It seems the Kyrie-Celtics marriage has come to an abrupt and corrosive conclusion for both sides and we do not even need until Sunday night (that is, when the annual league-wide free agent moratorium kicks off) to determine whether or not Kyrie Irving has played his final game on the parquet.
Add in the pressure cooker of being on a roster awash with talent and title-contending expectations in the winnable Eastern conference with the persistent media always trying to grab that salient, drama-inducing quote to keep Irving’s name in hot water, and you have a toxic situation that not even the average 6-time all-star would be able to stomach.
Irving’s time as a Celtic was marred with the attention that you would expect a superstar to get, especially after his controversial implications of wanting to be a “focal point” elsewhere after his first breakup with LeBron and the Cavaliers. An esteemed facade of leadership in the model of what LeBron brought to the Cavs is what Kyrie challenged himself to replicate.
That is until it became time to face the difficult scenarios fit for a natural leader to navigate himself and his followers through. From losing streaks at the beginning of the year, a team-wide inability to create a collective sense of chemistry, and coaching insufficiencies too great to overcome to the blaring sirens of free agency discussions involving Boston’s core of Tatum and Brown, the encrypted puzzle of dealing with these issues by quieting them on-court and in the ears of the media got too difficult for Irving to solve.
Now, it seems like the dissatisfied 6-time all-star is facing some harsh flogging on his character from just about every media outlet, whether on TV or on the internet. Folks are citing Kyrie’s estranged individuality as a reason for some marquee free agent destinations to not take a chance on him, like the Brooklyn Nets, who proclaimed a little under a month ago that they would not consider giving Irving a max deal unless he brought Kevin Durant with him.
Yet, seldom do not bring up the proclivity he brings on a nightly basis, regardless of the C’s being in the win column or not. I mean, it is still Kyrie Irving we are talking about here. A 24-ppg scorer that is easily the most dangerous on-ball creator in the entire sport, making Irving’s case that much more polarizing.
It is rather remiss to ignore what Irving can bring and he is no stranger to a tireless work ethic, and courage to knock down what is still arguably the most significant shot in the history of the NBA Finals back in 2016. And with Irving’s accolades on the table for the Celtics to admire in lieu of a prospective future ahead, it as if Irving encountered the worst-case scenario in a new destination by trying to be that model of authority.
It should be realized that not all of Irving’s recent pitfalls were self-inflicted. Celtics fans have every right to feel dejected at the current product and be upset at Irving’s attitude and way of handling every situation placed in his hands. But that should not mean the other Celtics walk away from this unscathed.
As a matter of fact, if you did not see this very divorce as an impending reality midway through the year, you were not paying enough attention.
To put it shortly: this team did not play together. On paper, the Celtics were practically crowned Eastern Conference champions ahead of the 2018-19 season, and how could they not have? At the beginning of the year, the Milwaukee Bucks were stacked with an astronomically-gifted superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo but were not as prominent with their depth and postseason experience. Rival Philadelphia suffered the same inefficiency with only Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons. Toronto had Kawhi, but only Kawhi if crunch time came around because Kyle Lowry was infamous for his postseason gips.
This was easily the best on-paper team in the East, projected to build on their dominant 2017-18 run to the conference finals. One year later with a returning (but hobbled) Hayward, the Celtics suffered from Brad Stevens incapability to put together his “positionless basketball plan”.
Al Horford, the team’s model of professionalism and decorum, not being vocal enough to challenge the emotional Irving when difficulties arose.
Brooding personalities from the likes of free-agents-to-be in Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris dominated team philosophies much maligned from traditional Celtic basketball, as spot-up and isolation looks in the half-court got the C’s away from that same exact style of play that got them to a game 7 against LeBron’s Cavs in the conference finals.
Consider that along with Jayson Tatum’s apprehensiveness to reach superstar potential in his second year prompted a second-round exit by the Bucks, a lot of unhappy fans and some satisfied prognosticators.
As things transpired from bad to worse for the Celtics, Brad Stevens said that he knew from the beginning it was going to be a challenging season for Boston.
“The bottom line is that we had seven perimeter guys who were all very good players, and all of them brought something different and unique to the table,” Stevens said. “If you ask any one of them, I’m sure they’ll tell you it was hard to find all that they wanted this season. I don’t lose any sleep over that. They were all extremely competitive, well-intentioned guys. The pieces just didn’t fit.”
A recent report from ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan explained another external issue that deviated the Celtics into playoff failure, and that had to do with Kyrie taking issue with the partying habits of his younger teammates. Per the report, Irving was “Irked” by a late-night trip to the strip down South Beach in Miami during a January road trip, and an ensuing back-to-back.
“On Jan. 9, the Celtics blitzed the Pacers in Boston, then flew out that night to Miami, arriving at the team hotel after 2 a.m. on Thursday,” MacMullan said. “Boston was set to play the Heat later that night, but, team sources said, that didn’t stop some of the young players from heading to South Beach, where the clubs stay open well past 5 a.m. It’s not uncommon for NBA players to go out when they’re on the road, but Irving was irked teammates decided to do it in the middle of back-to-back games.” The Celtics ended up getting plowed by the Heat in a 115-99 beatdown.
Also, in the report, MacMullan broke down what happened right after the game in the Celtics’ locker room.
“Reporters clamored to ask Irving about it after the game, but he had disappeared. After nearly 30 minutes, he was found shooting baskets on Miami’s practice court, hoping some of his teammates who had played so poorly might join him and none of them did,” MacMullan stated. “By the time Irving returned to answer media questions, most of his teammates were gone. Asked to explain why he felt compelled to engage in the postgame session, Irving said, “I just wanted to feel good going into the next game. We’re staying over in Miami, so I’d rather be in here than be out in Miami right now.”
One game later, the Celtics’ Florida road trip ended up in another loss, this time to the Orlando Magic by way of a missed Jayson Tatum game-winner, a shot that wasn’t supposed to be his. As Brad Stevens drew up the play in the huddle during the team’s final timeout, Irving objected to where he was supposed to get the ball. As the best player on the floor should be, Irving was a primary option on the play, but Hayward decided to hit the supposedly open Tatum in the corner instead.
After Tatum’s miss, Irving’s overzealous reaction that included jawing at Hayward while flailing his arms in disbelief, went viral on just about every social media site you could imagine. Irving publicly apologized and faulted the behavior on his misjudgment in the heat of the moment.
It seemed like a misdemeanor offense, but it festered into the diffidence being felt at this moment by the Celtics and their fans alike. Surely, the Celtics were reportedly “puzzled” on how Irving became so disillusioned with them in the span of just two years. Other reports came in that the 6-time all-star was “not interested” in signing 100 basketballs for charitable partners of the Celtics that everyone else on the team signed. Sounds like that was yet another indication of his dismissive attitude towards how Boston treated him in his tenure as a Celtic.
It has been just about a year since Kyrie made his preseason comments at a panel for Celtics season-ticket holders about planning to re-sign with the Celtics “if they’ll have him back next year”, but now the forecast for that dreamy insight is all but tethered from the realization that the Kyrie project was an outright failure.
And really, it boils down to a debate of two factors, and what factor was more detrimental for the Celtics: Was it Irving’s now-scarred perception, style of play different from an all-around point guard and individualized personality that drew headlines whenever he talks, or was it the rigidity of Stevens’ system, as it was not able to integrate a player that beneficially hijacked the offense to dazzle in isolation, and Stevens’ failure develop a well-in-his-prime Irving into an even better player that could propel the guys around him into superstardom?
It could also be that, just like a majority of bad breakups, the Celtics and their vision of what a franchise superstar should be just did not align with Kyrie’s.
Maybe, and just maybe, the Celtics and Kyrie’s differences proved that they were not the right fit for each other and there may not be a venerable reason to admonish Kyrie for that.
As Danny Ainge prepares to turn to the next chapter of Beantown basketball, signing the dually-talented Kemba Walker is the Celtics’ No. 1 priority, and a priority that could very well be handled before the end of Sunday night. After the Celtics drafted bench depth for the foreseeable future and do not sound to be quite finished with sources saying that the Celtics are looking for a big man to compliment Walker in free agency after Al Horford’s eventual departure, the adage of the classy hard-nosed, defensively sound and system-operant Celtics could be making a comeback soon enough.
Yet the Celtics’ future as an immediate contender, Jaylen Brown’s preferred tenure as a Celtic and Jayson Tatum’s ability to become a franchise cornerpiece are all questions that need to be answered. Moreover, no one knows how the Celtics will perform with their on-floor chemistry impacted without Irving commanding the offense on a nightly basis. For now, Celtics fans, and fans of Kyrie Irving can collectively see this short and exciting period in Celtics history as a stepping stone back into the greatness that the 17-time world champs once delivered.
“I want Kyrie to find happiness,” Stevens says. “If he does move on, I wish him nothing but good health and success. I saw a lot of great qualities in him. I really don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. If you blame anyone, it’s me. I’m the guy who couldn’t fit the pieces.”
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