Exit is out of the question
Irving answers any worries of C’s fans
After a summer of hearing how much he wanted to become a Knick, and how badly he wanted to pair in a dynamic duo setting with Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving had thought about where he was already at from every angle.
He envisioned No. 11 hanging over the Garden floor, alongside predecessors like Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.
“I can sit up here and say I want to be one of these guys, a lot of great players in Celtics history,” Irving said before practice on the morning after telling a delighted group of season ticket-holders at the Garden Thursday night: Yes, he wants to stay.
“That’s a challenge in itself. I willingly accept that, and I look forward to it. I’m looking forward to where we end up,” he said. “I thought it was a perfect time to let everyone know, and that I have every intent to sign back, and now I don’t have to answer any more questions like what are you looking for. It’s time and I’m glad to get past it and be with my teammates. Now we can move forward.”
And then there was the thought, after he does the expected and opts out of his contract next summer, of pulling up stakes one more time.
“Honestly, thinking about starting over was just a (expletive) thought, honestly,” he said. “Man, I do not want to move again — I do not want to uproot my family. Just be dealing with anything new again. No disrespect to other organizations, but here is perfect for me.”
Then there’s the third view, which also checked off an important box on the list of this 26-year-old NBA All-Star. It had to do with the young talent on the Celtics roster — burgeoning stars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier, who if kept together will give the Celtics an enviably tall window of contention.
“That played a huge factor. You can’t help but think about the future,” said Irving. “Having guys here that are special already and have the chance to get better. I’m looking forward to helping them with their careers, and them helping me. They’re great. They’re committed here, were drafted here for a reason, and I wanted to be right in that same lineage of being with those guys and drawing from them.”
And now, as general managers across the league cross one very big name off their lists, Irving can further settle into an environment that, from the start, has made him feel not only comfortable, but challenged, as he describes it.
“I know I made a lot of guys comfortable. Our management, coaching staff, they don’t have to worry about recruiting me the whole season and telling me how great it is to be a Celtic and be here,” he said. “I came to that myself. Me asking the Celtics if they would have me back, that was the first question. I just wanted to make sure and then at that point, it was an easy decision to plan on re-signing.”
Irving didn’t give any indication of his decision while talking to the media prior to Thursday, but beyond people like Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens, the announcement shot to the top of the news cycle in rather busy time for sports in Boston.
“I’m like you know what, timing is everything and I’m glad I could share it with the Boston fans, everybody there, I was just happy to get it done with for me,” he said. “I just have every intention of signing back. Me and Danny and management have not talked about any numbers, so please do not ask me about it. That goes for anybody, we don’t want any tampering or anything like that. July 1, whatever that day is, we’ll talk about contracts and stuff like that. I have every intention of signing back with Boston.
“I needed just some time to kind of be back in Boston and feel great about different things I wanted to explore in my career,” said Irving. “But I think the important thing was just being happy and having an environment where I’m challenged on a physical level but as well as mental. I can get better as a basketball player, as a man and grow here. I do have a dream of putting my number 11 in the rafters one day, if I’m so blessed to do that. Work my tail off. Obviously a lot of great players have come before me, but to grow my name in Boston Celtics tradition and history is something I’m glad I can do.
“Every single day is at an all-time competitive high. What more can you ask for from an organization than taking a chance and getting me out of Cleveland. Really taking a chance regardless of whether I signed back or not. They had the same attitude. They just wanted to show me what being a Celtic is about, and hoped I would come around, and I absolutely did. I look forward to the franchise and the players we have here.”