Antoine Walker with Marc James: Kyrie Irving isn't a true Celtic

Antoine Walker with Marc James: Kyrie Irving isn't a true Celtic

WEEI John Tomase

Antoine Walker made waves last week when he suggested that Celtics guard Kyrie Irving wasn't a leader. On Saturday, he took his criticisms a step further and suggested he wasn't a true Celtic.

Appearing on WEEI with Marc James, Walker expanded on his criticisms of Irving's leadership and noted that he never got the sense the All-Star guard particularly wanted to be here. Boston represented a means to an end -- escaping LeBron James' shadow in Cleveland -- in Irving's final two years before free agency.

"Immediately when you become a Celtic, you understand the tradition, you understand what the Celtics organization is all about, the fanbase, you get that when you come in," Walker said. "But to be a true Celtic, the want to be there has to be there, and the want to put another banner up. I think Kyrie got traded there. I don't necessarily believe the Celtics was one of his landing spots. I think he was OK with it because they have some young talent, and he was willing to see how it works. He knew he had two years before he could hit the free agent market, so I think he came in with the right attitude, but to be a true Celtic, you've got to want to be there."

Irving's desire to remain in Boston beyond this season has been an open question since he walked back a preseason promise to re-sign here. And with the Celtics struggling in the fifth seed of the Eastern Conference, the odds of Irving committing to a long-term stay feel increasingly remote.

"I know a lot of guys don't like to give away what they're doing in the summer and they like to just play it out, but he hasn't been definitive in the way to say, 'Hey look, I'm a Celtic, we're building something here, we're building a championship team,'" Walker said. "His comments in the media haven't been strong, and haven't been Celtic-like. When you're a Celtic, you believe that you can win here and get it done.

"I believe his goals are totally different. I believe he wants to win. I would start my franchise with him, I think he's one of the great players in the league. I think he's a closer. But a leader, being a leader and a true Celtics is not necessarily what Kyrie is. We know his leadership skills have struggled because he reached out to LeBron James about being a leader."

Walker looks to the Celtics scuffling in the standings and wonders how much traces to Irving's difficulties marshaling the troops.

"Being a leader is in a lot of different ways," he said. "One, you can lead by example on the court. The other part about being a leader is getting your teammates to buy in. That's one thing I can always say about LeBron James. For the most part, up to this year, we've seen LeBron James get his teammates to buy in to what they're trying to do, and that's win a championship. That's the ultimate goal. If you look around, you see the Celtics, Kyrie struggled to get these guys on the same page."

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PROBABLY THE CLOSEST TO THE TRUTH OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE CELTICS AND IRVING. I FELT THE SAME WAY TOWARDS THE END OF LAST YEAR AND IT SOLIDIFIED MY OPINION WHEN HE WAS A NO SHOW FOR GAME #7 AGAINST CLEVELAND LAST YEAR.

THE EXCUSE...........I AM HAVING SINUS SURGERY...........YA RIGHT...........AND YA YOU COULD HAVE POSTPONED IT FOR A DAY OR TWO ALSO IRVING! YOU ARE A FAKE!

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true that!

I forgot about him not even showing up for a playoff game..frankly I never missed him in the playoffs last year.

maybe its time for Stevens to just bench him the rest of the way and see if this team can get it together.

I mean just yesterday , we played out best when his ass was firmly planted on the bench cutting the lead down to single digits. Then sure as shit I look up with 6 minutes left and Stevens is putting mr cancer back on the court...WTF?

The one thing Walker always understood was the meaning and responsibility of being a Celtic. He appreciated the history, and wanted to be in Boston. In spite of the criticism sometimes leveled at his game, that's why he's a fan favorite to this day.

It's not as damning as Russ or Tommy saying the same thing, but it's not a please stick around plea for Irving either. I would hope Kyrie takes note of this and other similar commentaries and shows a different side of himself.

I would hope.

I'm not so sure its what I would expect.

Walker is the last person on earth I would take seriously.

he's a fat head...He was the most selfish player ever to play for the Celtics. All he cared about was chugging up 3 point shots.

Was Walker an ideal Celtic?

kdp59 wrote:true that!

I forgot about him not even showing up for a playoff game..frankly I never missed him in the playoffs last year.

maybe its time for Stevens to just bench him the rest of the way and see if this team can get it together.

I mean just yesterday , we played out best when his ass was firmly planted on the bench cutting the lead down to single digits. Then sure as shit I look up with 6 minutes left and Stevens is putting mr cancer back on the court...WTF?

We did play better for a stretch with him out, then Rozier started bricking some open looks and we had to put him back....

dboss wrote:Walker is the last person on earth I would take seriously.

he's a fat head...He was the most selfish player ever to play for the Celtics.  All he cared about was chugging up 3 point shots.

He's famously quoted as saying he took so many 3s, because there were no 4s.

Regardless of anything to do with his on-court antics, including that silly wiggle, he understood the magnitude of Celtic history and treasured the chance to be a part of it. Funny way of showing it at times, yes, but same is true of others now hanging in the rafters.

I'm not sure Irving really gets it or cares to.

NYCelt wrote:

dboss wrote:Walker is the last person on earth I would take seriously.

he's a fat head...He was the most selfish player ever to play for the Celtics.  All he cared about was chugging up 3 point shots.

He's famously quoted as saying he took so many 3s, because there were no 4s.

Regardless of anything to do with his on-court antics, including that silly wiggle, he understood the magnitude of Celtic history and treasured the chance to be a part of it. Funny way of showing it at times, yes, but same is true of others now hanging in the rafters.

I'm not sure Irving really gets it or cares to.

I remember this crap and that is why Walker is an idiot. see this from 2003

``Danny wanted to get rid of me,'' said Walker. ``If you look at the trade, I think he really felt like I wouldn't mesh with these guys in Dallas. Me, personally, I think he was really trying to set my career back a little bit. If you really look at what I got traded for, it's got to be the biggest difference [in talent] in history. Usually, an All-Star gets traded for an All-Star. And you gave away Tony Delk, a proven scorer in this league.

"I can't understand it, unless he was trying to put me in a situation where he didn't want me to succeed. Obviously, he's going to ship me West. That's obvious. He didn't think individually I'd shine in Dallas, maybe team-wise. But if I'm putting up minimum numbers and I'm just an average player with this team, he can live with that because he knows that's what he's going to get in return anyways, with Raef [LaFrentz].''

``I'm set for life regardless of if I get another contract. The money aspect of it wasn't beating me over. It was just that I knew he was a snake. I knew that. I never had a relationship with him. I knew he was going to be a snake.''

I just watched an interview with Jeff Goodman. He said the rumors around the team are that Kyrie has become disengaged and remote from his teammates. His only friendship on the team is, of course, Tatum. This is disheartening but not surprising. Watching him on the bench is a signal that he could care less what his teammates are doing.

How detrimental is this to the chemistry of this team? I just don't get him. This makes the Cleveland stories more believable, that in his last year he didn't talk to his teammates and was remote.

You know, Kyrie, if you couldn't make it here, you won't make it anywhere. I suggest a book to you
"Wherever You Go, There You Are". maybe you can learn something

that is why he called Danny a few years ago looking for a job????? Set for life???? Ha Ha. That is the name of a lottery ticket here in Boston. Maybe you should have bought one Antoine

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I just watched an interview with Jeff Goodman. He said the rumors around the team are that Kyrie has become disengaged and remote from his teammates. His only friendship on the team is, of course, Tatum. This is disheartening but not surprising. Watching him on the bench is a signal that he could care less what his teammates are doing.

How detrimental is this to the chemistry of this team? I just don't get him.  This makes the Cleveland stories more believable, that in his last year he didn't talk to his teammates and was remote.  

You know, Kyrie, if you couldn't make it here, you won't make it anywhere. I suggest a book to you
"Wherever You Go, There You Are". maybe you can learn something

Rosalie, I guess you know my feelings on Kyrie. I never thought that I wouldn't want him my my team but his track record without Lebron is pretty bad. Not sure what you meant by "of course Tatum" I never really felt like they were that close. Actually I never thought Kyrie was that close to anyone.. I know he endorsed M. Smart earlier.

Antoine Walker was an self absorbed entitled [fill in the blank] 20 years before it became a thing.  You can take everyone's anger at our current team, multiply it by infinity, and that is how I felt about him.

The guy had all the tools and threw it all away to selfishly shoot threes.  He wouldn't know a rebound if it bounced off the floor and hit him in the face.  Did I say he had all the tools?

Sorry, I cannot take anything he says seriously.  If he says it is "up", I'll just go with "down".  

There, I feel better now.

PS: eff Walker.

dboss, Almost from the first day they were together it has been known that Kyrie took Tatum under his wing. I know they share the same agent, but it is more than that. How many times did Tatum praise the help that he got from Kyrie, and Kyrie call him "little bro". Their relationship was written about often, especially last year.
My question is, how much influence does he have on this kid? Tatum's habit of going one on one, holding the ball after a rebound and not giving it up is something we all have questioned. This type of self promotion can hurt a kid in his development. So, where, really, does Kyrie fit in all of this.

I have one other comment or question, whatever. I have wondered all year what the relationship is between kyrie and Hayward. These guys were signed together, it was Irving/Hayward, the future of the Celtics. Yet, after his injury (from a stupid pass from Irving) Hayward goes down and not another word about him comes out of Irving's mouth last year or this. Except that awful display when he didn't pass the ball to Kyrie on the inbounds play for Irving to shoot and win a game. The way he snapped on the court that night led me to believe....there is no relationship between these two guys.

nitpicking, i know, but just wondering

Despite all of Walker’s sometime silly shenanigans and silly wiggles and what he said back then. What he just recently said is truth!
We’re all green but that doesn’t mean we have to reach back and find dirt and ones unfortunate financial situation to marginalize what is apparent truth.
In my opinion, this time Toine’ is pretty spot on

RosalieTCeltics wrote:dboss, Almost from the first day they were together it has been known that Kyrie took Tatum under his wing. I know they share the same agent, but it is more than that. How many times did Tatum praise the help that he got from Kyrie, and Kyrie call him "little bro".  Their relationship was written about often, especially last year.
My question is, how much influence does he have on this kid? Tatum's habit of going one on one, holding the ball after a rebound and not giving it up is something we all have questioned. This type of self promotion can hurt a kid in his development. So, where, really, does Kyrie fit in all of this.

I have one other comment or question, whatever. I have wondered all year what the relationship is between kyrie and Hayward.  These guys were signed together, it was Irving/Hayward, the future of the Celtics. Yet, after his injury (from a stupid pass from Irving) Hayward goes down and not another word about him comes out of Irving's mouth last year or this. Except that awful display when he didn't pass the ball to Kyrie on the inbounds play for Irving to shoot and win a game. The way he snapped on the court that night led me to believe....there is no relationship between these two guys.

nitpicking, i know, but just wondering

It’s no secret how I feel about KyME but he did express remorse over what happened to Hayward and stated that he felt somewhat responsible because it was he who threw the pass. Could be more of his BS but i’ll Give him credit for that.
In regards to his display on that inbound pass from Hayward, I can recall Irving saying to Hayward (twice) “You were supposed to go to Al”. Now maybe going to Al would’ve led to a Kyrie buzzer beater and thats what ticked him off but I don’t know that for a fact. Was there enough time for that too? I just remember what I saw and
heard him say. Either way, KyME is still a jerk in my book.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:dboss, Almost from the first day they were together it has been known that Kyrie took Tatum under his wing. I know they share the same agent, but it is more than that. How many times did Tatum praise the help that he got from Kyrie, and Kyrie call him "little bro".  Their relationship was written about often, especially last year.
My question is, how much influence does he have on this kid? Tatum's habit of going one on one, holding the ball after a rebound and not giving it up is something we all have questioned. This type of self promotion can hurt a kid in his development. So, where, really, does Kyrie fit in all of this.

I have one other comment or question, whatever. I have wondered all year what the relationship is between kyrie and Hayward.  These guys were signed together, it was Irving/Hayward, the future of the Celtics. Yet, after his injury (from a stupid pass from Irving) Hayward goes down and not another word about him comes out of Irving's mouth last year or this. Except that awful display when he didn't pass the ball to Kyrie on the inbounds play for Irving to shoot and win a game. The way he snapped on the court that night led me to believe....there is no relationship between these two guys.

nitpicking, i know, but just wondering

Rosalie

I do not think that Kyrie has a bad relationship with Hayward.  I do not think anyone could have a bad relationship with him.  GH is the salt of the earth.

Rosalie yeah you are nitpicking a bit but all of us are finding a few nits to pick.  

Tatum shot the ball better last year from deep.  Many of those were catch and shoot opportunities.  Now even when he is open he is looking to go ISO.  This tendency goes back to his one year at Duke so I cannot put all the blame on Kyrie or even Kobe Bryant.  

Kyrie has made a few mistakes this year but because of who he is, those mistakes (statements) are being amplified 100 times over.  He mentioned issues with young guys needing to learn how to play and be comfortable in their roles.  Brown called him out on that and he apologized.  He displayed anger at GH for not getting AH the ball in what would have been a very difficult end of game play.   He apologized for that.   Those are the only things he has said that I take issue with.

The ask me in July comments were driven by an intrusive media.  

His account of apologizing to Lebron James and making some portion of his conversation public was bad press.  In some respects it appeared to be disingenuous and was part of a continuing narrative that young guys do not get it.  It was also an admission that he did not listen either when he played in Cleveland.  It was an admission of him realizing that being a leader of your team is a lot more difficult than he thought it would be.  He was actually telling us that it is a learning process for him.  Celtics fans however are not interested in a lovefest  between him and Lebron and took exception but in so doing they missed his appeal.

Celtics fans can either give him the time and space to develop his ability to lead this team or they can reject him in total.  I prefer not to cut off the nose to spite the face or throw the baby out with the bath water.  He is an immensely talented player who is also trying to be a leader  If I was coach Stevens I would name him and AH as co-captains.  Not having a designated team captain (s) is very bad decision by coach Stevens.  But if you think about it you might recognize a consistent thought process by coach Stevens as it relates to his views about who gets shots on this team.

I have been thinking over the last couple of days, and you are right. I think it is time to back off, let this team do what it can, and maybe make a little noise here and there. The press has absolutely driven Kyrie nuts, and if you think about it, the negativity started with the Anthony Davis rumors. The press had Kyrie talking to AD, encouraging him to sign here, whatever. How do they know that? It seems the LeBron connection is and was alot stronger.

I have decided to stop the analysis, stop the criticism, and just root for this team and hope they put smiles on our faces again. Watching a clip of them out west practicing yesterday, they certainly looked like they did not hate each other. Then Jaylen gets interviewed by the Globe reporter, Washburn, and he is saying he doesn't know what is going on.

EVERYONE, JUST STOP TALKING!! Let your play do the talking for you. No more negativity, let's see what tonight brings.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have been thinking over the last couple of days, and you are right.  I think it is time to back off, let this team do what it can, and maybe make a little noise here and there.  The press has absolutely driven Kyrie nuts, and if you think about it, the negativity started with the Anthony Davis rumors.  The press had Kyrie talking to AD, encouraging him to sign here, whatever. How do they know that? It seems the LeBron connection is and was alot stronger.  

I have decided to stop the analysis, stop the criticism, and just root for this team and hope they put smiles on our faces again. Watching a clip of them out west practicing yesterday, they certainly looked like they did not hate each other. Then Jaylen gets interviewed by the Globe reporter, Washburn, and he is saying he doesn't know what is going on.  

EVERYONE, JUST STOP TALKING!! Let your play do the talking for you. No more negativity, let's see what tonight brings.

Rosalie

At the end of the day is a basketball game by our beloved Celtics.

Win or lose I plan to fully appreciate being able to see our team play.