2017-2018 Boston Celtics: No Irving! No Hayward! No Brooklyn Pick!

[Cassity14]

Thank God our friend frontpagenews was there to tell us that Kyrie has a questionable work ethic because he didn't practice his defense after the game, but instead after a bad shooting night was the ONLY one to practice at all after the game

Hadn't thought of that one

the post to like ratio speaks for itself lol. You have to try really hard to post that much with such little substance in such a short time.

 

[Ohio]

Kyrie Irving holds himself accountable during Cavs' bad stretch

CHICAGO -- After the Cleveland Cavaliers were blown out Monday night in San Antonio, Kyrie Irving was so frustrated by his performance that the only thing he could think of to do was go back onto the court and shoot.

"I had to face it, had to face the music," Irving said Wednesday after the Cavaliers practiced in Chicago ahead of a game against the Bulls on Thursday. "I think we all had to do it. But me more importantly, I had to look in the mirror and just wasn't doing enough. I need to demand more out of myself and do it at a high level."

Irving tied a career-worst plus-minus rating of minus-29 as he scored just eight points on 4-of-13 shooting against the Spurs.

LeBron James in front of his locker. Wednesday he declined to elaborate on the nature of the conversation with James, saying it was "private."

But he acknowledged the Cavs' recent struggles -- Cleveland has lost four of its past six games to drop out of first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time since mid-November -- have worn on him. Irving said he's holding himself responsible for reintegrating Kevin Love and J.R. Smith back into the system, after both missed extensive time with injuries.

"I have to do my best as a point guard to integrate J.R. and K-Love and get our starting five back to having the continuity. It hasn't been perfect, to say the least," Irving said. "There's definitely been some ups and downs and disagreements. But as adults and professionals we just have to figure it out. I think it just starts with our practice habits and what we demand out of each other. Just holding each other accountable."

Irving said he's particularly sensitive to anything that resembles complacency at this point in the season.

"You can't rely in just thinking that one championship is enough," Irving said. "It's natural for human beings to just get comfortable. To rely on just having won a championship. But if you a muthaf---- you want two, you want three, you want four, like you say you do. And I want more. I'm going to go take it. My job as one of the leaders on the team is to bring my guys with me."

Asked how coming back from this recent run of poor play compares with coming back from down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, Irving said there was no comparison.


"The emotion is different. Everyone has grown," he said. "Everyone has kind of gone their own way and now we come into a head where we've got to figure it out."

What's disappointing, Irving said, is that the Cavs have largely the same core as the team that rallied to win Cleveland's first title in 52 years last year.

"We know we have the culture here. We know we have the guys," he said. "We know when we're not playing up to our level. We just allow it to pass and pass and it turns out to kind of be a s--- show.

"We need it. It's just a wake-up call, so. Whatever you want to call it, we know what to expect from one another, we've done it at a high level. Now we gotta do it at an even different level."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19032424/kyrie-irving-holds-accountable-cleveland-cavaliers-skid

 

[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

I didn't see the part where he was working on his defense. Until he does his work ethic will always be in question. There's more to the game than offense.

A team cannot function without rim protection, can Kyrie do a better job guarding his man and fighting over screens? definitely but that's not the main issue, the main problem is that our guards are funneling the opposing players to our big man, and our big man are funneling the opposing players to the basket for easy layups.

Kyrie and the team looked pretty damn elite on defense when they had a real big man back there, and no team in the NBA can function without a rim protector, Curry is just as average as Kyrie is on defense but they have an elite defense because Donkey Green is always back there to stop anybody that blows by Curry which happens all the time.

Guards always blow by defenders in the NBA, its very hard fighting over all the screens and stay glued to your man and shut down penetration on the perimeter, if you watch most great defensive teams they don't shut down penetration because its nearly impossible to do so, but they do a great job of funneling players and never allowing easy baskets at the rim, that's the key to any good defense you can't have layups and dunks everytime a player blows by a defender, you just can't.

 

[Simon]

Kyrie Irving holds himself accountable during Cavs' bad stretch

CHICAGO -- After the Cleveland Cavaliers were blown out Monday night in San Antonio, Kyrie Irving was so frustrated by his performance that the only thing he could think of to do was go back onto the court and shoot.

"I had to face it, had to face the music," Irving said Wednesday after the Cavaliers practiced in Chicago ahead of a game against the Bulls on Thursday. "I think we all had to do it. But me more importantly, I had to look in the mirror and just wasn't doing enough. I need to demand more out of myself and do it at a high level."

Irving tied a career-worst plus-minus rating of minus-29 as he scored just eight points on 4-of-13 shooting against the Spurs.

LeBron James in front of his locker. Wednesday he declined to elaborate on the nature of the conversation with James, saying it was "private."

But he acknowledged the Cavs' recent struggles -- Cleveland has lost four of its past six games to drop out of first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time since mid-November -- have worn on him. Irving said he's holding himself responsible for reintegrating Kevin Love and J.R. Smith back into the system, after both missed extensive time with injuries.

"I have to do my best as a point guard to integrate J.R. and K-Love and get our starting five back to having the continuity. It hasn't been perfect, to say the least," Irving said. "There's definitely been some ups and downs and disagreements. But as adults and professionals we just have to figure it out. I think it just starts with our practice habits and what we demand out of each other. Just holding each other accountable."

Irving said he's particularly sensitive to anything that resembles complacency at this point in the season.

"You can't rely in just thinking that one championship is enough," Irving said. "It's natural for human beings to just get comfortable. To rely on just having won a championship. But if you a muthaf---- you want two, you want three, you want four, like you say you do. And I want more. I'm going to go take it. My job as one of the leaders on the team is to bring my guys with me."

Asked how coming back from this recent run of poor play compares with coming back from down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, Irving said there was no comparison.


"The emotion is different. Everyone has grown," he said. "Everyone has kind of gone their own way and now we come into a head where we've got to figure it out."

What's disappointing, Irving said, is that the Cavs have largely the same core as the team that rallied to win Cleveland's first title in 52 years last year.

"We know we have the culture here. We know we have the guys," he said. "We know when we're not playing up to our level. We just allow it to pass and pass and it turns out to kind of be a s--- show.

"We need it. It's just a wake-up call, so. Whatever you want to call it, we know what to expect from one another, we've done it at a high level. Now we gotta do it at an even different level."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19032424/kyrie-irving-holds-accountable-cleveland-cavaliers-skid

So....that blowout in San Antonio was a blessing then. Team finally realizes how bad they've been.

 

[Ohio]

So....that blowout in San Antonio was a blessing then. Team finally realizes how bad they've been.

Eh. I wanna see it to believe it.

 

[godfather]

Trust me, he's not alone. A lot of them, including LB need to hold themselves accountable.

Lue needs to hold himself accountable. They've all been collectively disappointing lately.

 

[Cavatt]

A team cannot function without rim protection, can Kyrie do a better job guarding his man and fighting over screens? definitely but that's not the main issue, the main problem is that our guards are funneling the opposing players to our big man, and our big man are funneling the opposing players to the basket for easy layups.

Kyrie and the team looked pretty damn elite on defense when they had a real big man back there, and no team in the NBA can function without a rim protector, Curry is just as average as Kyrie is on defense but they have an elite defense because Donkey Green is always back there to stop anybody that blows by Curry which happens all the time.

Guards always blow by defenders in the NBA, its very hard fighting over all the screens and stay glued to your man and shut down penetration on the perimeter, if you watch most great defensive teams they don't shut down penetration because its nearly impossible to do so, but they do a great job of funneling players and never allowing easy baskets at the rim, that's the key to any good defense you can't have layups and dunks everytime a player blows by a defender, you just can't.

They aren't funneling the guard to the big man tho, they are funneling him to the basket.

 

[Flight479]

A team cannot function without rim protection, can Kyrie do a better job guarding his man and fighting over screens? definitely but that's not the main issue, the main problem is that our guards are funneling the opposing players to our big man, and our big man are funneling the opposing players to the basket for easy layups.

Kyrie and the team looked pretty damn elite on defense when they had a real big man back there, and no team in the NBA can function without a rim protector, Curry is just as average as Kyrie is on defense but they have an elite defense because Donkey Green is always back there to stop anybody that blows by Curry which happens all the time.

Guards always blow by defenders in the NBA, its very hard fighting over all the screens and stay glued to your man and shut down penetration on the perimeter, if you watch most great defensive teams they don't shut down penetration because its nearly impossible to do so, but they do a great job of funneling players and never allowing easy baskets at the rim, that's the key to any good defense you can't have layups and dunks everytime a player blows by a defender, you just can't.

They aren't funneling. You only do that if you have the bigs to do that. Its just horrible defense.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

funneling is a funny word.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

A team cannot function without rim protection, can Kyrie do a better job guarding his man and fighting over screens? definitely but that's not the main issue, the main problem is that our guards are funneling the opposing players to our big man, and our big man are funneling the opposing players to the basket for easy layups.

Kyrie and the team looked pretty damn elite on defense when they had a real big man back there, and no team in the NBA can function without a rim protector, Curry is just as average as Kyrie is on defense but they have an elite defense because Donkey Green is always back there to stop anybody that blows by Curry which happens all the time.

Guards always blow by defenders in the NBA, its very hard fighting over all the screens and stay glued to your man and shut down penetration on the perimeter, if you watch most great defensive teams they don't shut down penetration because its nearly impossible to do so, but they do a great job of funneling players and never allowing easy baskets at the rim, that's the key to any good defense you can't have layups and dunks everytime a player blows by a defender, you just can't.

I think if this Cavs' season has taught us anything, it's that you still need some semblance of rim protection in the NBA. The Cavs effectively benched Mozgov last year heading into the playoffs and rolled with Thompson, which worked but foolishly led them to believing they could get away with it in the regular season.

We're just going to have to hang on the rest of this year and hope that Sanders pans out for next. If he does then he should be our starting big man going forward. It's to the team's and Thompson's benefit that he come off the bench as an energy reserve/rebounding savant.

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

This reminds me of the Chicago game last year, when Ky had to do some internal soul searching. Sure him and LB discussed it. I'm afraid for the East now...these 2 will be locked in. Hope the others follow suit.

The good news here....the team has had a lot of distraction this season...even outside of shoe deals and other endorsements. The Podcast can be considered one...personal/family issues, etc. LeBron preaches a "bunker down" mentality in the Playoffs...which is a mindset the team has to engage. Not sure if JR can get there, but all others should. The Podcast should be shut down, and all other distractions put off for the duration.

This is why I have optimism.

 

[The Red Viper]

This reminds me of the Chicago game last year, when Ky had to do some internal soul searching. Sure him and LB discussed it. I'm afraid for the East now...these 2 will be locked in. Hope the others follow suit.

The good news here....the team has had a lot of distraction this season...even outside of shoe deals and other endorsements. The Podcast can be considered one...personal/family issues, etc. LeBron preaches a "bunker down" mentality in the Playoffs...which is a mindset the team has to engage. Not sure if JR can get there, but all others should. The Podcast should be shut down, and all other distractions put off for the duration.

This is why I have optimism.

Man, just a win will bring tears to my eyes. Have taken too many Ls.

 

[Ohio]

Kyrie Irving shows up to arena early Thursday, puts in extra work after preaching accountability

Excerpt:

CHICAGO -- Actions speak louder than words. It seems Kyrie Irving is taking that phrase to heart.

One day after expressing frustration with the Cleveland Cavaliers' play of late, dropping a few expletives during his tirade, Irving arrived at the United Center early Thursday morning, beating all of his teammates to the arena for a session before shootaround.

By the time the team bus showed up, around 9:50 a.m. local time, Irving had already worked up a sweat on the opposite end of the floor from Chicago Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo, who was also there early trying to correct his 3-point stroke.

Showing the dedication that makes him one of the league's premier scoring guards, Irving worked on everything with assistant coach Phil Handy -- layups off the wrong foot with both hands, midrange jumpers, 3-pointers, free throws, off-the-dribble pull-ups and postups.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index...ving_arrives_at_arena.html#incart_river_index

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

Love this guy. Now keep it up. I recall during LBJ 1.0 he showed up early doing the same thing. The team realizes what is at stake and now gotta show up on the floor. I just hope they aren't let down if we fizzle tonight....keep the grander picture in mind. Its just the Bulls.

 

[Ohio]

Kyrie & LeBron can only produce so much offensively. That hasn't been the problem. But maybe showing leadership like this, and backing it up with good effort/attempting to play defense, can help raise the level of play of the role players, who have been worthless for awhile now.