In her latest column, Jackie MacMullan examines the chemistry issues that derailed the Celtics dreams of regular season dominance.
Jackie also delves into the impact social media has on the players:
“Kyrie was the first person who told me, ‘No matter what [players] say, everyone looks,'” Rozier says. “‘And when you look, you are going to see positive things and negative things from people who have never met you.’ That’s why Kyrie deleted all that stuff off his phone — it was bothering him.”
Boston’s president of basketball operations, Danny Ainge, wishes he could find a way to convince the players to eliminate social media from their basketball lives.
“I worry they run straight to their cellphones after the game,” Ainge says. “Every time I’m in the training room, I see them glued to their phone, checking to see what people are saying.
MacMullan also touches on Kyrie admission that his leadership approach failed and Jaylen Brown was the one standing up to him.
But my favorite quote belongs to Kyrie:
“I’ve been playing basketball a lot longer than some of these people analyzing the game,” Irving says. “I’m an actual genius when it comes to this game.
“If you ask me about basketball, I will talk all day. If you ask me about spacing at the 3:33 mark of the second quarter, I will gladly explain it. I’ll tell you what plays worked, about adjustments we make. But when it comes to personal things, or comparing myself to my NBA brothers, like, ‘Do you think you are better than this guy?’ I’m out.”
I’m not a big fan of self-proclaimed geniuses, but I agree with Kyrie’s point here. Life is easier when you cut out the bull-shit, and that includes social media and blogs like this one.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
