Kyrie Irving Finally Addressed Leaving Boston And The Fact That He Failed As A Leader

With Kyrie Irving finally talking to the media for the first time as a Net today, you knew the topic of his previous team and how that situation ended was going to come up. It’s been pretty much radio silence from Kyrie since the season ended outside of that video he put out when he announced he was going to BKN, but we hadn’t really heard him talk about Boston or the playoffs or his comments from last October. Today, we got that and I found it rather interesting. One of the biggest problems in my opinion with Kyrie was his refusal to take responsibility and ownership when things didn’t go well last season. As the leader of this team, he didn’t exactly show leadership qualities. If we’re being honest, this was the most accountable I think I’ve seen Kyrie be in the two years I watched him play in Boston.

When it comes to the infamous statement from October, listen, if he’s being sincere that everything changed when his grandfather passed away and that was a big enough moment in his life to the point where he started to reprioritize things well then who can hold that against him. Playing the death in family card may seem a little cheap because it’s sort of bullet proof but I’m willing to take him at his word. You forget sometimes that these people are human and it appears that it had nothing to do with basketball as to why he left. He has the right to decide where he wants to play just like anyone else has the right to decide where they work so that part doesn’t really bother me. My issue isn’t that he left, it’s more about how he fucking tanked that MIL series.

Which is why it was a surprise to see him admit that his time in Boston was pretty much a failure, and that he FINALLY took responsibility for it. Remember that press conference during the MIL series where he shot like a dickhead and basically acted like it was no big deal?

He talked all year about how he was going to carry them in the playoffs and not to worry about regular season struggles because he was there for the postseason, only to then have the worst postseason stretch of his entire career. It’s what made things so frustrating because as fans we were willing to put up with all the bullshit as long as he delivered when it truly mattered. Not against IND in the first round, but against MIL where they needed him to be that elite postseason player. He wasn’t, and it didn’t seem like he cared. He wouldn’t admit he failed or that he played a huge role in why that series ended in 5 games. In that regard it was refreshing to see him finally admit it.

Now, with Kyrie there is always going to be a little bullshit sprinkled in. He can’t help himself. For example the part about not having anyone close to him dying before was weird considering he lost his mom at a young age, and then him also talking about how he didn’t have any connection to Boston before the trade was also weird because….ya know

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also his Dad was a BU legend so that was odd. To me this sums Kyrie up perfectly. He can be genuine and honest in a lot of what he says, but he’s going to throw some bullshit at you at some point during his word vomit.

But at the end of the day, he’s a Net. That chapter in Celtics history is now closed, and while we all knew it was a failure since the clock struck zero in the MIL series, it was nice to hear Kyrie finally own up to it.