For a team that lost one of the NBA’s best guards over the offseason, the Boston Celtics’ backcourt is in pretty good shape for the upcoming season.
In response to Kyrie Irving bolting for the Brooklyn Nets this summer, the Celtics replaced him with another star guard in Kemba Walker. This will be the first season Walker plays for a true contender, but nevertheless, the talent he brings is indisputable.
It would be easy to forgive Walker if he attempted to walk in and essentially try to outdo what Irving did during his time in Boston. But in a conversation with The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Walker indicated that won’t quite be his approach.
“I’m not trying to go in and think that I have to be better than Kyrie last year,” Walker told Charania. “It happens. Great players go to teams all the time and it just doesn’t work. It just didn’t work for him. Kyrie is one of the best players we have in this world. It was just unfortunate, an unfortunate season.
“I’m not coming in thinking I’m going to be better. I’m coming in to do my job, play my part and do what I can to elevate these guys as much as possible. Do what I can to help the team, to contribute to winning. These guys, they’ve been winning for years. I want to be part of that. This is a big-time roster. The guys that make up the roster, there’s such great young talent — guys who are hungry, who want to win and want to get better and work hard. That’s who I want to be around.
“Point guards can have great success under Coach. Obviously Kyrie left, so it was an open point guard spot. It was just perfect. Boston is such a historic place. Who wouldn’t want to play for the Celtics?”
Not a bad mindset to have by any stretch.
The drama Irving brought to Boston has been well-documented, so Walker’s clear aversion to distractions likely will be refreshing to the Celtics and their fans. So even if the approach is different from Walker to Irving, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
