Kyrie Irving is Trying Everything to Stop Sucking
The Boston Celtics have begun the season with relative success winning 4 of their first 6 games. Throughout these games, much has been learned about Boston. First, Jayson Tatum has shown he wants to be the leading scorer by taking a few too many notes out of Kobe Bryant’s book. He’s been all shooting and no passing. Also, Al Horford is playing like an absolute stud and is showing that he should be a clear candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. However, the biggest takeaway from the Celtics first 6 games is how Kyrie has kind of sucked. Kyrie has taken quite the backseat this season and has raised a bunch of eyebrows. Thankfully, he realized something needed to change and cut off his afro to assure he’ll be back to his old self from here on out.
The Issue
Kyrie Irving has averaged 14 points per game through the first 6 games. That number isn’t terribly low but looking at a few stinkers where he had 7 points and then 3 points make it worthy to talk about. Before the season began, many people had Irving as an MVP candidate as he was expected to lead a really good team. Instead, the team does not seem to have an offensive identity and as a result nobody is standing out. For the Celtics to be at their best, they need to run the entire offense through Kyrie. This would be easy for them to do if Kyrie wasn’t shooting like absolute shit. So far, his three-point percentage is 24%. For some perspective, his career three-point percentage is 39%. Shooting that poorly isn’t gonna cut it and must improve.
The issue mainly sparks from Kyrie not wanting to take the offensive lead and would rather it be an offense by committee. An offense by committee sounds good until it leads to a bunch of different players doing isolations and taking awful shots *Cough Cough Tatum*. Tatum should only be the focal point if he is the only starter on the court and playing with the bench unit. Any other time it needs to be Kyrie.
Moving Forward
Kyrie cutting off his afro signified that he’s ready to be the player he was last year before the injuries. Last year Kyrie would get the ball and go wild either getting a nasty looking shot or finding an open man for three. The team needs way more pick and roll opportunities to get Irving going. Al Horford being the great passer he is, needs to bring the ball up more often and let Kyrie move around off the ball. A lot of this happens when Terry Rozier is on the court with Kyrie, but Al is on at the same time as Irving substantially more. Nonetheless, the Celtics will succeed no matter what because of their insane depth. Kyrie is Kyrie and he’s going to figure it out without a doubt, he just needs to know his role. He’s the guy and that is what he needs to fully commit himself to. I’m still sticking to my prediction that he will be an MVP finalist when the season is said and done. Don’t sleep on Kyrie and you better not sleep on this Celtics team.
-Brandon Black (Follow @bhblack02)
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