted. 

[PhoSita]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Believe what you want to believe I guess.

Everything's fine and it's just the crooked media that's making it seem like the Celtics are dysfunctional.

[KGs Knee]

KOC has always been a click-bait troll of a writer (even in his time writing for CB). This is just more of his typical nonsense.

He's right where he belongs, though, writing for an even bigger troll in Bill Simmons. Those two clowns were made for each other.

[LarBrd33]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Believe what you want to believe I guess.

Everything's fine and it's just the crooked media that's making it seem like the Celtics are dysfunctional.

Super naive to think they aren't making bank off this circus.  The dude is probably one of the 6 most popular players on the planet.  He has 12.5 million followers on instagram.  There is also a clear incentive for the media to create drama out of this, because it sells... gets people tuning into sponsored podcasts, clicking into monetized articles, watching the tv shows... lots of ad revenue to be made and right now they have three key markets (Boston, New York and Los Angeles) hanging on every snippet of Kyrie Irving drama they can get.   

Go ahead and watch the video I put together and listen to all his interviews in-context.  I don't disagree with anything the man has said.  Without question some of the things he's said have been taken out of context and spun to push a specific narrative or create a story that often isn't there.

- He answers a question about the team's struggles by admitting they need to work better as a team -> they say he threw his teammates under a bus

- He apologizes and says he needs to work on being a better leader.  In response to a question about once being a young player, he admits he was difficult -> they say he was passive aggressively saying his young team is difficult

- He avoids "pointing fingers" and says nothing but supportive and confident things about the team's future ->  They say he is an egomaniac.

- He gives short answers to avoid anything being taken out of context -> they say he's emotionally checked out

- He admits that he hates the media aspect of his job -> they say he's ungrateful and whines too much

[CelticsElite]

^great point by larbrd

Nba writers make their literal living off any and all drama. When theres no drama they fabricate it. And there's only a handful of NBA  players that fans care about. No one cares about drama involving the John walls and kemba walkers of the world. But when you talk about legitimate superstars like lebron and kyrie. Everyone will click that article bringing in the views that NBA writers need

[LarBrd33]

Former CB writer Kevin O’Connor seems like a nice enough guy, but he has never struck me as having legitimate NBA sources, in Boston’s front office or elsewhere.

If sources are telling him that Kyrie looks disenchanted, I assume that’s because they are watching the games and seeing the same thing we all are. He appears at times frustrated, and at other times disengaged during some of our recent losses

I'm a fan of KOC and have exchanged emails with him in the past.  He's a big star now, though so I imagine he'd be too busy to respond to a question about this... but I had to wonder if "source around the team" means an actual Celtic player/employee or if it means someone in the media who is around the team a lot.   Because "disengaged" and "detached" is similar to Jackie Mac recently saying that Kyrie seemed "in a funk" during a recent interview.  I watched that actual interview... he seemed totally fine to me.  And while it's clear he's become "disengaged" and "detached" from the media, that doesn't necessarily mean that's how he interacts with his teammates.  LIke, this is literally a video of Kyrie and Jaylen Brown yesterday... https://streamable.com/o50xl  ... Does he look disengaged and detached? 

Oh boy, JB just called this team “toxic.” Pretty sure he’s referring to Irving.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2823623-celtics-news-jaylen-brown-says-bos-needs-to-fix-toxic-environment-around-team

So I can't find a video of this interview, but be mindful that the quote here is that THE LOSING is not a good feeling and is toxic.  I'm gonna take leap here and assume this is the latest in a long line of quotes that are taken out of context.  Brown saying that losing is toxic and them representing it as him saying the culture and relationships are toxic.   I just did an entire deep-dive into Kyrie Irving's last two months of interviews and my big takeaway was that almost all of what he said was fair and reasonable and just got blown way out of proportion by a thirsty 24/7 NBA media news cycle:  https://youtu.be/cRA52uftRrA

I'd go as far as to say the "bad leader" label is unwarranted.

FWIW, I got a response from KOC on Reddit (he's a man of the people!)... Someone had created a thread with a conspiracy theory that KOC was just a mouthpiece for Bill Simmons and writing a Kyrie hit-piece because Bill forced him to.  I just tagged KOC and asked him directly about it: 

[bdm860]

Former CB writer Kevin O’Connor seems like a nice enough guy, but he has never struck me as having legitimate NBA sources, in Boston’s front office or elsewhere.

If sources are telling him that Kyrie looks disenchanted, I assume that’s because they are watching the games and seeing the same thing we all are. He appears at times frustrated, and at other times disengaged during some of our recent losses

I'm a fan of KOC and have exchanged emails with him in the past.  He's a big star now, though so I imagine he'd be too busy to respond to a question about this... but I had to wonder if "source around the team" means an actual Celtic player/employee or if it means someone in the media who is around the team a lot.   Because "disengaged" and "detached" is similar to Jackie Mac recently saying that Kyrie seemed "in a funk" during a recent interview.  I watched that actual interview... he seemed totally fine to me.  And while it's clear he's become "disengaged" and "detached" from the media, that doesn't necessarily mean that's how he interacts with his teammates.  LIke, this is literally a video of Kyrie and Jaylen Brown yesterday... https://streamable.com/o50xl  ... Does he look disengaged and detached? 

Oh boy, JB just called this team “toxic.” Pretty sure he’s referring to Irving.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2823623-celtics-news-jaylen-brown-says-bos-needs-to-fix-toxic-environment-around-team

So I can't find a video of this interview, but be mindful that the quote here is that THE LOSING is not a good feeling and is toxic.  I'm gonna take leap here and assume this is the latest in a long line of quotes that are taken out of context.  Brown saying that losing is toxic and them representing it as him saying the culture and relationships are toxic.   I just did an entire deep-dive into Kyrie Irving's last two months of interviews and my big takeaway was that almost all of what he said was fair and reasonable and just got blown way out of proportion by a thirsty 24/7 NBA media news cycle:  https://youtu.be/cRA52uftRrA

I'd go as far as to say the "bad leader" label is unwarranted.

FWIW, I got a response from KOC on Reddit (he's a man of the people!)... Someone had created a thread with a conspiracy theory that KOC was just a mouthpiece for Bill Simmons and writing a Kyrie hit-piece because Bill forced him to.  I just tagged KOC and asked him directly about it: 

When everyone's favorite troll is the one talking the most sense...

This is truly the darkest timeline.

[Sophomore]

I agree with LarBrd that that headline stretches the JB quote a long, long way - in my view, more than it should.

That being said, there is clearly something bad wrong with the team.