I love writing even when it is irrelevant. Sorry for any inconvenience. Please pardon me indulgence, lads. This is a cross-post I just dumped on the RealGM general basketball forum.
"Danny Ainge is in the hot seat."
I have been a Celtics fan since 1977. In addition to that, I have closely followed them from pre-Brad Stevens through the whole rebuilding and player development. The day or so before this, I had a successful post calling out Marcus Morris and Kyrie Irving as security threats to Celtics Pride.
The thread got locked. It wasn't my fault this time!
Am I allowed to link to it? I wouldn't want to break any censorship rules.
My original essay was titled, "Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris have ruined Celtics Pride."
I deserve some credit for calling out Kyrie and then having my words confirmed the very next day. I was vindicated by Kyrie's hissy fit! Some may wonder if I was psychic, prescient or got lucky.
Celtics Pride is basically what Auerbach and Russell developed in the 60's. Red felt stats were for losers and Russell only cared about making his teammates better and winning.
That was before my time but the 80's Celtics tried to emulate that. Bird made everyone better. Red was still getting it done.
In regards to today's Celtics, Danny Ainge has evolved into the true real wild card. In theory, he should be well aware Irving is a cancer. But who knows? This will be fascinating to see what happens, if anything.
It will be automatic to resign Kyrie but only if he is treated like a king. From my nobody perspective, I am testing Danny Ainge and the complete franchise. Depending on what Ainge does over the next one to two years will probably decide the Celtics' future for approximately ten years. He has amassed a tremendous amount of NBA poker chips. He is trying to put together the next Golden State but for it to have a longer shelf life. He is competitive and probably wants to chase Jordan's Bulls at a minimum. He can't be content with the current roster. This is clearly more than a slump. The growing rumblings which seem true is that he is thinking Anthony Davis and that's why nothing has happened yet.
I think the Knicks were one of the teams obsessed with getting LeBron. Miami won that battle. Ainge might be fixated on Davis. He did well acquiring KG but some people thought McHale did him a favour. I digress.
Marcus Smart might be the current most important factor folks are overlooking. His shooting percentage has been rising steadily towards average. His free throw shooting has always been good. He is nailing threes and looks like young Wade at times driving to the hoop. Last year he lost all excess weight while in the doghouse. He had personal troubles which leaked into his job. This season has been a 180 degree rebooting for someone whom many might argue is the true Boston Celtics captain if not Al Horford. Narratives can change. Speculation is never guaranteed because people aren't robots. It looks like we never went to the moon, but it'd be ludicrous to think this is a simulation. Marcus Smart may have finally taken that necessary huge leap to finally be compared to good greats such as Chauncey Billups. Check out his stats?
Smart has cracked the shooting code? He will never be the great scorer Kyrie is, but he is playing like an above average starting point guard at backup or cheap starter money. The problem isn't that Terry Rozier has stagnated as a pg and Wanamaker is unproven. It's that with Kyrie opening his big Freemason mouth too much and throwing teammates under the bus in public, Danny might notice that and Smart's improvements. A light bulb could turn on if the magic underwear hasn't cut off too much of Ainge's thinking cap circulation.
Kyrie mentioned N.Y. yet again last night. Wyc the owner is a big fan of the team but sort of a moron. Danny is the wild card like said earlier. He has been on quite the roll as a GM but all it would take is a mistake here and there to deflate his big chip pile.
Golden State looked invincible. Now they are back down to earth out of money and depth.
If anyone has any questions on the C's, I am an expert on the current team but provincial. Stevens never complains and is just doing his job. That's why he is always calm and collected. He has inner peace and doesn't care what anyone thinks. He knows that if he doesn't want complete turmoil, he has to pamper Morris and Irving. He is the coach staying in his lane. He's got the basketball mind but he's missing a bit of Bill Fitch or Stan Van Gundy.
No player will ever choke him but I could see him being intimidated by veterans who lead the team in experience and proven ability. Horford is an excellent person, so he's not the problem. The two cancers are obviously Morris and Irving. Terry might go back to his humble productive self if his idol Kyrie is traded. Kyrie and LeBron call themselves gods. They are into some very weird stuff. People can spin it as conspiracy theory but it's all verified. Check out what's on his shoes. Morris is also mediocre at best for defense and the ultimate ball hog with the worst tunnel vision imaginable. I do concede love for his game this year for shooting, but he doesn't fit in to Brad's system. If Danny wasn't interested in resigning Turner, Bradley, Rondo and maybe Olynyk, why would he pay Morris $20 million per year based on one year of great shooting? He is an awful role model for Tatum. Brad will only win a title as coach if these guys all buy into passing. Or every stud is going to have to have the mentality of an Al Horford. Good luck finding all those great quality people? Sometimes you have to go with people who might be less of a sure thing but they will never be toxic like Irving or Carmelo Anthony. Morris is the classic ball hog and a tweener for defense. He is too short for pf, too muscle bound for sf. It happens. Thank you, next?
Irving is miserable for defense. Maybe that is Brad Stevens' fault too. I am watching Irving basically covering no one waiting to try to poke the ball away from the opponent's center or to get a defensive rebound. That might be what he's supposed to do. Folks should focus in on Kyrie and study him. This is historic for NBA drama. No one is greater than the Celtics. Pitino was the last troll who tried to do this what Kyrie is attempting. We shall see. Fanatics get so desperate to have all-stars to root for that they become blind worshipers.
Tatum might have been ruined a bit by Kobe and Rozier by Kyrie.
I think Jaylen Brown is smart enough to recognise the big picture. Hayward is busy keeping quiet and humble because he's basically already "stolen" approximately $45 million from Boston.
Irving is a rental, so Danny would probably do best by trading him to a team most apt to resign him. (*** coughing start spreading the news- n.y, n.y. end of coughing)
Or Danny could reverse bluff Kyrie, resign him, then trade him; although if that is attempted, maybe no one wants Kyrie and Danny Ainge finally goes on tilt. Something has to give?
It's quite fascinating. Danny Ainge is in a tremendously unique situation due to skill and luck. He definitely poses a major threat to dominate the league. That is obviously not happening this year without a trade. Kyrie kind of scares me. I kind of don't want him hanging around the younger players. Danny should trade him and let's go with Marcus Smart and his economical contract. He could be the next Dennis Johnson! His form looks good. This is great news for Fultz and Simmons. There is always hope. I'd reinsert Jaylen Brown at SG. Rozier and Hayward could run the second unit. Smart and Rozier play well together. I am thinking this year but also all years. My eyes are on the calendar for the countdown for the trading deadline. This could be the most interesting part of the regular season. I used to hate it. Now I figure it is what it is. You see which guys are down to earth and keep it together versus others who overthink individual contracts.
It doesn't get much uglier than yesterday's Kyrie Irving. I hope Danny Ainge still has his fastball for GM skills. The obvious conformist move would be to stay the fake news course of Kyrie Irving as leader. (It's everyone else's fault?) I want to see the Danny Ainge who for the most part has had a fairly good sense for building roster chemistry. Danny can't be that stupid to fall for Irving's nonsense?
Irving should apologise. If he doesn't, his Boston days could be over within a month.