DeRoma wrote:Slax wrote:SWithout weighing in on the previous discussion, I think the answer to this particular question is threefold. First, Kyrie didn't really want to be in Boston in the first place, he just preferred Boston as an alternative to Cleveland because he couldn't force a trade to New York or LA. Second, he was resentful when the Celtics continued winning when he was injured. Third, he got into a bunch of personality clashes with multiple teammates and the coach. The 2019 Celtics season was super toxic and resulted in at least three veteran free agents choosing to leave (Kyrie, Horford, Marcus Morris), so he was really just the highest profile casualty of a REALLY bad locker room, only some of which was his fault.
Perhaps he also hated the fans while he was here, who knows. But based on everything we know, those three reasons make the most sense for him leaving.
jfs1000d wrote:Kyrie is moody. I am sure he didn’t like Boston, which makes no sense, but I think biggest reason is he did t like getting traded and told where to be.
Durant and Kyrie would be in Boston now with Tatum if kyrie stayed. But, you also have to realize the BS that Kyrie pulls doesn’t fly in boston.
They demand you play games here. I always feel like kyrie doesn’t want to play a full 82 game season because he feels it isn’t necessary. This year was perfect kyrie. Part time player, physically healthy for the only thing that matters - playoffs.
I don't think these are true at all... I think you need to put yourself in Kyrie's shoes in order for you to see it in his perspective. Why would he leave an established contender like the Cavs with Lebron leading the squad just to go to an unproven commodity like the Celtics? He didn't hate Boston whatsoever. He was actually enamored by the potential of this team given the logistics are practically perfect at that time.
The reason why Kyrie left the Cavs was because he already experienced getting a ring with Lebron's mindset in place. Now in order for him to keep himself motivated it was time for him to lead his own team with his style of play as the leading philosophy of the team. Thus wanting to go to Boston given that you guys are already a fringe playoffs squad with a decently clean cap space for flexibility and a substantial amount of talent given that the Nets gave you guys so many picks (as well as Philly). Point is Kyrie had the creative control for you squad and that's all he literally all he wants.
The unfortunate event that had happen was the fact that he got injured by the end of that season. And the Celtics young guys carried and overachieved in the playoffs that gave them the confidence that they can do more in a short amount of time. That's an anomaly given that rookies/sophomores (i.e. Brown/Tatum) should only be trying to prove to themselves that they belong in the league at the normal rate of sports developmental stage.
This is where the clash of perspective happened and why he left Boston in the first place. Kyrie had to share the creative control with Tatum/Brown while Kyrie has yet to establish himself as the alpha of the squad given that he was injured at the time there was meaningful games being played. Tatum/Brown felt they should have say and respectfully so, they should. Issue is, developmental stage is different for both parties. While Boston had to pick between the two. And if I were Boston I'd also pick Tatum/Brown 1000%.
It's the same thing with KD. He left OKC cause he wants to play with shooters (since he thought Westbrook was trash) and not realizing the backlash he'll get from joining a 70 win team. Now he joined a squad with a bunch of shooters where he has a secondary star that shares the same philosophy as him.
The point is the only thing that these superstars cares about is to leave a mark on history and be remembered. It's easy to see it that way given that they make millions and get an overwhelming amount of attention that a normal human needs. These are there priorities in order for them to keep going forward and give meaning to their lives.
A lot of what you're saying is not entirely incompatible with what I'm saying.
He left Cleveland because he wanted to prove he could be top dog on a championship team instead of being overshadowed by LeBron, and also he had a personality conflict with LeBron. His motivations were very well reported at the time.
He had a list of teams he originally wanted to go to. The Knicks were his preferred destination. He wanted to play in New York. He had a few other teams he said he would be OK joining - mostly teams that were expected to contend, if I remember correctly. He did
not originally include Boston on this list. Eventually, he agreed to the Boston trade once the Celtics expressed interest, because they were the only playoff team willing to give up enough to get him. But at no point did he express interest in joining the Celtics except as an outlet for leaving the Cavaliers.
He did seem to enjoy being in Boston at first, but I would attribute that to the Celtics providing what he wanted when he left Cleveland - the team winning a lot of games, and the success being attributed to him. He immediately turned negative when the Celtics continued to win after his injury. He had some pretty dicey comments downplaying the young players' success, and he skipped watching game 7 of the eastern conference finals for an elective dental surgery because he straight up didn't want to watch the team succeed without him. Which I get, that's human, so I'm not trying to be overly harsh on him, but it's weird to tell the story of why Kyrie left Boston without identifying literally the first point where the relationship between him and the rest of the team started to sour.
I'm not sure what you mean by "creative control", but during the poisonous 2018-19 season, Kyrie was upset at both off court and on court perceived slights. He was (very publicly) upset that the Celtics allowed Tatum, Brown, and Rozier to play minutes he felt should have been played by complementary veterans and take shots that he felt he should have taken. But also he just had numerous well-reported personality conflicts multiple other players. No reason to just pretend that the personality conflicts weren't an issue, and just chalk up all his disagreements with the Celtics to basketball ones, especially because at this point this is a pattern of behavior for Kyrie on three separate teams.
Also, by Kyrie's own account, he had a death in the family early in that season if I remember correctly, and it influenced his desire to play closer to home. Personally I'm not going to discount this, but it goes back to my original point that the only reason he was willing to play in Boston in the first place was because the Cavs couldn't get a good enough offer to trade him to New York. New York is his home, and he wanted to play there.
Your insistence that he really wanted to be in Boston and that the
only point of discontentment Kyrie had in Boston was a disagreement with management over whether to develop youth or add more experience is completely ahistorical. He was clearly deeply unhappy on the Celtics, and it was ultimately better for both sides that he left. I'm glad for him that he found a situation that makes him happy.
