When LeBron James took his talents to South Beach in 2010, the Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves in a tough spot.
LeBron is the only chance the Cleveland fans have for a championship, and because of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, LBJ looked for a title with the Miami Heat. Meanwhile, The Decision sent the Cavs into a downhill spiral, and it was enough for the team to produce a 19-63 record.
The 2011 NBA Draft gave Cleveland the first and fourth picks, ultimately becoming Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.
Two championships and four finals appearances later, LBJ returned to Cleveland. He would eventually lead the team to four finals appearances, including a championship in 2016.
But while Cleveland enjoyed the gift that is LeBron, Kyrie had other ideas.
While James is chasing a legendary career, Irving is just trying to become Cleveland's franchise player. In some ways, it's evident that a championship early in his career was a bonus. When LBJ returned to Cleveland, Irving probably thought that LeBron should have been his sidekick and not the other way around.
So in 2017, Cleveland traded Irving to Boston for a package that included Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and a Brooklyn draft pick that ultimately became Collin Sexton.
Boston GM Danny Ainge successfully flipped a 60th pick overall for the top pick of the same draft.
Anyway, time to shift to Boston.
I remember how awesome it was that Boston acquired a star of his awesomeness. The first and only jersey I bought at an NBA Store is his green Boston uniform.
And it's not even for me.
It's for my kid.
Ugh.
So imagine my disappointment that this move turned out to be a major failure.
And whenever a person asks, the only reason I can say is that this is the closest Boston Celtics jersey to that of either Dana Barros or Big Baby Davis.
Boston bit on the Kyrie inquiry and not only did they trade away their virtual heart and soul but they eventually lost Irving to many things.
Injuries are understandable.
What's understandable is that he is ruining the team's chemistry. He asked for a trade so he could lead a team. Irving did that, but Terry Rozier picked up the slack when he got injured. And when he had the chance to lead Boston in 2019, he struggled.
And instead of re-signing with the Celtics, he signed with the Brooklyn Nets.
Now I don't want to dwell on what he did with the Nets, or what he failed to do. We know that moving to Dallas has made Kyrie less controversial and divisive. Irving might be a top-tier talent, but he has ceded the franchise player tag to Luka Doncic. And lo and behold, Kyrie helped Dallas reach their third finals appearance in his first full season. I don't know if this Kyrie will last, but at the moment, he's doing wonders for the Mavs.
Inasmuch as I like a changed Kyrie, I don't like a "good" Kyrie against my Boston Celtics. When I saw that Boston had won their last ten games when playing against Irving, I cringed at the sight of him doing well at the right time.
Yes, Kyrie has had crazy episodes, but he is still a superstar. And while I am not keen on Kyrie, I am a big fan of Luka Doncic. I have said in my past blogs that Luka should have been the MVP of this season. Again, while Nikola Jokic had better numbers, he has been a triple-double magnet for five seasons now. It's still amazing, but it has also turned normal. Doncic's numbers have been MVP-caliber for some time now, and rather than giving it to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the leader of the up-and-coming OKC Thunder, it's better to give it to an established All-NBA First Teamer like Luka.
Anyway, I expect a dogfight with Boston winning it in six games.
With that said, I brace for Kyrie Irving to do his thing.