Kyrie Irving: Hardwood Magician

Eddie Jurak

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Form today's Wa Po: "Kyrie Irving threatened to sit out with knee injury if Cavs didn’t trade him"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/01/26/report-kyrie-irving-threatened-to-sit-out-with-knee-injury-if-cavs-didnt-trade-him/?utm_term=.ff1f9bc82df6&wpisrc=nl_break&wpmm=1

"Irving needs follow-up surgical work to relieve swelling and chronic pain that resulted from his broken kneecap in 2015, sources told the website. That surgery isn’t pressing. He is averaging 24.5 points per game and looks just fine. Players typically have these kinds of procedures done in the offseason."
I haven't looked too deeply into this story, but my gut reaction is that there is nothing sinister to see here.

Let's say it is fairly routine follow up work that is typically done during the offseason, and that were he to postpone the procedure, he'd be expected to get through the next season without too much difficulty.

I think a player seeking a trade would be more likely to put the procedure off for a year than one who intended to stay put. I think that player's original team would be more than OK with that decision, and the acquiring team would be at least comfortable with the medical situation of the player.

The rest is just spin.

Kyrie will get his surgery in the offseason. All things equal, he'd rather have done it last year (as next year is a contract year for him), but given his request to be traded this mades more sense for him.
 

Reverend

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This seems dumb.

I may be proven wrong, but I’m kinda wondering if latent sports media energy in New England from the Super Bowl buildup isn’t feeding any tiny spark of a regional spirts story.

That said, the NBA is Elsinore lately, so who knows?
 

DannyDarwinism

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Assuming he opts out and re-signs in 2019, Kyrie be up there with Bird, Pierce, Havlicek and McHale on the list of Celtics all-time go-to scorers, and with Cousy and Jojo White on all-time PGs.

As a fan living in NYC, it's really nice to have one of the few guys that brings casual NBA fans in for appointment viewing. Everyone at my pickup game this morning was talking about the battle last night. His incredible creativity earns him a spot on the first-name-basis list: Lebron, Steph, Russ, Kyrie. Kids love him, so I'm sure he's creating Celtics fans far and wide. I wish his vision was a bit better, but I've been really impressed with his even-keeled leadership, plus he's making the team I love better, more popular, and way more fun, so that's a very minor nitpick.
 

kenneycb

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Tuukka's refugee camp
The only thing I could think of was this movie reminds me of what MacGruber would’ve been if not for that sad van explosion early in the movie.
 

Kliq

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Wait that is going to be a movie? With Kroll, Tiffany Haddish and the guy that played the TSA officer in Get Out?
 

DJnVa

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That was great, thanks for linking it. Hard not to like this guy
This dude has been an NBA star for years and pretty much no one had any inkling as to his personality. I know he played a few years pre-Lebron, but man, Lebron sucks up all the publicity there.
 

kenneycb

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Tuukka's refugee camp
Meh, he didn’t offer much up there outside of relatively canned athlete speak. The musicals and Friends stuff was new, I guess.
 

snowmanny

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Well he seemed likable and he didn't sound weird and cryptic in every answer so that was an improvement over other interviews.
 

Reverend

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Well he seemed likable and he didn't sound weird and cryptic in every answer so that was an improvement over other interviews.
The guy showed up in a trade away from LeBron for the team’s most popular player, he gave some cryptic answers and told the press the earth was flat, and then basically never got asked another question about IT again.

That man is a goddamned genius.
 

RoyHobbs

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Pg. 35 of "Win it For"
Went to the game and it was an exciting one. Kyrie took a fall near the Pacers' bench near the end of Q2 and immediately after he got up it was clear he was hobbling/trotting in a limpy way back toward the C's end near the scorer's table. My impression at the time was he landed on his elbow but that was clearly (thankfully) wrong. Up to that point he seemed to be moving around without issue.
 

RetractableRoof

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I'm guessing with a significant gap between where the Cs are and the 3rd place team the news about his knee and Horford's illness is being amplified a bit to meet the league edict about resting players in a too obvious way. I'm sure his knee has some legitimate soreness, etc. but it makes sense to use it as cover to rest in preparation for the playoffs. This would seem to be especially important now before the Cs end the season with a road trip against western conference teams. Most of them will be fighting for playoffs and sitting players purely for rest will possibly be viewed more critically.
 

Reverend

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I'm guessing with a significant gap between where the Cs are and the 3rd place team the news about his knee and Horford's illness is being amplified a bit to meet the league edict about resting players in a too obvious way. I'm sure his knee has some legitimate soreness, etc. but it makes sense to use it as cover to rest in preparation for the playoffs. This would seem to be especially important now before the Cs end the season with a road trip against western conference teams. Most of them will be fighting for playoffs and sitting players purely for rest will possibly be viewed more critically.
If the league wants to warn the Celtics about not putting in max effort, I'm fine with that.

But they have to deliver the warning in person to Marcus Smart.
 

lovegtm

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I'm guessing with a significant gap between where the Cs are and the 3rd place team the news about his knee and Horford's illness is being amplified a bit to meet the league edict about resting players in a too obvious way. I'm sure his knee has some legitimate soreness, etc. but it makes sense to use it as cover to rest in preparation for the playoffs. This would seem to be especially important now before the Cs end the season with a road trip against western conference teams. Most of them will be fighting for playoffs and sitting players purely for rest will possibly be viewed more critically.
That was definitely my first guess as to what was happening, especially when Ainge came out and said "Kyrie will be dealing with this the rest of his career." There isn't a ton of reason to say that unless you want to maintain full optionality to rest him whenever you want in any game, without league consequences.

I also am pretty skeptical about Horford's illness.

That said, last night it didn't feel like they were expecting to hold Kyrie out in the 2nd half, so maybe there was something real there.
 

RedOctober3829

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deep inside Guido territory
Tony Mazz saying he's heard that the screws in Kyrie's knee are causing him pain. The question is whether he needs to have a procedure to take the screws out. If he gets them taken out, he'd miss the rest of the season. He said Kyrie wants to get a 2nd opinion to see if they have to be taken out now because of the pain.
 

JCizzle

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Tony Mazz saying he's heard that the screws in Kyrie's knee are causing him pain. The question is whether he needs to have a procedure to take the screws out. If he gets them taken out, he'd miss the rest of the season. He said Kyrie wants to get a 2nd opinion to see if they have to be taken out now because of the pain.
Welp, this season couldn't have gone much worse.
 

AimingForYoko

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Tony Mazz saying he's heard that the screws in Kyrie's knee are causing him pain. The question is whether he needs to have a procedure to take the screws out. If he gets them taken out, he'd miss the rest of the season. He said Kyrie wants to get a 2nd opinion to see if they have to be taken out now because of the pain.
Sigh. I guess I should just be happy that we got the enjoyable season we did after opening day. C'est la vie.
 

JCizzle

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Even if this is the case, I'm not sure it bodes well for potentially playing extra minutes in high intensity games for weeks in a row. Cant hide his minutes like the regular season. Fingers crossed though, seems like nothing has gone well for the C's or B's with health this year.
 

benhogan

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Welp, this season couldn't have gone much worse.
Pretty much BUT I'd rather look at it from a glass half full POV:
1. Tatum
2. and Fultz
3. Danny still owns all of the 1st rounders
4. Rozier's shooting improvement and overall play
5. Cost of Smart has gone lower, due to market conditions, but I think we realize his value to the team's success
6. Al's 3pt shooting and defense on Simmons, Lebron, Giannis, etc
7. MaMo turning it up after slowed by early injury
8. Theis defense and improved shooting during the course of the season
9. Semi's physical defense and subsequent visit to Drew Hanlan this summer
10. unloaded IT4 on Lebron and no Brinks truck nonsense this summer
11. Jaylen's shooting, defense and maturity
12. Brad pulling off a 50 win season in spite of all the injuries

2018 was never going to be THE year. Fasten your seatbelt for the next 5 seasons, it's going to be glorious.
 
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Light-Tower-Power

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Even if this is the case, I'm not sure it bodes well for potentially playing extra minutes in high intensity games for weeks in a row. Cant hide his minutes like the regular season. Fingers crossed though, seems like nothing has gone well for the C's or B's with health this year.
Probably not, but if playing through it isn't going to make anything worse I would bet on him giving it a go, especially if Marcus is back during the playoffs. With everyone working their way back to healthy come playoff time I don't see why this team wouldn't be a threat to Toronto or Cleveland, if Kyrie is able to play.
 

Reardon's Beard

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Pretty much BUT I'd rather look at it from a glass half full POV:
1. Tatum
2. and Fultz
3. Danny still owns all of the 1st rounders
4. Rozier's shooting improvement and overall play
5. Cost of Smart has gone lower, due to market conditions, but I think we realize his value to the team's success
6. Al's 3pt shooting and defense on Simmons, Lebron, Giannis, etc
7. MaMo turning it up after slowed by early injury
8. Theis defense and improved shooting during the course of the season
9. Semi's physical defense and subsequent visit to Drew Hanlan this summer
10. unloaded IT4 on Lebron and no Brinks truck nonsense this summer
11. Jaylen's shooting, defense and maturity
12. Brad pulling off a 50 win season in spite of all the injuries

2018 was never going to be THE year. Fasten your seatbelt for the next 5 seasons, it's going to be glorious.
I like the cut of your jib. Onward.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Pretty much BUT I'd rather look at it from a glass half full POV:
1. Tatum
2. and Fultz
3. Danny still owns all of the 1st rounders
4. Rozier's shooting improvement and overall play
5. Cost of Smart has gone lower, due to market conditions, but I think we realize his value to the team's success
6. Al's 3pt shooting and defense on Simmons, Lebron, Giannis, etc
7. MaMo turning it up after slowed by early injury
8. Theis defense and improved shooting during the course of the season
9. Semi's physical defense and subsequent visit to Drew Hanlan this summer
10. unloaded IT4 on Lebron and no Brinks truck nonsense this summer
11. Jaylen's shooting, defense and maturity
12. Brad pulling off a 50 win season in spite of all the injuries

2018 was never going to be THE year. Fasten your seatbelt for the next 5 seasons, it's going to be glorious.
This post is full of win.
 

JCizzle

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Pretty much BUT I'd rather look at it from a glass half full POV:
1. Tatum
2. and Fultz
3. Danny still owns all of the 1st rounders
4. Rozier's shooting improvement and overall play
5. Cost of Smart has gone lower, due to market conditions, but I think we realize his value to the team's success
6. Al's 3pt shooting and defense on Simmons, Lebron, Giannis, etc
7. MaMo turning it up after slowed by early injury
8. Theis defense and improved shooting during the course of the season
9. Semi's physical defense and subsequent visit to Drew Hanlan this summer
10. unloaded IT4 on Lebron and no Brinks truck nonsense this summer
11. Jaylen's shooting, defense and maturity
12. Brad pulling off a 50 win season in spite of all the injuries

2018 was never going to be THE year. Fasten your seatbelt for the next 5 seasons, it's going to be glorious.
My man! This version sounds much better
 

Reverend

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Fourthed or fifthed.

This season has been awesome and exceeded all expectations any reasonable person had from about six minutes into the first game. We didn't get what we wanted, but we did get all kinds of other good shit--fuck what we wanted!
 

reggiecleveland

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Fourthed or fifthed.

This season has been awesome and exceeded all expectations any reasonable person had from about six minutes into the first game. We didn't get what we wanted, but we did get all kinds of other good shit--fuck what we wanted!
Sixthed or seventhed.
As long as Kyrie is ok long term I love this year.

I loved IT but trading him looks like one of hose history mode Ootp trades you make to he ai after a guy's last good year.
 

blueline

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BSJ had a fairly positive take on Kyrie's injury and rest:

However, the good news according to Boston Sports Journal’s medical expert Dr. Jessica Flynn, is that the issue for Irving and his doctors now likely comes down to pain tolerance, not the risk of more issues. Unless the hardware (screws) in Irving’s knee are rubbing against something (and causing more damage), Flynn believes Irving won’t be doing any real additional harm from a long-term standpoint by playing through it.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2018/03/21/robb-dont-panic-kyrie-irvings-second-opinion/
 

mauf

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I’m glad he’s getting a second opinion.

If the second doctor thinks he might do further damage by playing, they’ll shut him down and do the surgery now.

If the second doctor concurs with the initial opinion, I’m sure he’ll want to play. In that case, getting playoff reps with this team can only help next year, and is probably worth it even if he needs to ease into next season as he recovers from (later) surgery.
 

Reverend

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How great was his attitude on the bench during last night's game?

I didn't have an opinion pre-season as I had no info, but man, this guy has been a great get.