Boston Celtics fans may just want to say good riddance to Kyrie Irving right now, but him leaving can only hurt the team.
There probably aren’t a lot of Kyrie Irving fans right now. After the Boston Celtics Game 5 loss, fans were rightly angry. Irving and the Celtics failed.
It wasn’t just that the Celtics lost, it was how they lost. The team seemed to give up and if Kyrie Irving wants all the credit he deserves some of the blame as well.
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Irving’s attitude also appeared to affect the rest of the team. in Game 4 he walked off of the court while the game was still going on. When asked what his thoughts were he said that the game was over.
Overall Irving just had a poor attitude. He said that we shouldn’t care about the team’s struggles in the regular season because he wouldn’t allow the C’s to perform badly in the playoffs and when things started to go bad in the playoffs he simply said, “who cares.”
That is not the attitude of a leader. That is the attitude of a self-obsessed diva. Maybe Kyrie has more in common with LeBron James than he would care to admit.
So with an opt-out looming Kyrie Irving and the Celtics have a decision. Do they try and work things out or do they just give up?
It may seem crazy right now, but here are 3 reasons the Celtics need to re-sign Kyrie Irving.
1. Kyrie Irving is still one of the best point guards in the NBA
If you think that Kyrie Irving isn’t a good basketball player you are sadly mistaken. Even though Irving didn’t seem like it in the playoffs he is still a top player in the NBA today.
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This season we saw Irving take a small drop in points per game, but he improved in other areas. This season Irving averaged 23.8 points, 6.9 assists, and 5 rebounds a game.
The assists are something that is important. Irving loves himself some iso ball where he can just drive to the rim and make a crazy play, but we saw Kyrie become a better facilitator this season.
Also we continued to see Kyrie Irving improve defensively. We saw him taking charges, diving for lose balls, and actually putting forth an effort.
We saw in the playoffs that Irving is a shooter at heart. There are times when he will try and shoot himself out of a cold streak when he should really try to defer to other players. If Irving wants to improve as a player he will have to realize when he is having an off night.
So let’s not run a top player in the NBA out of Boston just yet.
2. Kyrie Irving will learn from his mistakes
There is no doubt that this was a season full of mistakes for Kyrie Irving. He realized that it isn’t easy being a leader and just because you have a lot of talented players doesn’t mean you are guaranteed a spot in the NBA Finals.
The good thing is that Irving’s issues are mostly off the court. Kyrie is still an amazing basketball player it’s just everything else that comes with being a star player that he needs to improve on.
I think the No.1 concern if Irving does come back is that he needs to be a better leader. Next season I want to see Kyrie taking accountability and actually giving a crap. No more telling fans to wait until the playoffs. When a problem arises Kyrie and the Celtics need to fix it.
Guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the future of this team. When you have a guy like Irving blaming them for no reason it doesn’t make Boston seem like such a great place to play basketball.
Honestly after this season the only way to go is up. Irving has to learn from his mistakes this season and become a better leader. If he comes back to Boston I expect to see a much different Kyrie when the season begins.
3. Killer Kyrie
They don’t call Kyrie Irving “killer Kyrie” for no reason. When his team needs a shot to fall, Kyrie Irving becomes an assassin.
For a long time the Celtics have been missing someone who they could give the ball to at the end of a close game and let him work his magic. Irving knows how to close out games and take all the wind out of opposing teams sails.
Because of Irving and the Celtics poor effort in the 2nd round of the playoffs we didn’t get to see this Kyrie, but it’s an important part of his game.
Without Irving who are the Celtics going to give the ball to at the end of games? I don’t know how confident I am in guys like Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, or Jaylen Brown taking the final shot.
So Boston Celtics fans probably don’t want to admit it right now but the team needs to re-sign Kyrie Irving.