NY is getting Kyrie and another star or at least they're confident they are. Only reason for them to ship out Porzingis to get 2 max slots this coming summer!
Irving will refuse to go there. Makes no sense for the pelicans, best thing for them is to acquire picks or young talent and go the Hinkie route.
Woj: What changed with Kyrie? The struggles of this team. This team had an expectation they'd be chasing an Eastern Conference championship & compete with the Warriors and they've underachieved. They're still trying to figure out how the pieces fit there. Kyrie has been working through what it means to be the leader of a team and to have his own team. Some frustrations expressed today, these are conversations he has with the organization. They know he's frustrated. They're frustrated with a lot that has gone on this year. This was jarring for people who haven't heard him talk publicly about his future since the night in the preseason he said he was staying and a commercial where he talked about getting his number retired in Boston. How much does Davis affect Kyrie's decision? The organization believes it's almost imperative that...they have a lot of confidence if they get Davis that they will secure Kyrie and then they'll have AD under contract next season & go forward. Worst case scenario and what gives them concern is if this team underachieves and doesn't make the postseason run they expect and Davis is either traded before the deadline or he stays in New Orleans & they don't get a deal for him. That would cause concern in Boston but there's confidence regardless of what Anthony Davis is saying privately that he would only re-sign with LA, Boston still likes their chances if they get him on the roster convincing him to stay with Kyrie going forward.
Wouldn't rule out Boston wanting to cut bait with Kyrie, at this point. The problem is, the team that gets Kyrie will have less than half a season to convince him to stay. Man, Boston seems like they'd have the East locked up for a while...and now, half a season later, they might not even have HCA when the playoffs start. It must both feel great and terrible to be a Boston Celtics fan, right now.
Maybe Irving is trying to tell Ainge "hey Danny, i'm not going to stay here with these young dudes around, i don't like them"
Even after the IT trade, the Celtics lockeroom was fine. Now it is horrible, and the main reason is Kyrie. Leader ? LMAO What kind of leader is publicly pointing fingers, blaming others every other day in the press and has horrible body language in the court because he didnt get to take the shot in the last possesion. I don't say that's all his fault but like 75% it is. And it has the potential to get even worse. The young players already knew that they could be traded any day, if the AD situation isn't solved by February, with all the media focus and questions, good luck convincing Tatum, Brown, Rozier and Smart to sacrifice their shots and stats for a team that will get rid of them soon. And Kyrie with his latest statements is showing to his teammates that he is ready to bolt too.
Can we update the thread title, or at least put a date on it? I keep seeing this thinking it’s news.
Ainge is making a huge mistake the team last year was better than this year. Super risky betting it all on AD and Irving staying just cut bait with those guys and roll with what you have, M Smart, Rozier, Brown and esp. Tatum can all ball and dominate the East, just add pieces to the mix. If I were Ainge I would trade Irving to NYC now for the expiring contracts of DSJ and Wes Matthews. Those guys will give the team depth and NYC does it so they have the inside track on Irving and make sure he doesn't go to LA.
Is Kyrie really worth all this? Before and after Lebron, he has barely made a dent in his team's ability to win. I haven't forgotten that the Celtics made the ECF and almost beat Lebron without him (and featuring a bunch of kids + Horford). If anything I think Hayward + Irving @ 60m per season is not helping them. If anyone is willing to give up a couple of assets that will help dump Hayward, I see that as a win. Anthony Davis can easily win the East surrounded by Tatum, Brown, Smart.
I'm just going to say that i feel bad for the team that is going to max him, i reconize his talent as a scorer but never been a fan of the player in general, always thought he's kinda overrated. When he was leading the Cavs they were lottery bound year after year. Lebron haters love to say "if it wasn't for Irving in that game...", when Irving without Lebron wasn't even going to be in the playoffs.
He is certainly an excellent scorer and does not need to be assisted much. He's not in the top tier of efficiency for players who can do that. At the same time, he's a bad defender. He's terrible off the ball defensively. He's pretty bad off the ball offensively. He's basically right now what James Harden is going to be when he's 36. Which makes me wonder why teams are clamoring to give him the max. If you take away that shot.... Scratch that. Just that fact that we ALL know which shot I'm referring to when I say "if you take away that shot" tells you how uneventful his career has been in terms of winning. In my mind, it must be the popularity. He sells tickets, he's a bit of a showman, and he can claim to be from a winning background. Playing with Lebron and having a foot in Hollywood is good for him. Teams can recoup some of that money. But I would hate to build a franchise around him. I think the Celtics would be smart to trade him for some assets that allow them to unload Hayward too.
I'm not really sure but your is a good guess, the media played a big part in this of course. Just think about him being considered for the MVP last season, which was absolutely ridiculous, but he played for Boston so...if he was playing for Denver or Washington nobody would've brought his name up when Harden and Lebron were doing what they were doing. And yeah, he has been in the Finals and won a championship against the Warriors recently, he made that shot...but a lot here happened because of Lebron, without Lebron, Irving never made anything relevant, his teams never overachieved, in fact they always underachieved, the Cavs when Lebron was not there, but i think you can kinda say the same for the Celtics now, they were projected by everyone to be the best team in the East and so far that didn't pan out. Regardless i 100% agree with you, would never build around him if i had the chance to make a choice, he's not a max player imo, defense is bad, leadership is poor, can't make other guys around him better, he also had different injuries so far so, he's not even durable.
[Ric Bucher] The latest I've heard [on Kyrie] that it's between Brooklyn and the Lakers [for Kyrie]. And I've heard that the Lakers and Kobe especially, has been busy recruiting Kyrie in particular to try and get him on the Lakers.
He's a Laker. He's the kind of insecure guy who knows how isolated that spotlight would be in BKN. He knows Lebron will win 40 something games anyway. I would actually be impressed if he doesn't go to the Lakers.
