Celts’ Irving avoids trade questions
We’ll just have to speculate — perhaps offer educated guesses — as to why Kyrie Irving no longer wanted to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Because Irving won’t reveal the answer, no matter how directly and indirectly reporters try to pry that information from the Boston Celtics guard.
“I kind of want to put that to rest in terms of everyone figuring out or trying to continue to dive into a narrative they have no idea about and probably will never, ever be divulged because it’s not important,” Irving said at Boston’s Tuesday morning shoot-around hours ahead of the Celtics-Cavs season opener. “This was literally just a decision I wanted to make solely based on my happiness and pushing my career forward. I don’t want to pinpoint anything. I will never pinpoint anything, because that’s not what real grownups do. They continue to move on with their life and continue to progress, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
Irving, wearing a new pair of Nike shamrock basketball shoes, was in Cleveland for the first time as an opponent, and he tried to downplay the significance of his return and play up the start of the season.
As Boston’s starters were announced, Cavs fans, as would be expected, booed when Irving ’s name was called. But the reaction Irving received was nothing compared to the vitriol directed at LeBron James in his first game back in Cleveland in 2010 after he signed with the Miami Heat.
Irving showed no reaction, simply ran onto court. He and James bumped fists just before tip-off.
“I’m just glad to honestly get this moment started,” Irving said earlier in the day. “I think that me playing the game I love exceeds everything else that is going to transpire and what anybody else says — the narrative with all this. Just excited, like I said. I’m going to keep saying it over and over. Just excited to get this season started.”
Irving, who scored 22 Tuesday in the Cavs’ 102-99 win, doesn’t have to explain in-depth why he wanted a trade from the Cavaliers. But that doesn’t mean reporters and fans don’t want to know why.
Was it the uncertainty of the franchise? Was it his third general manager and fourth coach in six seasons? Did he tire of playing alongside James? Did he feel boxed-in, unable to show what he can do? Why would he want to leave a team that has a great chance of returning to the Finals for a fourth consecutive season? Did he want to be the franchise player?
Only Irving knows the answers to those questions, and there’s no question, Irving can be enigmatic. Even Irving ’s answer that he wants to find happiness and play in a place where he can maximize his potential is vague. Why couldn’t he find that with Cleveland, a team that played in the last three NBA Finals and won a championship in 2016.
Last season during Cleveland’s Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Toronto Raptors, Irving delivered 10 assists in Game 1, a playoff career high.
“To hear that’s a playoff high, obviously that has to change going forward,” Irving said then.
In Game 2, he had 11 assists and afterward he said, “It’s definitely been picked apart since I’ve come into the league, and for me personally, I’ve just always felt like taking over the game came from literally just putting the team on my back and going out there and trying to score as many baskets as possible. But there are so many more facets of the game you can be better at.”
In Irving ’s first three years preJames, he had to score because not many of his teammates could, and he wasn’t asked to be a passer. In Irving ’s next three years with James, Irving was asked to play off the ball more but score when necessary.
Irving clearly wanted to bust out on his own and reveal what he can do on a good team that is more his than someone else’s. That’s his choice, a bold one at that, and a decision that comes with pressure.
That’s one thing Irving has never backed away from, and when asked how different of a player he will be this season, he turned around and said, “I’ll let my play speak for itself.”