Ironically, the two biggest factors of what went wrong this year are also the two most valued assets by most TV pundits and Celtics fans. To me, Stevens and Kyrie doomed this season. Most fans and pundits picked the Celtics to come out of the East, before the season began. Yet, if it wasn't for Olidipo getting injured the Celts would have been the fifth seed and easily could have experienced a first round exit. This season was abysmal on so many levels. Stevens has to take his share of the blame. My biggest criticism of him is he doesn't hold players accountable. He seems to always want to avoid confrontation. Many fans are enamored by his calm, unflappable demeanor. But if you don't hold your players accountable and don't inspire your players to consistently play hard, what good is that kind of demeanor ? Also, his game strategies are lame. Throughout the year, the Celts gave up big leads. Why ? Because, they continued to over-rely on chucking up 3's and rarely got points in the paint or foul shots. And losing four straight playoff games, after easily winning the first is downright embarrassing. There's no fight in this team. The players have to take some responsibility for this, but so does Stevens. Brad is just too passive. I never bought all the hype he was getting last year. Secondly, Kyrie's playoff performance was abysmal also. It's ironic that Irving was calling out team mates, saying they don't know what it takes to be winners. Yet, the team did much better without Irving last year. And this year, it's hard to imagine Kyrie playing worse than he did. Unfortunately, Stevens job is secure b/c of his relationship with Ainge. But I, for one, will be glad if Kyrie walks. The T-E-A-M will be better off; addition by subtraction.
Topic: What do we blame this season on? (Tongue-in-cheek... sort of) (Read 4352 times)