Byerie Irving? Do you want Kyrie back?

What are your thoughts on Kyrie?

  • I want him back on max deal no matter what

    Votes: 60 19.5%
  • I want him back on max deal ONLY if AD is also coming

    Votes: 85 27.6%
  • I’m done with him and don’t want him back under any circumstances

    Votes: 109 35.4%
  • Not sure - I want to see how the playoffs go first

    Votes: 54 17.5%

  • Total voters
    308
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ehaz

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Maybe Kyrie's actually a great teammate and is purposefully making himself the focal point of media/fan angst with his "I should have shot 30" to take the weight of everyone else?

I'm on the fence about Kyrie. Let's see what he does tonight. This series isn't over and I don't think they're just going to lay down and take it.
 

nighthob

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Someday I'd love to get the actual scoop on what's going on in this locker room. There are so many possible red flags - are certain guys pissed at Brad for his loyalty to "his guy" Hayward? Are Brown and Tatum upset about being treated by Irving the way he was treated by Lebron? Do Morris and Rozier feel slighted in contract years? Is Kyrie just a shithead?

The answer could very possibly be yes across the board.
And everyone seems to have forgot the work that Klutch put in to poison the Boston clubhouse all throughout the run-up to the trade deadline. I think that might have soured Irving as much as anything else. At least he seemed to check out on this team around then.
 

the moops

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Sure, if Ainge can find the next prime LeBron, the Celtics could win with Irving. But it would have to be a guy who takes the ball out of Kyrie's hands (like LeBron). Of course, if Ainge finds the next prime LeBron, the Celtics wouldn't need Kyrie to win a championship.
You should stop watching Celtic games I think. You sound goddamn miserable
 

Big John

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You should stop watching Celtic games I think. You sound goddamn miserable
As I said earlier in this thread I'm not miserable or pessimistic. I'm angry, primarily at Kyrie's selfishness on the court. His other personality quirks don't bother me. He's paid to win basketball games. He hasn't.
 

Imbricus

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I'm on the fence about Kyrie.
This is kind of my position too. When he has one of those games where he lights it up, all is forgiven. You realize what an amazing talent he can be on offense. But I'm starting to have serious concerns about what he's doing to the team chemistry and (as someone upthread alertly noted) to undermining Brad's authority. This is the first time Brad has had to deal with a prima donna type of talent, and I think the rest of the team is watching to see what Kyrie gets away with.

At the end of the day, I'm leaning toward letting him go unless he gets on board with the program. I still see too many signs that he's basically an immature player, by his comments and his style of play when his shots aren't falling, and he just chucks up even more impossible-to-make shots. Also, the best leaders aren't self-anointed. They're leaders because they've earned the respect of their teammates because of the way they play and what they say. They don't walk off the court, moping, with seconds left on the game clock.
 

lexrageorge

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This is kind of my position too. When he has one of those games where he lights it up, all is forgiven. You realize what an amazing talent he can be on offense. But I'm starting to have serious concerns about what he's doing to the team chemistry and (as someone upthread alertly noted) to undermining Brad's authority. This is the first time Brad has had to deal with a prima donna type of talent, and I think the rest of the team is watching to see what Kyrie gets away with.

At the end of the day, I'm leaning toward letting him go unless he gets on board with the program. I still see too many signs that he's basically an immature player, by his comments and his style of play when his shots aren't falling, and he just chucks up even more impossible-to-make shots. Also, the best leaders aren't self-anointed. They're leaders because they've earned the respect of their teammates because of the way they play and what they say. They don't walk off the court, moping, with seconds left on the game clock.
Some of this reminds me of the mid-00's. The Celtics only true star got benched by George Karl during an international tournament, wrapped a bandage around his head after getting ejected in Game 7 of a playoff series, called himself "the best player on a bad team", and made several passive aggressive comments about Doc Rivers early on. All was eventually forgiven, but not before being teamed up with 2 other stars that had their own issues with maturity and team chemistry.

Obviously, whether Kyrie could similarly embrace the ubuntu feeling with fellow star players remains to be seen. Just saying, it's not Danny's first rodeo with prima donna players.
 

mcpickl

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By "salary slot" I assume you mean the ability to ascend into luxury tax territory by exercising the team's Bird rights on Kyrie. There haven't been salary slots in the CBA since the days of the late Dave Gavitt.

They will never be a championship contender with Irving. As soon as he steps on the floor, the sum is less than the whole of its parts. He takes the air out his teammates.

They will have cap room when Hayward is off the books, not before. Why pay $150M for a team that wins 50 games and goes out in the second round, when you can pay $110M for a team that wins 50 games and goes out in the second round, but a team where the young players (e.g. Tatum and Brown) are developing instead of stagnating?
They probably won't have cap room when Hayward is off the books either. By then, Jaylen and Jayson will be on their new contracts, unless you want them out of town also. Between those two, Smart and a likely re-signed Rozier if you get your way and Kyrie leaves, unlikely they'd have any real cap space unless those four are surrounded by a bunch of dudes making really short money.
 

Cesar Crespo

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As I said earlier in this thread I'm not miserable or pessimistic. I'm angry, primarily at Kyrie's selfishness on the court. His other personality quirks don't bother me. He's paid to win basketball games. He hasn't.

Are you happy when you are angry? I don't see how being angry is any better than miserable.
 

mauf

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I can’t tell if y’all are serious, or if you’re just trying to reconcile yourself to the inevitable.

Look, we’re all disappointed with Kyrie. I’m not sure a core of AD/Kyrie/GH with a supporting cast featuring Jaylen, Smart, an aging Al, and a couple veteran ring-chasers will win a title. But gambling on that seems vastly preferable to waiting 2-3 years to see whether Tatum, Jaylen, Smart, a couple mid-late lotto picks, and perhaps a max FA from the 2021 class adds up to a contender.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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This is the first time Brad has had to deal with a prima donna type of talent, and I think the rest of the team is watching to see what Kyrie gets away with.
The part I still don't understand is how none of this was an issue last year, with generally the same collection of players, including Kyrie (yes, he missed the playoffs, but they were a very good, very fun to watch, very tough regular season team with him playing, too).
 

P'tucket rhymes with...

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The part I still don't understand is how none of this was an issue last year, with generally the same collection of players, including Kyrie (yes, he missed the playoffs, but they were a very good, very fun to watch, very tough regular season team with him playing, too).
I know almost nothing about basketball, but I know more than a little about interpersonal dynamics. If my scorecard is (roughly) accurate, a not insignificant chunk of the team found out their reward for busting ass last year was being described as (a) reduced to auditioning for their next contract elsewhere or (b) "trade bait" for a player to pair with the flat earther who fancied himself a team leader, but who seems to lack any actual leadership skills.

That'll fuck your shit up every time.
 

Kliq

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I know almost nothing about basketball, but I know more than a little about interpersonal dynamics. If my scorecard is (roughly) accurate, a not insignificant chunk of the team found out their reward for busting ass last year was being described as (a) reduced to auditioning for their next contract elsewhere or (b) "trade bait" for a player to pair with the flat earther who fancied himself a team leader, but who seems to lack any actual leadership skills.

That'll fuck your shit up every time.
This is an interesting thought. It was widely discussed that the Lakers season went off the rails when all of their players were rumored to being on the trade block in a potential Davis trade. However, it wasn't nearly as widely discussed with how it could have effected the Celtics players who were also rumored to being put on the trade block. I think it may be a significant detail into what went wrong this season.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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I’d rather Brad Wannamaker get 30 minutes a night and I mean that sincerely. Good riddance...even if it isn’t the best move on paper he doesn’t deserve to wear green.
 

scottyno

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I'd still want him back if they got AD (or another player that's better than Kyrie), but I think it's pretty clear after this series that you're probably going nowhere if he's your #1 guy. Plus literally nothing about the last 4 games made me think he has any desire to stay so it's probably not up to Danny anyway.
 

Valek123

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I voted for see how the series goes, now I feel more comfortable with saying it's ok that he leaves.

Something is rotten at the core with this group and the post above that describes the Dynamics nailed it.

So what next when he leaves?
 

TripleOT

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Kyrie presser:

Asked about his season and his high hopes for the Celtics, he pivots to praise the Bucks.

How disappointed are you? No time to be disappointed. You take your ass kicking and move on. Looking forward to seeing the Bucks move on. Moving on to the next thing and see where it ends up.

Spears tries to sneak in a question about Ky's destination: Avoiding to answer about where he'll be next season.

The Celtics have to be smart like the Bucks, and continues to praise the Bucks.

What lesson did you learn? Pace, communicating better

Did the uncertainty of where you're going to be next year weigh on you? No No <walks out of presser>
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Once again, I don't love Kyrie Irving. He is nowhere near my favorite player and I wasn't stoked when Boston acquired him (though I was clearly wrong about that deal).

That said, people should factor in that Irving didn't quit or pull a no-show. Instead, the Bucks focused their league-leading defense on denying him good looks. They were physical with him, the kept him off the spots where he likes to go and used their length to disrupt his game.

We can never know but I strongly suspect this series would have gone longer if Boston had a legitimate number two scorer who could shoot consistently from deep. I would caution people who are pissing all over Irving to consider that its almost impossible for a team to have just one good scorer and go deep in these playoffs. It makes it so easy for the opposing team to take them away if they have the right coaching and personnel. Milwaukee had that and then some.
 

nighthob

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This is an interesting thought. It was widely discussed that the Lakers season went off the rails when all of their players were rumored to being on the trade block in a potential Davis trade. However, it wasn't nearly as widely discussed with how it could have effected the Celtics players who were also rumored to being put on the trade block. I think it may be a significant detail into what went wrong this season.
Klutch continuously rumor-mongering and trying to poison the Boston clubhouse didn’t help.
 

8slim

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The part I still don't understand is how none of this was an issue last year, with generally the same collection of players, including Kyrie (yes, he missed the playoffs, but they were a very good, very fun to watch, very tough regular season team with him playing, too).
From the moment Hayward went down in game 1, last year’s team was playing with house money. Even moreso when Kyrie went out.

The dynamics of the team changed considerably when Tatum, Brown, Rozier, etc. all got supreme self confidence from that playoff run. It really seems like Kyrie came back and decided he had to assert his dominance, which understandably the younger guys bristled at. Hard to argue that it didn’t torpedo the team spirit you mentioned, and wrecked the season.
 

lovegtm

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Once again, I don't love Kyrie Irving. He is nowhere near my favorite player and I wasn't stoked when Boston acquired him (though I was clearly wrong about that deal).

That said, people should factor in that Irving didn't quit or pull a no-show. Instead, the Bucks focused their league-leading defense on denying him good looks. They were physical with him, the kept him off the spots where he likes to go and used their length to disrupt his game.

We can never know but I strongly suspect this series would have gone longer if Boston had a legitimate number two scorer who could shoot consistently from deep. I would caution people who are pissing all over Irving to consider that its almost impossible for a team to have just one good scorer and go deep in these playoffs. It makes it so easy for the opposing team to take them away if they have the right coaching and personnel. Milwaukee had that and then some.
He completely quit on the defensive end on many occasions. There was clearly something off mentally, and it wasn’t just the Bucks’ defense.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I said all season the best version of this team was always the one that featured Kyrie in a leading role but willing to move the ball and facilitate a team concept on offense. It happened in the rare occasions they were at their best. More often than not it didn't happen. Whether he doesn't want to do it or doesn't trust his teammates or was never coached, it doesn't seem like something that can happen consistently. He also did not ramp up the defensive intensity, which was one of the things that would supposedly happen once he got to the playoffs.

After a full season of that along with all the faux leadership crap and I can only see one scenario where it makes sense to bring him back, and it 100% requires bringing in a player who is indisputably better than he is. What kind of message does it send to just run it back with such a disappointing roster, only substituting some rookies for actual role player contributors?

I think it's moot anyways, I don't know why Kyrie would sign up to come back anyway after this horror show season only to be booed at every hint of trouble next season.
 

bankshot1

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Psych 101

IMO KI's alpha rank was threatened with the Celts last year, with the emergence of potential new alphas in Tatum/Brown. So he needed to restablish his alphaness and team leadership, and eventually it sabotaged the team
 

BigSoxFan

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Figured this year would be better than it was.
Understandably, there were some challenges.
Celtics just never really meshed together.
Knowing this, tough to feel confident about 2020.
Kyrie may never fully buy in to Brad’s system.
Yes, this may be a bit of an overreaction.
Really disappointed in his lack of leadership.
I was so excited about the potential of this team.
Everyone needs to work their asses off now.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Psych 101

IMO KI's alpha rank was threatened with the Celts last year, with the emergence of potential new alphas in Tatum/Brown. So he needed to restablish his alphaness and team leadership, and eventually it sabotaged the team
This rings pretty true. Feels like he read every single one of the "Better without Kyrie?" takes that started last year and even lingered into this year when they kept winning games without him even as the numbers told a different story. But, honestly, this team racked up it's best run of the season during the extremely soft underbelly of their schedule after a 10-10 start (or whatever it was). They went something like 27-12 with only a small handful of wins coming against good teams. They just weren't that good, with or without Kyrie.
 

bankshot1

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I think there are so many elements of their post-mortem that could be discussed, KI, Gordo, Rozier, Tatum, injuries to Smart and Baynes, concerns over mid-season trades, to Brad's battle to find minutes for a team that had too many good players and not enough great players. Very little went right this year.

BUT the total collapse in the last 4-games is pretty much inexcusable.

They quit.
 

Nick Kaufman

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It's funny how ecstatic everyone was to get Kyrie, was excited when he said he'd re-sign, and now want to ship him out of town. The way this season turned out was certainly not all on him. People need to suck it up and realize that players like him don't grow on trees and all of a sudden they'd replace Kyrie with a similar player. The Celtics need him in the fold in order to win their next championship because they won't be able to replace him for cap reasons that others have pointed out. It's apparent that the roster needs tweaking, but getting rid of Kyrie is not going to suddenly make them better.
Almost no one was ecstatic when we traded for Kyrie. The reaction was for the most part negative because we gave away Thomas and the Brooklyn pick.
 

charlieoscar

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Irving was quoted after the game that put his club behind 3 games to 1 as saying, "For me, the 22 shots (of which he made 7), I should have shot 30. I'm that great of a shooter."

I got the impression that he was tired of taking second place to LeBron James, so he signed with the Celtics and now it appears that he can't take over as a leader. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I think there are so many elements of their post-mortem that could be discussed, KI, Gordo, Rozier, Tatum, injuries to Smart and Baynes, concerns over mid-season trades, to Brad's battle to find minutes for a team that had too many good players and not enough great players. Very little went right this year.

BUT the total collapse in the last 4-games is pretty much inexcusable.

They quit.
They didn't quit. A better team beat them. I don't know why people refuse to admit that. What metric do we want to use? If you dismiss W/L, what about offensively, defensively or on a net basis.
 

Auger34

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Once again, I don't love Kyrie Irving. He is nowhere near my favorite player and I wasn't stoked when Boston acquired him (though I was clearly wrong about that deal).

That said, people should factor in that Irving didn't quit or pull a no-show. Instead, the Bucks focused their league-leading defense on denying him good looks. They were physical with him, the kept him off the spots where he likes to go and used their length to disrupt his game.

We can never know but I strongly suspect this series would have gone longer if Boston had a legitimate number two scorer who could shoot consistently from deep. I would caution people who are pissing all over Irving to consider that its almost impossible for a team to have just one good scorer and go deep in these playoffs. It makes it so easy for the opposing team to take them away if they have the right coaching and personnel. Milwaukee had that and then some.
So I agree with you that Kyrie didn’t “quit”. He did seem to give it his all out there. However, I really think you are giving the Bucks defense a lot more credit than it deserves.
I don’t know if it was mental, if he was hurt or sick or what but Irving missed a shit ton of open looks. I mean tonight he had a completely uncontested 3 point shot where he set his feet, lined up to the basket and....shot one of the worst air balls I’ve seen in an NBA game.
As another person pointed out, he also had a ton of mental lapses on defense which led to Bucks points. It’s one thing to have complete mental errors, it’s a whole different ball game when you have terrible mental errors and you’ve both subtly and..not so subtly called out your teammates lack of experience, lack of basketball IQ and basically lack of know how to win.

In response to the #2 scoring thing, I both agree and disagree. It’s clear Kyrie’s not a true #1 option. Both on the court and in the locker room. He’s a turbo charged #2 option. So, the Celtics already have a legitimate #2 scoring option....it’s Kyrie. They need a legitimate #1 scoring option.

I already voted this way but this playoffs cemented it. Kyrie needs to stay...if it means that they can get Anthony Davis. If they can’t, I don’t think I want him around. Hopefully they can pull a sign and trade but Kyrie as a “leader” and #1 option is a complete shit show/disaster to witness and root for.
 

Nick Kaufman

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They didn't quit. A better team beat them. I don't know why people refuse to admit that. What metric do we want to use? If you dismiss W/L, what about offensively, defensively or on a net basis.
Then again the Bucks were a better team because the Celtics played so much bellow the potential throughout the year.
 

bankshot1

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They didn't quit. A better team beat them. I don't know why people refuse to admit that. What metric do we want to use? If you dismiss W/L, what about offensively, defensively or on a net basis.
Your launching a strawman.

The Bucks were better. And I've no problem admitting that. I think i did after Game 3. But the Bucks are not 4 out of 5 better, 4 in a row better, with 2 wins in the Garden.

The Celts melted under pressure.

Celts had a brutal match-up with GF, and it seemed to impact every element of their game, from the head down..

They missed shots they made all year.

They choked.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Your launching a strawman.

The Bucks were better. And I've no problem admitting that. I think i did after Game 3. But the Bucks are not 4 out of 5 better, 4 in a row better, with 2 wins in the Garden.

The Celts melted under pressure.

Celts had a brutal match-up with GF, and it seemed to impact every element of their game, from the head down..

They missed shots they made all year.

They choked.
A strawman?

Saying a team quit is just an opinion (I know its widely shared here). I am simply pointing to data. The Bucks won 11 more games than Boston this season. They were considerably better offensively, defensively and on a net rating basis. You can keep saying that the C's "quit" whatever that means but the team they did so against was superior in every facet of NBA basketball this season.
 

greek_gawd_of_walks

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They didn't quit. A better team beat them. I don't know why people refuse to admit that. What metric do we want to use? If you dismiss W/L, what about offensively, defensively or on a net basis.
Not sure about the team, but Irving's unwillingness to even think of exerting himself defensively (in this series or at any time) says a lot. As the "leader" goes, so goes his legion. I think Smart, Morris, Brown and Horford (though he was showing some serious signs of age from game three on) played extremely hard. Its just hard to win when one of your five players continually shunts the opposite end of the floor. Boston Sports Journal highlighted irvongIr defensive lowlights pretty mercilessly in a recent article.

I'm over Irving in his entirety. Too much baggage. Too much talk. Too much "too much". He feels cancerous. The team seemed metastasized. I think the dude is a black hole, on and off the court.
 

Koufax

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I'm surprised how well Morris played, and what heart he demonstrated. He was a bright spot in a very dark series.
 

bankshot1

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A strawman?

Saying a team quit is just an opinion (I know its widely shared here). I am simply pointing to data. The Bucks won 11 more games than Boston this season. They were considerably better offensively, defensively and on a net rating basis. You can keep saying that the C's "quit" whatever that means but the team they did so against was superior in every facet of NBA basketball this season.
My post was about the various problems the Celts had all year, but even with all those problems, (from players to coaching) their performance against the Bucks was so poor and so below most expectations and so lackluster, and so disheartening, that questioning their toughness in the face of adversity was warranted.

YMMV
 

TripleOT

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This season went off the rails when Kyrie made those comments in New York about possibly not returning, and followed them up with the ridiculous apology to LeBron which was really a call out of his young teammates who were trying to establish themselves as stars in the league.

The fact is that Kyrie couldn't back up all his talk about being so great on the court in the playoffs. The guy who said a team he is on will be difficult to beat four games out of seven lost four in a row, by an average of 18+ points. In the four games, he shot 25-83, 30%, 5-27 from three, 18.5%/ He took 21 shots in a close out game and put up only 15 points, and manages only one assist. Minus 25 in a close out game, with a minus 7, minus 6 and a minus 21 in the four losses. That's an average of minus 14.5 when Kyrie was on the court, and minus 4 when he was off.
 

ehaz

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So it begins... ESPN's postmortem:

Kyrie Irving's failed leadership tells the story of the Celtics' failed season

Take, for example, when Brown sat out with back spasms in New Orleans on Nov. 26. The Celtics, at the time, were 10-10 and floundering. Hayward, who was struggling mightily in his return to game action after a year off, had already been replaced in the starting lineup by Marcus Morris. Now, with Brown sidelined, Marcus Smart stepped into the lineup for him.

And, after the Celtics won handily, Irving was effusive in his praise for his new backcourt mate.

"There's a reason why he's very instrumental for our team being successful," Irving said. "Because he's a veteran now -- not in terms of years, but he's played high-level basketball for the Celtics for a few years now. So we expect him to be in the right spots and doing the right things."

The message behind the words Irving spoke inside the Smoothie King Center locker room was loud and clear to all who heard it: If it was up to him, Smart would remain in the starting lineup.

Irving got his wish. It was the right move, too -- Boston rattled off eight straight wins with Smart starting, and he was arguably the best defensive guard in the league this season. But the criticisms of the young players didn't let up. The Orlando game proved to be a tipping point.
Two days after the Celtics lost to the Magic, they lost again -- this time at Brooklyn, where they trailed by 26 entering the fourth quarter before a furious comeback made the final score more respectable.

Irving's comments in Orlando still hung over the team.

"We've just got to have each other's backs at the end of the day," Brown said after the loss. "We can't make comments, we can't point fingers, we just have to continue to empower each other and have each other's backs. If we don't, if we start pointing fingers, everybody's going to go into their own little shells. We've got to continue to play basketball. It starts from the top to the bottom. Not from the bottom to the top, but the top to the bottom."

It was a big moment -- and the most visible sign that the young players were bristling under Irving's form of leadership.
"It's really just about being efficient, especially the rest of this series," Irving said. "From this point on I don't think you'll see another 8-for-22."

Irving was right. In a crucial Game 4, he shot 7-for-22. His 43 missed field goals to that point were the most he'd ever accumulated across three playoff games in his career. And after the loss, Irving was defiant.

"Who cares?" Irving said when asked about dealing with shooting struggles. "I'm a basketball player. Prepare the right way. Like I said, it's a little different when your rhythm is challenged every play down. You're being picked up full court. They're doing things to test you.

"The expectations on me are going to be sky high. ... I'm trying to do it all. For me, the 22 shots, I should have shot 30. I'm that great of a shooter."

Irving didn't shoot 30 times in Game 5. He did, however, go 6-for-21 -- including one absurd air ball on a first-half 3-pointer from the wing that didn't come close to touching the rim. He made just one 3-pointer all night, one fewer than little-used Bucks reserve Tim Frazier, who didn't check into the game until garbage time.

Irving's performance left him a dismal 25-for-83 over the final four games of the series -- all Boston losses. His 58 missed shots were the most he's had in a four-game span in his playoff career.
A single thing didn't derail this Celtics season. Across the roster, players failed to completely buy into their roles. Some of that falls on Stevens, whose job it is to manage stars and expectations. Hayward's recovery was never assured of taking a linear path. And the Davis situation was a stunner.

But nothing contributed to Boston's season unraveling more than Irving. As he said, this is what he signed up for. Without him a year ago, the Celtics simply were not good enough to get out of a significantly weaker Eastern Conference. Having him back was supposed to push Boston over the top.

Instead, the sheer weight of his personality helped sink a team many thought would challenge for a title.

The question now is what Irving will do when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
 

Nick Kaufman

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A Lost Time
Thinking further about it, here's how I look at it.

OTOH, you can make a basketball argument that if you keep Irving, trade for Davis and trade away a couple of the young bucks, the team will have two stars and will be more cohesive with a defined hierarchy of roles. That team would have a good chance of competing.

OTOH, it's clear to me that Irving behaved like such a colossal ass, both in in the way he treated his teammates and the way he created a media circus that resigning him has two potential problems. One is that you re rewarding bad behavior. Two, there's no guaranty that even with Davis and a good cast, he won't create a similar circus at the first sign of adversity and things not going his way.

What happened with Irving doesn't seem like a one off strange year. He's a weird, mercurial guy who seems to lack emotional intelligence. It's hard to rely on such a guy.

So to me, it looks like a very difficult decision. Conversely, I want to hope that Brown and Tatum would improve, but this year, frankly I thought they remained stagnant at best and it seems less likely that they will turn into stars that would carry a team. So letting Irving go and building around them doesn't seem so appealing either. Then again, the dysfunction was so strong this year, that you can make an argument that removing the dysfunction from the team would do wonders for their development and the prospects of the team.

All in all, I think Ainge truly has an unenviable position. The decisions he faces are really tough.

Right now, I am thinking that that if this was my choice, I would be leaning towards letting Irving go. And I think that's saying something, because I think a good deal of my cognitive biases would usually have me leaning towards wanting Irving to stay.

But the dysfunction this year was just so strong, man.
 
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