To this day, the Boston Celtics are still reaping the benefits from the departure of a certain All-NBA point guard.
Kyrie Irving is gone, and the positive vibes have not wavered all season for the Boston Celtics in his wake. Despite what has seemed like a constant string of injuries for the C’s, there is still optimism for a top-two finish in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Last year, even with most of the key players healthy, the team limped to a 48-win season that saw them bow out of the playoffs in the second round after being smacked around by the Milwaukee Bucks.
It looks better for Brad Stevens and co. that Milwaukee has become the league’s preeminent superpower. Still though, a team with so much talent that Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward were bench players should have been able to at least lose with dignity.
You could make the case that this year’s team has nowhere near as much talent or depth as the 2018-19 iteration. They are on pace for over 50 wins though.
It’s natural to point the finger at one player, especially when you look at the state of his current team. The Brooklyn Nets–fresh off of signing Irving and an injured Kevin Durant–are making the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.
With the coaching turnover that has taken place in Kings County, it is a stark reminder of what has happened with Irving’s coaches in the past. From a Boston Celtics perspective, though, they survived his two-year stint and are better off without him. Here are three reasons why that is the case:
No undermining Brad Stevens
With rumors going around that Irving was not a fan of Kenny Atkinson, it is abundantly clear that the point guard had at least somewhat of an influence on his ouster. According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, the good feelings in Brooklyn following Irving’s arrival didn’t last long at all:
"Irving soured on Atkinson early, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and currently prefers Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue to be the team’s next head coach. Lue was the head coach in Cleveland when Irving hit the winning shot in the 2016 NBA Finals and was in talks to take the Lakers job before discussions broke down."
Just as Irving likely didn’t enjoy playing under David Blatt in Cleveland, he seems to have made up his mind early in his playing career in Brooklyn that Atkinson wasn’t the coach he wanted to play under. After Atkinson built up the Nets from the ground up, Irving came in and immediately used his superstar influence to exile him.
According to who you ask, Irving may not even be a superstar, despite his notoriety as an NBA All-Star. Brad Botkin of CBS Sports doesn’t seem to think so:
"Irving’s tradeoff has always been his talent, which will forever tantalize teams. Yes, he won a championship. Yes, he hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history. LeBron was with him for both. There is, to date, no evidence that Irving represents anything close to superstar value on a team without the cover of an actual superstar."
The Boston Celtics luckily never allowed Irving to provide any personnel input. With no Irving, Stevens no longer runs the risk of being undermined by his players.
Tatum and Brown have become stars
Don’t for a second think that if Irving was still on the C’s that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown would have ascended to the levels they have reached during the 2019-20 NBA season. When he was around, Tatum’s stock reportedly “took a hit” according to Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington:
"Tatum’s stock took a hit this season,’ an Eastern Conference scout said. Others made similar claims during the season as the playmaking forward appeared lost at times playing with Irving. Regardless, Tatum is a talented 21-year-old who went head-to-head against LeBron James in the 2018 Eastern Conference Final."
This season is a whole different ball-game for Tatum. He became a first-time All-Star and he currently averages over 23 points per game after averaging 30 points per game in the month of February.
Jaylen Brown has also risen to over 20 points per game and–according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated–his relationship with Irving wasn’t good either:
"“You can write a whole book on what went wrong because the season was basically a disaster from start to finish,” Mannix said. “His (Irving’s) relationship with the young players on the roster was awful. Jaylen Brown, he was probably the worst with.”"
The rise of the 2016 and 2017 #3 picks and the departure of Irving is no coincidence. With Irving gone, the future of the Boston Celtics franchise has risen to the forefront of a season in which they rank in the top ten on both offense and defense.
No more trade rumors involving Tatum and Brown
There was a thinking that Kyrie Irving was willing to return to the Boston Celtics if the C’s faithful “would have him back”. That was a conditional promise, though, and during the 2018-19 season that was becoming abundantly clear amidst trade rumors involving Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for Anthony Davis.
The fact that the team succeeded in the 2018 playoffs and almost made the NBA Finals without Irving made appeasing the mercurial point guard less of a priority. Giving up key pieces to pair Anthony Davis and Irving–while a popular rumor–was never a smart long-term play for a franchise that was thriving in the short-term while plotting dynastic success in the long-term.
Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin proclaimed as much last summer when he showed skepticism towards a Davis deal:
"Giving up what it will likely take to pry Davis from New Orleans—promising young wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, plus draft picks—is a gamble that could set Ainge’s much-hyped rebuilding-while-contending gambit back years."
Since Irving defected to Brooklyn to pair with Kevin Durant and Davis was dealt to Los Angeles, there have been few rumors about dealing any of the C’s core pieces. In fact, Danny Ainge kept his roster completely in tact through the trade deadline and appears content with the pieces in place going forward.
Everything is fine now in Boston. With Atkinson recently being fired and the Nets sputtering this season to a low playoff seed without Irving in uniform, it is clear the Boston Celtics benefited from his departure in a slew of ways.