Kyrie Irving sums up his experience during Celtics' season: 'A lot of bulls---'
The Boston Celtics just wrapped up one of the more frustrating 49-33 seasons in NBA history. With the same coach and essentially the same rotation that took the team to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, the team instead dealt with unending drama and befuddling losses.
Some of the blame, or at least some of the discourse, around that struggle has fallen on Celtics star Kyrie Irving. Despite averaging 23.8 points and a career-high 6.9 assists, Irving has faced questions over his status as the team’s leader, something not unrelated to his impending free agency.
With the regular season over and the playoffs approaching, Irving attempted to clear the air with the media over how the drama has felt to him. Of course, being Kyrie Irving, he did it in the most brusque way possible.
Kyrie Irving has some new words for the media
Speaking with reporters following the Celtics’ practice, Irving was asked to look back on the challenges he’s faced this season. Being Kyrie Irving, he didn’t exactly hold back with his thoughts.
The exchange occurs at the 4:22 mark in the video below.
A transcript:
A lot of bulls---, a lot of the up-and-downs that just could have been handled better from a professional standpoint. I'm talking about me personally, I'm not talking about our team. I had a lot of questions, a lot of things that weren't being answered straight up about what it takes to be a great professional in this league and I think that the frame of that is just outdated, in terms of what you have to be every single day and it's not that hard.
There are plenty of things that Irving could be referring to with that “bull---” line.
There was the video of him talking to fellow impending free agent Kevin Durant that led to rampant speculation and the castigation of the media that followed. There was the phone call with former teammate LeBron James that led to questions about their relationship and the castigation of the media that followed. There was the abbreviated media availability and the castigation of the media that followed. You might notice a certain pattern beginning to form.
Irving opened up to Yahoo Sports last month about his relationship with the media and acknowledged he might have had some missteps along the way:
“The way I’ve handled things, it hasn’t been perfect,” Irving told Yahoo Sports as he rested his feet in a bucket of ice at his locker stall. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes that I take full responsibility for. I apologize. I haven’t done it perfectly. I haven’t said the right things all the time. I don’t want to sit on a place like I’m on a pedestal from anybody. I’m a normal human being that makes mistakes. For me, I think because of how fixated I was on trying to prove other people wrong, I got into a lot of habits that were bad, like reading stuff and reacting emotionally. That’s just not who I am.”
While Irving admits fault there, his more recent comments also imply he didn’t think very highly of the stuff that caused those faults. And that’s an understandable way to view it all. Having every move you make around other All-Stars and on social media must be an exhausting way to live, but it’s also simply what happens when you’re a star on one of the NBA’s most popular teams whose free agency decision could help alter the landscape of basketball in just a few months.
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