lol Stoney called it, this went up at 1AM EST: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26702069/kyrie-irving-failed-leadership-tells-story-celtics-failed-season
Yeah you knew these media hit pieces were coming. I don't buy it. Or at least I don't buy pinning the season on kyrie and trying to throw him under the bus for the entire season. They overachieved one season and under-achieved the next especially in a year where the East in general got better. You could easily re-title the article, the failed leadership of Brad Stevens or failed gameplay of Gordon Hayward but that's not where the juice is in a story like this.
All that being said, I think Kyrie ultimately needs another big star to compliment him, and the Celtics couldn't bring that to bear this season. Hayward either hasn't recovered from his injury or has been diminished by his injury. The young guys never stepped up to the new level needed. It was basically a rich man's version of the Lakers this year.
I'm still buzzing/thinking about/distracted by that Rockets-Warriors game last night. I feel that will absolutely be a 30 for 30 in 15 or 20 years. That felt so significant in the moment. The Warriors finally fragile. Steph having a bad game up until that point. The rockets and harden having a good game. And then a really bizarre 4th quarter from the Rockets on both ends of the floor. It was as dramatic a storyline as anything I've seen in a basketball game in a long time. I still don't understand it. Even if Durant is done, I don't have extreme confidence in the Rockets after that game.
As far as the Lakers, this drops my low confidence in them to now even more minuscule levels which is why I didn't want Lebron to go there in the first place. The decision making within the franchise is idiotic and dysfunctional. I was never a big fan of Lue in Cleveland but I had come to terms with his selection and had even started to look on the bright side of at least he will understand how to use Lebron in a system, even though his system isn't remotely ideal. They can't even land that and lowball him in a passive aggressive move by management where nobody seems to be in charge. If they fucking hire Jason Kidd, I'll riot