Among the things that remain unclear about the Celtics’ 2018-19 team is the relationship Brad Stevens and Kyrie Irving had. Given the chemistry issues the team had and the fact Irving is gone — plus the occasional extreme story that pops up (like when Irving reportedly, randomly asked Stevens “What does government mean to you?”) — there’s room to think it wasn’t all that great.
One thing that’s evident: there was a lot of dialogue between the two.
On Sports Illustrated’s podcast, “The Crossover,” fellow ex-Celtics guard Terry Rozier explained what it was like between his head coach and Boston’s 2018-19 starting point guard.
“I feel like it was more of … it kind of wasn’t coach-player. … It was kind of like coach-younger coach,” Rozier said. “When he came over (to Boston) he won a championship, him being who he is, Kyrie had a lot of stuff that he felt that could change, that he wanted to change about the Celtics. (These are) all on-court things. He felt like he knew a lot of his basketball.
“It wasn’t just like them going back-and-forth like, ‘We’re going to do it my way. We’re going to do it your way.’ You could just tell, when Kyrie came he was kind of advanced and he had his little input and he wasn’t holding back. He would say what he felt that we could change or we could do. Sometimes it would work out for us, sometimes it wouldn’t. Sometimes they would talk it out and make it happen. I felt like he was already on that championship — he had that championship mindset, so he let that carry with him everywhere he (would) go.”
While that relationship could’ve led to tense moments, Rozier circled back to the Celtics’ success in the 2018 NBA Playoffs without Irving and Gordon Hayward as another challenge. He also reiterated that Boston’s emphasis on getting Hayward comfortable was an issue — which Rozier first brought up during his ESPN tour after last season.
“He’s Gordon Hayward. So, it’s like, you just can’t go away from him. You can’t treat him like he’s a regular player anyway. You got to make sure he gets his touches,” Rozier said. “But I kind of felt like that was more of a focus point for us. And I felt like that was too much of a focus point for us, of trying to get (Hayward) going instead of making sure everybody was on the same page.
“Like I said, I don’t have all the answers, but I didn’t, kind of, agree with that.”