The time has come to write Celtics season post-mortems. Just don't lay the blame for the underperforming team at Kyrie Irving's feet, at least not while you're in earshot of Marcus Smart.
Smart called the idea that Kyrie disrupted the team and could be blamed for the disappointing season "bullshit" in a candid talk with reporters. He urged the press to see Kyrie's side of the equation.
"That's bullshit. Not one of us on this team know what Kyrie's been through...It was hard for him as well," he said. "He had to come into a situation knowing that this is a group of guys that had something going before [he came] here."
He said that Irving respected the chemistry of the existing team and that his caution validated the work that the young stars of the Celtics had done before he landed in Boston.
"This is Kyrie Irving and he's talking about coming in and disrupting us," he said, before reminding reporters that basketball is a team sport. "That's just a bullshit statement to say that his leadership killed us. It's four other guys out there. It's 12, 13 other guys on the team."
Don't go saying this season is Kyrie's fault. That is just not accurate or fair. Especially when we all know who to blame for the rout of the Celtics by the Milwaukee Bucks: Paul Pierce.
