Danny Ainge continues to handle Kyrie Irving’s departure like a true professional.
Although Irving receives much of the outside blame for the Boston Celtics’ failure to meet expectations last season, Ainge repeatedly has defended the All-Star point guard against such criticism. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the Celtics president of basketball operations again absolved Irving of any wrongdoing during a recent sitdown interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.
“Kyrie, for his first year and a half, was terrific for us. I really liked and was hopeful that it was gonna be a good marriage going forward,” Ainge told Nichols. “But he really wanted to go home. And that’s his choice, and I don’t know why he gets all the blame. I mean, I’m the one who should be blamed for last year. We put a team together that just didn’t have the pieces that fit. We had a lot of talent, a lot of expectations, but it’s certainly not Kyrie’s fault.”
Danny Ainge doesn't put any of the blame on Kyrie Irving for things not working out in Boston last season.
He talked with @Rachel__Nichols about the 2018-19 Celtics and how they've adjusted for this season. pic.twitter.com/TXuuvENytn
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 26, 2019
The Celtics entered last season with championship aspirations largely thanks to Ainge building a roster loaded with talent. Things simply didn’t click, with chemistry issues plaguing Boston just months after the team came within one win of reaching the NBA Finals without Irving and Gordon Hayward, both of whom were injured for the Celtics’ 2018 playoff run.
Yet Ainge still blames himself for the Celtics’ inconsistency. Because as far as he’s concerned, he simply didn’t give head coach Brad Stevens the right pieces despite Boston boasting enviable depth relative to many other NBA rosters.
“Yeah, I do think it was my fault. I think there’s some things I wish I had done different,” Ainge said. “I think in hindsight I wish I had cleaned out the roster a little bit to make it easier for Brad. We had a deep roster, we were built for a longer run. But we had a lot of young guys that had a lot of success without Gordon and Kyrie, and the guys that had success without those two guys felt like it was their time for the spotlight, and it just didn’t mesh.”
The Celtics wasted no time in replacing Irving with Kemba Walker, who has fit in perfectly as Boston’s new starting point guard. Walker has garnered praise as much for his leadership as his on-court ability, and Ainge shed light on the Celtics’ approach to replacing Irving once it became apparent the six-time All-Star would not re-sign with Boston.
“We had a long list of point guards that are coming out in the draft, point guards that are in free agency, players on our own roster, and Kemba was a guy that became available to us,” Ainge told Nichols. “And now where he has a chance to win, he’s winning games at a higher rate than he ever has and you can see the joy. We didn’t have that last year. Even when we were playing well, we didn’t really find the happiness in playing and the joy with playing with one another. So yeah, Kemba was a great fit for us.”
The Celtics already are seeing improvement on the heels of Irving’s departure and Walker’s arrival. Not only do they own a 12-4 record through 16 games. They’re also playing a cohesive brand of basketball while building strong chemistry in the locker room.
