When the Kyrie trade happened I was right

Hes definitely a number two on a championship team no doubt about it. He COULD be a number one but thats only if he has insane talent and depth around him. Basically Kyrie is a second class superstar. The biggest thing I’ve been thinking for a long time is that the players surrounding him are very overrated. Al Horford is underrated but is overpaid as a max contract guy. Gordon Heyward doesn’t have it anymore. Jayson Tatum probably still a good prospect but hes still a kid and got too much hype from one good playoff run. Jaylen Brown came back down to earth and is very inconsistent. Marcus Morris is just an average role player. Terry Rozier seems to play up when hes the starter but otherwise is a no show. Marcus Smart can’t do anything but defend. The rest of the roster is pretty dry. Brad Stevens is a good coach but it almost seems like this team played above their head last year in a Ewing effect kind of way. This led to a lot of to me false high expectations. They’ve had stretches during the season where they looked great but that wasn’t consistent at all. Also if Kyrie is the lead dog on a team with not much offense otherwise how is the guy not averaging like 30 points a game? He always seems to pick the wrong games to be aggressive versus being a distibutor. To me he seems to work better as an x factor. He never seems to elevate when they need him to just at random. This is why I’ll always pick Dame over him because he steps up when he has to. Kyrie steps up when he has guys around like LeBron to dominate the rest of the game. I love Kyries game its fun to watch and he seems like a funny guy in real life but championship alpha dog he is not.

I think it’s up in the air with Kyrie. Depends on how Boston if they meet his expectations. But no one knows what those are so he could stay, he could leave. If he does leave that does not leave that does not mean he goes to the Knicks but he could very well return to play alongside LeBron in LA. If he dies go to NY it is not a foregone conclusion that Durant will already be there. He is just as likely to go somewhere else. I think he will actually chose to go to the Clippers because of their history to play hard and well despite their current circumstances. NY has not proven they can do that. Kyrie is better of being a number two guy but does he believe that. Only he knows and only time will tell.

 in Boston doesn’t fit Kyrie, and he is a horrible leader, he throws his teammates under the bus and he wants to be the man on a team now he is the man but look at what he is doing, he is forcing shots, bad bad shots that he should’ve pass to a team mate, and the press conference he answered he should’ve shot 30 times I mean cmon man, you played Sh!@ and you want to take another 8 shots, c’mon you should’ve man up and said that you should’ve trust your teammates. Dame clearly is a better leader, him being all loyal to portland and stucked with his teammates in times of scrutiny and trust his teammates shows whos the better pg right now. Kyrie can’t Iso on 3 players defending him, he should’ve pass the ball to a teammate and not shoot bad shots.

Why is it a sure thing he is leaving Boston? If they find a deal with AD then it is still best team for him. Following KD to Knicks isn’t much better of a situation for him IMHO especially when you consider age. And at least he can pretend he is no1 option at Boston if he has AD, following KD means he is accepting being 2nd option again.
Never mind, he will be perceived as a player who quit on 2 teams in just 2 years time.
Not ruling it out, but I see it more of 50-50 type of situation

Who is in the process of doing more damage to his reputation, Kyrie or Ben Simmons?

Kyrie has been sulking all year on a team with legitimate cause to believe it is just as good without him, and now is playing horribly with no apologies or introspection. While it is entirely possible he gets hot tomorrow and gets Boston back into the series, it is just a matter of time before he goes back to sulking and saying odd things. Aren’t free agent chasing teams getting closer to thinking "Kemba is basically just as good and has no track record of torpedoing contending teams by being weird."

Ben Simmons is going into his $200+ million extension summer, and is almost beyond parody at this point, almost. He got a taste of the playoffs last year. He saw what his unwillingness to attempt a shot outside the paint does, and apparently learned nothing. Now, he isn’t just unwilling to shoot, he can’t wait to get away from action entirely. Teams can live with a guy who has a lousy shot, but they can’t live with a point guard who is scared to be a part of the offense.

Kyrie has actually had a statistically good season, his 23.8 PPG was the third highest in his career, he shot 48.7 FG%, 40% from 3, averaged career highs in rebounds and assists, etc.

I’m not sure where he ranks overall in the league because the NBA is saturated with guys just like him at his position. To me, Giannis, KD, LeBron, etc., all have more value because there are fewer of them than there are scoring guards.

However, I think Boston is just a bad fit, for whatever reason. I think Boston has a lot of pieces, a lot of interchangeable, multi-dimensional players that with Kyrie rely on him too much, but, without him, are forced to play together.

I think it’s a rare case of less is more, and there are a handful of teams in the league like that. The Clippers are a good example. Without Blake or another star, they were forced to work hard together and they got the most out of what they have as a result.

 Kyrie would leave a lot of money on the table by going elsewhere and he already has a title so don’t rule out him staying in Boston. I’m sure Danny Ainge will do a good selling pitch.

Horford gives the Celtics exactly what they know they will get and it will be interesting if he opts in or looks to renegoiate this summer. Hayward’s injury is still the biggest factor IMO.

Kyrie has missed a fair few games across his career and missed last year’s play offs so might give Boston one more run.