Kemba Walker Thread

[zoyathedestroya]

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I think he'll be just fine in Boston.

[Celtic Esquire]

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My boy Antoine thinks Kemba will be a great signing for the team.

Would love it if Kemba wore #8 just so everyone can bust out their old Antoine jerseys.

[captain green]

I'm all in on kemba but one question who is his best nba player friend or friends asking cause since this is a collusion friendo league now shouldn't we just get his buds? Seriously does anyone know who is his nba buddies?

[LarryBirdsFingr]

I'm all in on kemba but one question who is his best nba player friend or friends asking cause since this is a collusion friendo league now shouldn't we just get his buds? Seriously does anyone know who is his nba buddies?

Good question

[greenroom31]

I'm all in on kemba but one question who is his best nba player friend or friends asking cause since this is a collusion friendo league now shouldn't we just get his buds? Seriously does anyone know who is his nba buddies?

Good question

Seems like Biyombo and Jeremy Lamb :

[BRUNiNHO91]

Between this dude with that touching article and Kanter giving an awesome shout out to Portland, it feels good having classy players for once. Jaylen welcomed Kemba on twitter also. Can't wait to see these guys get together..once I hear about the first offseason workout with Hayward, Smart, Kemba, JB and JT I'm going to be so excited..lol

[BRUNiNHO91]

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My boy Antoine thinks Kemba will be a great signing for the team.

Would love it if Kemba wore #8 just so everyone can bust out their old Antoine jerseys.

Love everything Toine said. Not really worried about that 'Boston will never have the better player in the playoffs' quote..our superstar for the past 4 years has always been Brad Stevens and that's why he was so special. This guy has an incredible way to get more out of most players. Every playoff series we have won since he arrived, we have never had the best player except for last year with Kyrie vs Indy. Not even as a 1 seed against the Bulls..Jimmy Butler was the best player then. Our playoff run where we beat Milwaukee (Giannis was the best player) and Philadelphia (Embiid was the best player) and went 7 with the Cavs (LeBron was best player) it was Brad Stevens brilliant mind and game plan that put us in a position to win even without a high caliber superstar. Last year with Kyrie, we made him our superstar, we played his way to try to please him, we foolishly went away from Brad's system and we saw the disaster it was. I feel like with the moves we made, the guys we kept and brought in will allow us to play the way Brad wants and that is what gives me hope for a wonderful season. If we can maximize a Brown, Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, Kanter, Smart etc roster the same way we maximized Isaiah, Turner, Crowder, Jerebko, Bradley, Sullinger and Amir, this team can shock a lot of people. This is something that can't be stated enough in my eyes when talking about Boston and how good we will be.

[tlee324]

I don't know why people overcomplicate things.. Kemba Kyrie and Dame are as close to the same tier as possible. It's how the heck do you replace Al is the question.

Standing ovation to you sir.

[celticfan42487]

Coach Nick with a great breakdown of how Kemba could succeed here in ways Irving failed.

TLDR; Irving is a lazy diva who doesn't want to put in the effort of running off ball. While IT and Kemba are all heart and will put in the work off ball sprinting to get the best shot and/or team offense.

Watch on YouTube

I do have MAJOR CONCERNS if Tatum, Brown, Hayward are willing to step back and do what's right for the team and play the complementary roles in a system built around Kemba though.

Right now their talent level all say it would be the best move for them because they all suck at ISO offense (Tatum being the worst efficiency ISOer in the NBA for most of the season, not sure if he finished there). But that takes A LOT of professionalism and hard work and sacrifice from them.

I wonder with the teams failures, and the switch from a malcontent wussy Irving to a self made man Kemba is enough for them to switch their minds and go back to grit and grind. They were never apart of the attitude Celtics with IT looking to overachieve and sacrifice for their fellow team mate.

If they too turn it around and buy in the same way Bradley and Crowder did they can thrive beyond measure, as can Kemba and Kanter.

[sam_I_am]

I'm all in on kemba but one question who is his best nba player friend or friends asking cause since this is a collusion friendo league now shouldn't we just get his buds? Seriously does anyone know who is his nba buddies?

Using that logic, we should have signed DLo instead so that we could go after KAT in a couple of years.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

Open Kemba's twitter-> click on the comments of his shared PT article-> laugh for 10-15 mins straight. The first gif is of Kemba throwing Kyrie's head(that infamous ball throw Kyrie did last season it's Kemba's head on Kyrie's body throwing Kyrie's head), laughed really hard.

There's some funny stuff there but, wow do Hornets fans love him.

[sam_I_am]

Sorry if this was already posted but this is awesome breakdown of why Kemba could really love playing for Brad. Watching this film breakdown it’s easy to see why IT was so much more fun to watch than Kyrie. Brad’s offense can generate a lot of easy looks for a player willing to run hard off screens without the ball. Kyrie can apparently produce without working that hard or buying in to Brad’s offense - a testament to his great skill - but what could it have been like if he tried?

https://www.celticsblog.com/2019/7/2/20678071/the-kemba-effect-with-coach-nick-of-bball-breakdown-video-celtics-kyrie-irving

[brackdan70]

I'm all in on kemba but one question who is his best nba player friend or friends asking cause since this is a collusion friendo league now shouldn't we just get his buds? Seriously does anyone know who is his nba buddies?

Hasheem Thabeet?

[zoyathedestroya]

Sorry if this was already posted but this is awesome breakdown of why Kemba could really love playing for Brad. Watching this film breakdown it’s easy to see why IT was so much more fun to watch than Kyrie. Brad’s offense can generate a lot of easy looks for a player willing to run hard off screens without the ball. Kyrie can apparently produce without working that hard or buying in to Brad’s offense - a testament to his great skill - but what could it have been like if he tried?

https://www.celticsblog.com/2019/7/2/20678071/the-kemba-effect-with-coach-nick-of-bball-breakdown-video-celtics-kyrie-irving

Kyrie tried intermittently. And earlier in his time in Boston. Not a total buy-in. I remember Stevens saying around midseason of 2017-18 (Kyrie's 1st year) that he had to scrap some of the offensive stuff he had pre-Kyrie. Didn't really elaborate why apart from wanting to "simplify the offense". How I recall it anyway. That's why our offense became so limited and stagnant at times. When people complain about Brad not having a system, I lose my **** internally. 'Cos we ran a beautiful offense during IT's time here w/ much less individual talent. Brad's sets are creative af and are copied around the league. Remember one of his ATO plays was even referenced during the last game of the Finals (Curry just missed the shot).

Looking forward to Kemba era tbh. He's closer to IT in wanting to assimilate himself into a team concept than Kyrie ever did. I tried to believe Kyrie could change and become more of a playmaker. But he's a scorer, showman, and shotmaker at his core.

[3D Chess]

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[sam_I_am]

Meant to post this here:

Many NBA experts are mocking the Celtics because they think Kyrie is the better player than Kemba. To me this reminds me of Paul Pierce versus Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady. Early in their careers despite similar production everybody rated Carter and McGrady as being much more superior players than PP. And yet leadership, competitive spirit, and toughness and yes ....durability and health .....ultimately did matter and PP went on to become a better player over his career.

Objectively Kyrie is a better player than Isaiah Thomas was in his one great MVP like season, and yet he accomplished much less with much more talent around him. There were those of us who doubted that Kyrie was enough of an upgrade to justify giving up a lottery pick. IT’s injury has made that point moot. Our great start last season also made that suggestion seem foolish but much of that success attributed to Kyrie might have been due to Tatum’s amazing 3 pt shooting during that time.

Kemba may be a downgrade intalent from Kyrie in the same way that Pierce would be a downgrade from Carter. I hope his leadership, personality, and energy will be a better fit for Brad’s system and leads to better team success in the same way that Paul Pierce did for Boston in 2008 and especially 2009 through 2012 when Ray and KG were in decline.

[London2Boston]

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I think he'll be just fine in Boston.

Dude is hardly taller than those kids

[amory87]

Meant to post this here:

Many NBA experts are mocking the Celtics because they think Kyrie is the better player than Kemba. To me this reminds me of Paul Pierce versus Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady. Early in their careers despite similar production everybody rated Carter and McGrady as being much more superior players than PP. And yet leadership, competitive spirit, and toughness and yes ....durability and health .....ultimately did matter and PP went on to become a better player over his career.

Objectively Kyrie is a better player than Isaiah Thomas was in his one great MVP like season, and yet he accomplished much less with much more talent around him. There were those of us who doubted that Kyrie was enough of an upgrade to justify giving up a lottery pick. IT’s injury has made that point moot. Our great start last season also made that suggestion seem foolish but much of that success attributed to Kyrie might have been due to Tatum’s amazing 3 pt shooting during that time.

Kemba may be a downgrade intalent from Kyrie in the same way that Pierce would be a downgrade from Carter. I hope his leadership, personality, and energy will be a better fit for Brad’s system and leads to better team success in the same way that Paul Pierce did for Boston in 2008 and especially 2009 through 2012 when Ray and KG were in decline.

I think Kemba has a slightly lower ceiling but a much higher floor than Kyrie, with a better medical history and the added plus of not being a pretentious jackass.

Kyrie gave up like, midway through game 3 of that Bucks series. He got it in his head that make or miss, he was just going to keep lazily throwing up as many shots as he could and not worry much more about it. It was very evident that he didn't care and that his thoughts had already shifted to Brooklyn. Kemba simply doesn't have that 'quit' in him.

But the NBA talking heads are like those kids that weren't cool in high school but did their best to hang around the cool kids as much as possible. Kyrie's firmly in the cool kids clique, so to the national media it's sacrilege to suggest that he's not clearly and easily a superior player to Kemba Walker.

[zoyathedestroya]

Coach Nick with a great breakdown of how Kemba could succeed here in ways Irving failed.

TLDR; Irving is a lazy diva who doesn't want to put in the effort of running off ball. While IT and Kemba are all heart and will put in the work off ball sprinting to get the best shot and/or team offense.

Watch on YouTube

I do have MAJOR CONCERNS if Tatum, Brown, Hayward are willing to step back and do what's right for the team and play the complementary roles in a system built around Kemba though.

Right now their talent level all say it would be the best move for them because they all suck at ISO offense (Tatum being the worst efficiency ISOer in the NBA for most of the season, not sure if he finished there). But that takes A LOT of professionalism and hard work and sacrifice from them.

I wonder with the teams failures, and the switch from a malcontent wussy Irving to a self made man Kemba is enough for them to switch their minds and go back to grit and grind. They were never apart of the attitude Celtics with IT looking to overachieve and sacrifice for their fellow team mate.

If they too turn it around and buy in the same way Bradley and Crowder did they can thrive beyond measure, as can Kemba and Kanter.

Just as I suspected. We weren't running nearly enough of the stuff we were running on offense when IT was here. We tried to "simplify the offense". There wasn't much creativity the past two seasons. And it's obvious that Kyrie wasn't as willing to play offball as IT did. He also wasn't great at freeing himself from his defender when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. Whether it's laziness or lack of ability, who knows. Hard as I wished he'd become more like Curry on offense, someone who relentlessly re-locates himself, cuts, runs around screens, and exploits defenses, Kyrie just wasn't that guy. There's a reason why our half-court offense was better 3 or 4 seasons ago. And we also played with more pace and movement even after an opponent's made shot.

[celticfan42487]

Coach Nick with a great breakdown of how Kemba could succeed here in ways Irving failed.

TLDR; Irving is a lazy diva who doesn't want to put in the effort of running off ball. While IT and Kemba are all heart and will put in the work off ball sprinting to get the best shot and/or team offense.

Watch on YouTube

I do have MAJOR CONCERNS if Tatum, Brown, Hayward are willing to step back and do what's right for the team and play the complementary roles in a system built around Kemba though.

Right now their talent level all say it would be the best move for them because they all suck at ISO offense (Tatum being the worst efficiency ISOer in the NBA for most of the season, not sure if he finished there). But that takes A LOT of professionalism and hard work and sacrifice from them.

I wonder with the teams failures, and the switch from a malcontent wussy Irving to a self made man Kemba is enough for them to switch their minds and go back to grit and grind. They were never apart of the attitude Celtics with IT looking to overachieve and sacrifice for their fellow team mate.

If they too turn it around and buy in the same way Bradley and Crowder did they can thrive beyond measure, as can Kemba and Kanter.

Just as I suspected. We weren't running nearly enough of the stuff we were running on offense when IT was here. We tried to "simplify the offense". There wasn't much creativity the past two seasons. And it's obvious that Kyrie wasn't as willing to play offball as IT did. He also wasn't great at freeing himself from his defender when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. Whether it's laziness or lack of ability, who knows. Hard as I wished he'd become more like Curry on offense, someone who relentlessly re-locates himself, cuts, runs around screens, and exploits defenses, Kyrie just wasn't that guy. There's a reason why our half-court offense was better 3 or 4 seasons ago. And we also played with more pace and movement even after an opponent's made shot.

To be fair, Kyrie apologists can hang their hat on 'he can't put in effort off ball because to do so would throw off his rhythm'.

So he's either an ISO star that makes his team offense worst, or he can run around off ball constantly and then just miss the shot because his rhythm is off.

I tend to think he's just not a team player and doesn't want to put in the work off ball.