I'm sure there is some truth to that but I personally think it's just more about seeing Cle was breaking up sooner than later and wanting to get out ahead of it. Control his bball destiny rather than be on Cle after LeBron leaves.

But the popular media portrayal of Kyrie as like an '04 Kobe who wanted his own team is not really accurate.

Did I miss something? Is there some reason to believe that Kyrie wants out of Boston? Why would he? Seems like a team with relatively few knuckleheads (except Morris on occasion) and lots of try hard.

I think people may be too high on Rozier. He's fun, but his offensive game comes and goes and he can be tentative. He is a huge step down from Kyrie.

There's no reason, there's dumb people that have knee jerked into wanting to trade him because of Rozier's play. Rozier is not a 30+ min a game guy and some dumb team is gonna overpay in a trade for him this offseason. People that think the Celtics are worse with Kyrie are legit stupid people.

Think you're misreading what someone said. Nobody said Kyrie wants out of Boston.

I'm sure he knows he struck gold getting to be on the Celts. Imagine if he didn't get hurt this year and they just son Cleveland in the conf finals? He would've looked like the man and people would start mentioning him as 1 of the best players in the NBA.

Although now that the Celts are a fav to go to the finals w/o him, it will take a little luster off if they get there next year with him. People will realize the contributions of all the other guys on the team and understand Kyrie is in the perfect spot.

The rumor initially was there were many issues in Cleveland including one that kyrie didn’t like being the sidekick. There is a chance that kyrie could be a sidekick or third option pretty soon in Boston. I doubt he is moved but maybe they don’t need him.

Yeah if I’m another team I want nothing to do with rozier as my lead pg after this years playoffs because of all the previous Boston players struggling in other situations and systems the last few years.

It depends what the opportunity cost is.

What if paying Kyrie 35 per means losing Smart? What if it means less flexibility going forward to add another big piece? (and at this point guys wanting to come to the Celts seems like a lock)

It isn't about who is better Kyrie or Rozier. It's more about do you wanna pay Kyrie 35 or Rozier 13?

I think it's an interesting question and the summer will bring more clarity.

I rather pay Kyrie 35, I believe Rozier types can be cycled through like runningbacks in the NFL. Feel like Smart signing or not is independent of Kyrie's contract (it's on him if he wants to come back at like 12).

Kyrie's not a top 10 player like Bill Simmons thinks he is.

He's also not a negative to this Celtics team. He was less sieve-like this year, and had a TS% of .610. The Celtics had the best defensive rating when Kyrie was playing, it's not like it jumped up after he got hurt.

I don't think Ainge and Stevens will overrate him - if they can flip him for a better player or a better fit, they will, and if at some point Jaylen and Tatum become max-level guys and they don't want to pay the tax, Kyrie will be the one to go. Ainge moved Pierce and IT - there are no sacred cows in Boston. But he was definitely a good player for them this year.

Playoff basketball is much different. Kyrie would have been targeted over and over. There's no way he is a net positive for their defense.

The beauty of the Celtics is that no one is the man, and no one is the sidekick.

Well this part is certainly true. Ainge has shown a Billy Beane-level of emotional detachment when making personnel moves.

Yeah, I think right now it seems like that but it depends what else can be done with the money.

If I had to bet on it, I would bet on the Celts paying him the big bucks but if a Brow/Kawhi comes available then all bets are off. I think celts will go hard after them and Kyrie could be expendable because of it.

I'll let Kyrie know he'll never win a championship.

Not only a strawman but a ****ty one at that. Congrats!

I mean.....

No one said he was.

Guys who are not great at offense but great at defense can be good NBA players. Guys who are great at offense but not great at defense can be good NBA players. This shouldn't be a shock.

How likely is it that Kawhi is permanently diminished by whatever this injury problem is?

I would have said 0%, but this year's weirdness make me think that it has to be a non-zero chance.

Who knows? Too early to say.

He's like 26 though. Seems unlikely he's reached his peak but guess people thought that about D Rose after his ACL tear as well.

People are trying to slander Kyrie to make lebron look like the good guy and to make him look like the bad guy who causes trouble everywhere he goes. Boston is in position to dominate the east for the next 10 years. He's not going anywhere.

i misread what you wrote - fair enough.

Evan Turner had a stupid contract that everyone knew was stupid and Isaiah Thomas was injured. Jae Crowder had life stuff going on and there was some sense that he may have been physically declining. But guys like Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, Gerald Green, and Tyler Zeller seemed to do okay on new teams this year.

Rozier can be useful for a team where he can share playmaking duties. The Celtics have Al Horford and Marcus Smart. They will have Gordon Hayward next year. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are working on their ability to facilitate offense. So, he can be made to fit. You want to have him next to a point forward, but you should be wanting to have multiple ball-handlers on the floor anyways.

the Kyrie haters are just LeBron honks mad he's going to lose and start regressing right

Avery Bradley took a huge slide too. All the guys traded took big slides.....all those other guys were FAs, right?

Bradley battled injuries all year, he battled injuries with the Celtics a lot as well. Celts had to get rid of him to make room for Hayward but I think Ainge never wanted to pay him given how injury prone he was.

Really the only guys that sucked after the Celts were IT and Bradley and both were injured. Obviously IT's season had a lot to do with the Celts being an ideal fit for him, that wasn't a secret.

Crowder didn't shoot the ball well for Utah but he was very good for them other than that.

I think Rozier would struggle on another team because another team likely wouldn't have shooting/defensive versatility at every position, rather than some voodoo magic Brad Stevens "system" stuff.

Kyrie had the Knicks on his list of teams to go to. Doubt he gave a **** about sinking boats.

Brad reminds me of Bill Bel the way he lets talent go and look like a genius after.