Kyrie Irving fancies himself an intellectual. He likes to pontificate about the shape of the earth, and can even tell when a basketball court is from a different decade. Irving recently revealed he likes having Brad Stevens around a little more than we thought.
The All-Star guard left the Cleveland Cavaliers in search of becoming the best version of his basketball self. That isn’t limited to become a purer point guard, or putting a team on his back a la LeBron James. Irving wanted to learn, apparently.
Irving, in an interview as a guest on Geno Auriemma’s podcast this week, talked about some of the intangibles that he was looking for in his move to Boston. Irving didn’t mention his former head coach Tyronn Lue by name but can infer he may have thrown a jab Lue’s way.
In the interview, Irving says that Brad Stevens and his basketball intelligence is heaven-sent.
The following from Dakota Randall at NESN.com,
“Brad fits perfectly in terms of that because he has an intellectual mind and is an intellectual human being,” The Celtics guard told Auriemma. “It was something I was unbelievably craving in terms of what I wanted for my career.”
It sounds like, based on the comments given in the interview, Irving may not have been stimulated intellectually enough by coach Lue.
Maybe that’s a derivative of James being on the team, and controlling so much of what happens on the floor. Or, perhaps Irving truly believes that Stevens has a one-of-a-kind basketball mind.
Stevens has proven that he is indeed one of the upper echelon coaches in the NBA. In his four seasons as Celtics head coach, he has been instrumental in returning the storied franchise to prominence.
Coach Lue should be respected as a top-tier coach as well. It is no easy feat to command a team to two straight NBA Finals. But I’m no Irving.
