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

[Ogaju]

It’s not kyries fault this team lacks talent outside of him.  49 wins and a 2nd round exit makes perfect sense for a 1 Star team with Marcus Morris as their 3rd best player. 

There’s nobody to blame.  Blame yourselves for having unreasonable expectations of an also-ran roster.

“Toughness”. “Leadership”.  Bunch of nonsense.  He’s a top 25 player with no other star on his team.  Ain’t nothin surprising about them failing to beat a multi star 60 win team built around an MVP

Last season playoff squad says hi

Last season weak eastern conference says hi

Don't you dare discredit the artificial trip to the ECF by bringing up the pretty bad teams we beat to get there!

Artificial trip you say? Team lost two of their so-called stars and then lost Theis in the playoffs yet came within minutes of making finals. Larkin doesnt go down and the team beats Cavs easily. You just dont want to agree the team PLAYS better without Kyrie. Kyrie does not fit whatever it is CBS is trying to do. "Keep it popping keep it popping' that was Brad's charge to his team. Kyrie does the exact opposite of that. He is an ISO ball stopping Kobe-esque (without the degree of success) chucker,

[fingerlakes]

25 for 83 last 4 games.  He said it himself in the interview after game 4.  "WHO CARES"  When have you even seen him shoot like this before?  He knows it will not affect his market value.  Knicks and others will still offer him the max and I hope he takes it.  He is 'that great of player" so he says. 

[Ogaju]

This is on the same level as:
"The Earth is flat"

This? The comment or the alleged point shaving? LOL

[Fafnir]

The issue with all of this Ogaju is that this years Bucks team would have WAXED the Cavs, Celtics, 76ers, and Raptors of last year.

The current Raptors with Kawhi/Break out Pascal would do the same and the 76ers with Butler/Harris are also a better team than last year.

Going to game 7 of the conference finals is an achievement relative to who you are playing along the way. The Celtics of last year and the Rockets of last year did not face comparable obstacles.

Edit: Also the C's team's last year offense was trash even worse than this years, especially once Kyrie went down. They won on D. Now Kyrie hurts you on the defensive end, but he improves your offense by more. The issue became because of this teams awful chemistry and fit they stopped playing defense when their shots didn't go in. (also they stopped executing the offense if they missed more than two in a row)

[gpap]

Oh boy...

[gouki88]

I really hope this thread isn't a sign of things to come

[gouki88]

The issue with all of this Ogaju is that this years Bucks team would have WAXED the Cavs, Celtics, 76ers, and Raptors of last year.

The current Raptors with Kawhi/Break out Pascal would do the same and the 76ers with Butler/Harris are also a better team than last year.

Going to game 7 of the conference finals is an achievement relative to who you are playing along the way. The Celtics of last year and the Rockets of last year did not face comparable obstacles.

Edit: Also the C's team's last year offense was trash even worse than this years, especially once Kyrie went down. They won on D. Now Kyrie hurts you on the defensive end, but he improves your offense by more. The issue became because of this teams awful chemistry and fit they stopped playing defense when their shots didn't go in. (also they stopped executing the offense if they missed more than two in a row)

This is exactly what I was meaning

[tonydelk]

At what point are the young players that sulked and the young coach they sat around with his thumb in his butt all season gonna be held accountable?

This season was just a shambles all around.  Hayward had a long way to go and it was more about him getting healthy then anything.  He was invisible in the playoffs.  Kyrie was horrible in the playoffs.  He took a lot of shots that he shouldn't have.  Tatum was the forgotten man at times and it had a lot to do with Kyrie taking those shots.  Brown, Morris and Horford played well.  Outside of those 3 the team stunk after game one.  This was a collective garbage effort on top of a superior team just beating the crap out of them.  This team has to drastically change going into next year. It's either trading assets and rolling with AD, Kyrie and AL.  Keep Brown but move Hayward and build solid role players who play tough D and can hit an open shot.  Or let Kyrie and Al walk, trade Hayward and build around Tatum and Brown, package picks to move up and possibly keep Rozier or sign a young PG. 

[cltc5]

PEople will laugh at the notion but my god, he’s never been that bad.  It makes you wonder.  The narrative is much easier to spin if kyrie leaves boston because he was shunned for terrible performance as opposed to him shooting the lights out and getting to the finals.  And we all know how the nba works.  Get the best teams there for the ratings.  So kyrie, don’t mess up our bucks/warriors tv matchup.  Moreover, let’s remember kyrie could opt to go to the lakers.  Sabotage the Celtics so you can join the lakers and lebron then force the lakers to be the only team in town willing to give up all their assets for AD?  Hmmmm.  You hate to even think this but with the way players manipulate around the league and as crooked as the NBA has proven to be, nobody should sleep on this notion.

[Monkhouse]

I really hope this thread isn't a sign of things to come

I seriously think Celticsstrong should bring back the ignore button...

PEople will laugh at the notion but my god, he’s never been that bad.  It makes you wonder.  The narrative is much easier to spin if kyrie leaves boston because he was shunned for terrible performance as opposed to him shooting the lights out and getting to the finals.  And we all know how the nba works.  Get the best teams there for the ratings.  So kyrie, don’t mess up our bucks/warriors tv matchup.  Moreover, let’s remember kyrie could opt to go to the lakers.  Sabotage the Celtics so you can join the lakers and lebron then force the lakers to be the only team in town willing to give up all their assets for AD?  Hmmmm.  You hate to even think this but with the way players manipulate around the league and as crooked as the NBA has proven to be, nobody should sleep on this notion.

Wouldn't it be in the NBA's best interest then... To push it to a 6 game series?

[fingerlakes]

I did not imply that there was point shaving or mob involvement.  I just wonder if he half ass'd his way through the last 4 games and just threw up whatever shot he fancied.  Go back and watch how off some of his shots were.  I have never seen the guy average close to 15 misses a game for four straight games. He was obviously checked out and moping around the court.  How can anyone defend this guy and not question his motivations after that performance.

[cltc5]

I really hope this thread isn't a sign of things to come

I seriously think Celticsstrong should bring back the ignore button...

PEople will laugh at the notion but my god, he’s never been that bad.  It makes you wonder.  The narrative is much easier to spin if kyrie leaves boston because he was shunned for terrible performance as opposed to him shooting the lights out and getting to the finals.  And we all know how the nba works.  Get the best teams there for the ratings.  So kyrie, don’t mess up our bucks/warriors tv matchup.  Moreover, let’s remember kyrie could opt to go to the lakers.  Sabotage the Celtics so you can join the lakers and lebron then force the lakers to be the only team in town willing to give up all their assets for AD?  Hmmmm.  You hate to even think this but with the way players manipulate around the league and as crooked as the NBA has proven to be, nobody should sleep on this notion.

Wouldn't it be in the NBA's best interest then... To push it to a 6 game series?

Why when the outcome is the same?  You’re telling me the same kyrie that was unreal in game one,  without injury or illness, just falls apart for 4 straight games?  Including an elimation game?  The guy has been off the chart shooting this year.  I can’t believe a guy that thrives in the big moment and wants to be the leader choked 4 straight times on his own.  At the least it’s worth a consideration whether people want to bury their head in the sand about it or not.

[cltc5]

I really hope this thread isn't a sign of things to come

I seriously think Celticsstrong should bring back the ignore button...

PEople will laugh at the notion but my god, he’s never been that bad.  It makes you wonder.  The narrative is much easier to spin if kyrie leaves boston because he was shunned for terrible performance as opposed to him shooting the lights out and getting to the finals.  And we all know how the nba works.  Get the best teams there for the ratings.  So kyrie, don’t mess up our bucks/warriors tv matchup.  Moreover, let’s remember kyrie could opt to go to the lakers.  Sabotage the Celtics so you can join the lakers and lebron then force the lakers to be the only team in town willing to give up all their assets for AD?  Hmmmm.  You hate to even think this but with the way players manipulate around the league and as crooked as the NBA has proven to be, nobody should sleep on this notion.

Wouldn't it be in the NBA's best interest then... To push it to a 6 game series?

Why when the outcome is the same?  You’re telling me the same kyrie that was unreal in game one,  without injury or illness, just falls apart for 4 straight games?  Including an elimation game?  The guy has been off the chart shooting this year.  I can’t believe a guy that thrives in the big moment and wants to be the leader choked 4 straight times on his own.  At the least it’s worth a consideration whether people want to bury their head in the sand about it or not.

[fairweatherfan]

He was intentionally taking bad shots while cold, which warrants plenty of criticism, but is a mile from missing on purpose.

Game 5 in particular it really seemed like he was more motivated to show up individually than help the team. Game 4 he missed a ton but moved the ball well and found open shooters too. Not much of that in Game 5.

[RJ87]

I really hope this thread isn't a sign of things to come

Oh you know it is.

Quite frankly, if he wanted to p*ss off the anti-Kyrie contingent he would've went super-Saiyan and shot the lights out.