In the past few years, Kyrie Irving has been the center of many dramas that have unfolded, in Cleveland, Boston and now in Brooklyn.
Kyrie Irving was drafted in 2011, as the number one overall pick, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played there for six years, and three without Lebron. The Cavs went 78-246 in those three years, to no fault of Kyrie's. The Cavs had and have a history of drafting poorly and not being able to attract good players in free agency. The only reason Lebron came back after his stint in Miami was because he was from around Cleveland.
Anyways, Kyrie had the pleasure of playing with guys such as Omri Casspi, Luke Walton, an old Antawn Jamison, and Donald Sloan. He was an all-star two of those three years, won Rookie of the Year in 2012 and averaged 20.6 ppg.
Then Lebron came. With him he brought a new coach and a new general manager, as well as Kevin Love, who was a three time all-star at that time.
But Kyrie didn't exactly want Lebron there. 10 days prior to Lebron announcing his return to Cleveland, Kyrie signed a 5-year deal with the team, worth $90 million. Kyrie just didn't want to play with James, which may seem surprising. Who wouldn't want to play with one of the best players in NBA history?
The problem might've been that the Cavs weren't playing with Lebron, they were more playing for Lebron. If they won, it was because of Lebron. If they lost, it was because of the players around Lebron. Kyrie just didn't feel like he was appreciated in Cleveland.
In an article Stephen A. Smith wrote for The Undefeated, he said he had a conversation with a close friend of Kyrie's.
'“Kyrie isn’t saying he’s better than LeBron and should be seen that way,” a close confidant of Irving’s told me. “He’s saying he’s not about to let LeBron ‘SON’ him … treating him like he’s the child and LeBron’s the father or big brother he’s supposed to look up to.'
“Kyrie knows he’s a franchise-caliber talent. He wants to be treated like it. And he’s tired of hearing about what LeBron needs, and he’s [darn] sure tired of hearing LeBron sound like he always needs more. As if the crew they have isn’t enough.”'
S/he was right. Even after Kyrie got a higher usage rate and more field goal attempts in crunch time in the 2016-17 season, Kyrie was still being treated like an assistant or a sidekick to and by Lebron. Which is why he asked for a trade shortly after the 2017 NBA Finals, a Finals that they lost 4-1.
And so Kyrie decided to disrupt what little team connection and unity there was, and get out. Kyrie had a list of four teams he wanted to go to, the San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks. He got traded to the Boston Celtics about a month after his request.
At first, Celtics fans were wary, because they had to give the Cavs Isaiah Thomas, an MVP candidate who led them to the Eastern Conference Finals just a few months prior. But largely because they weren't sure what kind of Kyrie they would be getting. Would it be the Kyrie who quietly hit clutch shots, or the kind who said the earth was flat and contradicted himself throughout the season?
Turns out the latter is the only Kyrie there is.
Kyrie's two years in Boston were.... eventful, to say the least. His first actual basketball season was great for Irving, the Celtics organization, and the fans. After losing Gordon Hayward five minutes into the season, the Celtics had pretty low expectations. But Irving helped future stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum emerge, and Kyrie averaged 24 ppg and 5 apg himself, adding another all-star game to his belt.
It was in the playoffs that things started to get a little rocky. Kyrie didn't actually play in the 2018 playoffs, he needed knee surgery and was out from the beginning of April. But Tatum, Brown and veteran Al Horford led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals, almost beating Lebron and the Cavaliers.
In the offseason, everyone was super hyped about the Celtics chances, and how it was pretty much a guarantee that the NBA Finals matchup was going to be Celtics vs Warriors. I mean, a team that was one game away from the Finals were adding two more all-stars in Irving and Hayward for the 2018-19 season? Definitely Finals material. Wrong.
But there were also preseason questions like, 'Are the Celtics better without Kyrie?' (the Celtics players said they needed Kyrie, but that's just what they said) didn't help. And maybe that's why Kyrie turned away from team ball and more towards his own personal agenda.
Tatum and Brown went down a level, and Hayward still wasn't his all-star self. Kyrie made a huge deal about wanting to stay in Boston, but switched his mindset partway through the season, saying, "Ask my July 1."
Throughout the season things just kept building up. There were instances where Kyrie played too much isolation, as well as times where he got visibly upset at his teammates about minor things.
Largely due to Kyrie, the team had bad habits, bad behaviour and body language, and they were very inconsistent, blowing leads throughout the season all the time. And when they fell behind, they started playing isolation, instead of using their pass-first offense that worked the year before, and is working so far this year.
From the time he wanted out of Cleveland, he hoped for his own team. When he got it, he didn't lead them the way he should have. He didn't seem to get what it meant to be a Boston Celtic, and his drama with Lebron midway through the season didn't help.
He told the media after one game that he recently called Lebron, and made up with him. He apologized for his behaviour in Cleveland, and said he realized what being a leader meant.
Since people were already speculating his exit, this just added fuel to the fire.
The Celtics ended up 4th in the east, and 14 wins lower than predictions. They won in the first round, but lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference semis. After blowing out the Bucks in the first game, the Celtics lost four straight. Kyrie only shot 35% from the field, and 21% from three.
After game 3, Kyrie said in a press conference that he should've shot more, which is the opposite of what the Celtics needed. The Celtics were at their best when they were passing the ball around, not playing isolation.
Kyrie went from, "I want to have my number in the rafters one day" to "ask me July 1", leading many players and fans to believe he was leaving after the season. And he did.
The large part of the Celtics fans had the "don't let the door hit you on the way out" mentality, but the players seemed like everyone was making much ado about nothing. I'll get to that in a bit.
Anyways, Kyrie went off to Brooklyn to join Jarrett Allen and Spencer Dinwiddie (Kevin Durant also joined). Right from the start, there were doubts. How would Kyrie respond to a team that might not even win 40 games? Would Kyrie disrupt another pass-first team, and stunt the growth of young players?
Turns out they had issues before the season really started. While Kyrie started to get to know his teammates better, people in the organization noticed he was having dramatic mood swings, which is confirmed by former teammates, and denied by the organization. When he has these mood swings, he doesn't talk to anyone, which is a huge problem on a basketball team.
Last week, Marcus Smart, who was on the Celtics with Kyrie, said that the main problem for the Celtics last year was communication: "Everyone was afraid to talk to one another."
A few players have said that they weren't comfortable or confident last season on the Celtics, making it hard to play with one another. That seems to be happening in Brooklyn already.
Kyrie wasn't a big help on their China trip, when Morrey's tweet rocked the NBA. He also seems to be messing with their chemistry and play style, and many players who had breakout season last year are regressing.
It seems to be a similar story to the Celtics'. A young core exceeds expectations, and Kyrie comes in a messes it all up. Team unity, chemistry and ball movement. But it's hard to say that the Nets are better without Kyrie. Until you look at the last few weeks.
The Nets started out 4-7, worse than last year, even though they added an All-Star. Then Kyrie got hurt, and has missed the last nine game. The Nets are 6-3 in those games, making them 10-10 for the year so far.
Kyrie is putting up MVP like number is the 11 games he's played, however, so we'll probably have to wait a little longer to see if they really are better.
Recently, the drama has been revisited as ex-teammates, such as Marcus Smart, have tried to put the year behind them. Smart talked about it after the most recent Brooklyn-Boston game, in which Kyrie did not play in. After the game, Smart, Tatum, Kemba Walker, and others walked over to hug Kyrie
"I mean, there is no hard feelings. I didn't hug Kyrie to get on TV. That's two guys that are trying to make a living for their families being professional athletes. That's my brother, regardless of what he did. He works hard.
"Quite frankly, I'm really, honestly, tired of hearing about Kyrie. Kyrie is no longer with the Boston Celtics, and it's a slap across the face of everybody on this team that's here now to keep hearing Kyrie's name, because every one of these guys have put in the work and we continue to put in the work and we are here and still competing and yet everybody, including the Boston fans, want to talk about Kyrie. Let's talk about the Boston Celtics."
Kemba, even though he never played with Kyrie, also added his thoughts.
"I mean, it's nothing to really talk about, you know? I know there's been some stuff between the fans and him. Hopefully that can be over. We need to just move past it at this point. It's over."
I'm kind of breaking my favorite team's request by writing about this, so I'll wrap this up quickly and never talk about it again.
I researched a bit about Kyrie's childhood and high school life, and read Flinder Boyd's story titled Kyrie Irving, the 'Untold Story: From Musical-Loving Kid to Ferocious Superstar'. It talks a lot about how Kyrie was undersized, and therefore underestimated throughout high school. He wasn't even noticed by Duke (where he went to college) until Kyrie's dad collabed with AAU coach Sandy Pyonin, and got Kyrie into St Patrick.
Finally, Kyrie, who was destroying pretty much every team in New Jersey single-handedly, got noticed by college coaches. Before he commited to Duke, he met with coach Mike Krzyzewski. It was Coach K who told Kyrie, "You'll be one of the best of your generation."
Before he finally got to St Patrick and ultimately to Duke and the NBA, he was very short and small, and very underestimated because of it.
But why did I bring that up? My theory is that part of the reason Kyrie Irving is causing so much drama is because it took him awhile to get noticed as a teen. I'm not saying Kyrie was disregarded, disrespected or craves attention, I'm just saying that since he wasn't very noticeable off the court in high school, he's just making sure he's not ignored anymore.
It's scientifically proven that people create theatrics when they feel they aren't getting enough attention as they think they should. I'm not hating on Kyrie. I've made peace with the lack of peace from last season. It's time for everyone else to do the same.
Everyone deserves another chance.
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