Merry Christmas everybody! Snowman here.
So you may have noticed that Kyrie Irving is now in Brooklyn and Kemba Walker is now in Boston taking his place. And that is a good thing for the Celtics.
Why you ask?
It’s quite simple actually. Kemba Walker is a better leader, player, scorer than Kyrie. I said it and I mean every single word.
Just look at the styles of play and the difference. While the Celtics are having a great season and are on pace to snatch the Atlantic Division, Kyrie and the Nets are struggling at 16-13. Struggling? Why? No leadership. Especially not from Kyrie.
Matter of fact, I’ll put it in the form of this question: Have you noticed that lately the teams led by Kyrie seem to struggle with him on the floor as opposed to off of it?
Rewind back to the 2018 NBA playoffs. Kyrie was injured. The Celtics ran all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. In fact, they were within 12 minutes of supplanting the then-Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Kyrie was forced to watch from the bench.
Meanwhile, Kemba was struggling with the Hornets. He brought them to the playoffs a couple of times, but was unable to get Buzz City buzzing after April.
Then the trade to Boston happened. And from the outset it seems Kemba was rejuvenated. And on top of that, he was rejuvenated with players that wanted to play. Jaylin Brown, Jason Tatum, Gordon Heyward, and a coach that knew what he was doing in Brad Stevens. And now you take a look and see the results.
Kemba is allowed to score and play his position of point guard, while Kyrie, languishing in Brooklyn, dealing with injuries yet again, and not being active on the floor.
The attitudes are completely different also. Kyrie wanted to be “the man” in Boston, and was nowhere close to being that in Boston. Meanwhile Kemba CAN be the man, but he’s surrounded by teammates that make the Celtics one of the most dangerous teams in the Eastern Conference if not one of the favorites.
So while Kyrie had visions of grandeur in Boston, his attitude and injury prone situation has made him slide down the ladder. Kemba however is in a much better situation in Boston, and is proving that he is the missing piece in Boston. And by the way, the Celtics beat the Raptors in Toronto’s house on this Christmas day. Quite impressively.
That’s Snowman’s Take – what’s yours?