Kyrie Irving happy with early transition to Boston

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2017/09/bulpett_kyrie_irving_happy_with_early_transition_to_boston




Bulpett: Kyrie Irving happy with early transition to Boston



Steve Bulpett



Friday, September 22, 2017




Credit: Courtesy
NEW LOOK: Kyrie Irving walks past a ‘living statue’ modeling his Celtics uniform, then later meets the media during an unveiling party last night.




Kyrie Irving Adjusting To Life As A Boston Celtic

It’s been an odd and exhilarating time for Kyrie Irving, but even the bad has been good thus far.

“I mean, it’s been a whirlwind — moving in and picking up my whole life and getting everything adjusted as best I can,” said the newest Celtic star as he attended the club’s uniform unveiling at Committee in the Seaport (try the lamb souvlaki). “So it’s been … it’s been, man, as you can see, I’m at a loss for words because it’s been thing after thing after thing after thing. But I’m more appreciative just of the support.”

Support that came from varied and unexpected sources when his Jeep stalled out on the way to a meeting with Brad Stevens.

“My car broke down in front of Bentley University, and I had about four people get out of their cars and ask me if I needed a lift somewhere,” said Irving. “You know, just to have that type of support anywhere at any given moment … they had no idea who I was, which makes it even sweeter. So being part of the Boston culture now, I’m just enthused, and now I can’t wait to get started.”

But if it’s anything he’s learned in his NBA career, particularly from being part of the hastily rebuilt monster when LeBron James rejoined the Cavaliers three years ago and the club dealt for Kevin Love, it’s to wait when he has to.

“The best advice is patience, man,” Irving said of what he took from that Cleveland experience that ended up yielding three trips to the NBA Finals and one championship. “You have to be really strategic and really methodical and not skipping any steps in order to understand what you want to accomplish and how to get there. There’s a way that you can put a goal at the top, but you can’t skip any steps that’ll take out of you the mental grind and the physical grind of trying to get back to being at that championship level.

“We have guys that have some experience, but seeing it firsthand and being a part of a culture that I was in Cleveland and bringing that here, that championship culture, that championship understanding, man, it takes a long time. And the ups and downs will really define how we are as a group and our identity, and how we respond will be the most important part.

“So that’s the only thing I want to echo here is that you don’t want to get too high or too low. I know that’s a cliche saying, but literally it’s that. You want to stay even-keeled throughout all of this, and regardless of whatever’s happening outside, the only thing that matters is taking care of each other in the locker room.”

So far Irving and the Celts have taken care of things pretty well in their informal workouts.

“Obviously we have that nucleus of guys that have played in the league for a few years, so getting acclimated to what we want to do offensively and defensively, that’s going to take some time,” he said. “And the biggest thing I think that gets kind of drawn over is that we’re almost complete strangers. We’re very big fans of each others’ games, but in terms of how we will collectively mesh as a group, that’s a ways away.

“So when we’re talking, it’s just literally getting as best acclimated to one another in our personalities as best you can, because once we leave that facility we all go our separate ways until we really start diving in to getting to know one another. So these first few days have been great. Brad’s been great. Most of the guys have been in, so it’s felt like a real college-type vibe and it’s real intimate. And I enjoy it, because there’s a lot of teaching that can go on and we can get some things done that can prepare us best for getting training camp started on Tuesday.”

Irving was relaxed and engaged as he spoke last night at the end of a week that included an interrogation on ESPN’s “First Take” over his decision to ask out of Cleveland. But he’s clearly up for getting immersed in the game and leaving any perceived extraneous dramatics behind.

“It’s going to be fun just to get somebody to hit me,” Irving said. “I was shooting a movie down in Atlanta for Uncle Drew, so I didn’t really get to go up and down as much as I would have liked. So this is really like a preseason for me in getting back acclimated and playing against some NBA elite competition — Terry Rozier, going against him every single day and being better with Marcus (Smart) and Gordon (Hayward) and all these guys.

“It’s going to take some time, but I miss it. I miss NBA basketball, and that’s one thing that’s a place of refuge for me is being on that court.”

Even if he has to deal with a stalled vehicle on his way to said court. He explained that he was unaware a new engine had been put into his Jeep, and using regular gas instead of premium caused the thing to stall out.

Irving declined the assistance from the public, instead waiting for equipment and travel man John Connor to come to his rescue.

“It was raining. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt,” Irving said. “But the people out there that kept stopping, they were awesome.”



bob
MY NOTE:  Kyrie is echoing what Jaylen and TRo are saying about "it's going to take time".  He hasn't played for Brad Stevens before.  If he just pays attention to detail and does what Brad tells him to do it will happen a lot faster than he'll expect. Brad Stevens is not another Tyronn Lue.


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He's already voiced a desire for a more team-oriented style of play than he had in Cleveland. That's a good sign- it shows he wants to play within a system. Brad is the perfect coach to help this materialize.

Side note, it's still hard to believe.


KJ

Mr. Irving will "settle in" even better when he starts the season by scoring 20+, getting 6-8 assists and 5 rebounds plus playing at least acceptable defense in the first week of the season.

He has the talent, body, skills and youth to become a hall of fame type player. Hope he earns that reward while playing in Boston for the next 12 years.