Irving declares he will re-sign
The annual Celtics season ticket-holder fan fest is a generally fun affair, notable mainly for skills contests among the players.
But Kyrie Irving made last night’s event something that will be spoken of for years. While the AllStar guard has been hinting strongly since he returned to town for training camp that he will be remaining with the club when he opts out of his contract next summer, he went a loud step further during a panel discussion on the parquet floor.
Rising from his chair, microphone in hand, Irving told the crowd, “If you’ll have me back, I plan on resigning here next year.”
Evidently, it wasn’t such a spur of the moment remark. Irving told team officials he planned on making the statement, though he saved it for the larger crowd after an earlier media session backstage.
It was already known that Irving would be opting out of the final year of his contract ($21,329,752 for 2019-20) to sign a longer and more lucrative deal. An extension didn’t make financial sense. Based on salary cap projections, he’ll be eligible for a five-year deal at nearly $190 million total.
Irving will discuss last night’s remarks with the media at this morning’s practice. Another event attendee, Celts legend Paul Pierce, endorsed Irving’s decision moments after it was uttered.
“I think that’s huge,” said Pierce. “I think he has an understanding after being here, it’s all about legacy. To have a legacy here in Boston can be like none other in the NBA. So I think he has a clear understanding of that. He’s a smart player. He’s a smart guy. He understands that championship window. Also, it doesn’t last that long. He had his run in Cleveland, and he sees the future here in Boston that can really be something special. I think he notices that.”
Pierce said Irving’s decision is “not surprising to me, because when you look at his situation, this is like a great situation for him. It’s not that he’s on a team that’s getting older, he’s on a team that’s pretty much at the start of their prime right now, with him being at the forefront, and something that could go on for a long, long time. Even as he gets older, he has younger guys that can really pick him up if he starts to decline when he gets into his 30s and getting older, I mean this is a perfect situation for him.”
A situation that Pierce believes could result in a championship in the very near future.
“Yeah, without a doubt,” he said. “They showed it last year by pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers. They were one game away from the Finals, and I thought they should have been in the Finals. I mean they weren’t healthy, they lost two All-Stars from a team that took LeBron James to seven games. So this is definitely a championship caliber team in the Eastern Conference, which is down, lost a lot of great players. I think the time is now for them, and I hope the players understand that and have an urgency that their time is now.”
Celtics notes
You’ll have to wait until the regular season’s opening night to see Irving play next. He is dealing with sore ribs and will miss tomorrow’s exhibition finale in Cleveland. It looks like Gordon Hayward won’t be making the journey either.
“First of all, his leg is great,” said coach Brad Stevens of Hayward, “but he’s been sore otherwise. He didn’t practice today because he had a little bit of a lower back, just kind of a nagging thing. I don’t think he’ll go to Cleveland either, based on everything that I know, but should be ready to go early next week or whenever.”
Irving said his injury came in practice and has lingered. Asked if he was disappointed to be missing the Cleveland trip, he said, “No, no. Love the preseason in the NBA, but no.” . . .
Stevens didn’t spare the criticism after Tuesday’s loss to the Cavaliers at the Garden, saying “I couldn’t be more unimpressed after our first three exhibition games,” and, “We’re not as good as advertised right now.”
By all accounts, the Celts did well in a hard practice yesterday before engaging in the fan fest.
“Well, I don’t know if they were harsh,” the coach said of his Tuesday comments. “I think they were honest. I thought today’s practice was really good. And we’re not going to be as good as we want to be if we don’t guard at an extremely high level. The offensive stuff will come as the season goes on and as we get more comfortable playing with one another. You just have to play the game at a great rate to have a chance to win in this league. Any time you’re at 90 percent of effort, attention to detail, and all that stuff, then you get beat. And it doesn’t matter who, what night, where. That’s just the reality of having to play in this league. Those are good things to be reminded of at the start of the season.”
Said Marcus Smart, “Everybody was locked in today. Everybody was ready to go, and it felt good to play like we know we can play. Everybody was on their toes today. Like I say, it’s preseason. We get it. But we’d like to start off the season right by doing the right things now so we don’t have to worry about them later. So it was good to get back to the fundamentals today.”