Danny Ainge Says It’s ‘Completely Illogical’ to Think Celtics Would Get Better Without Kyrie Irving
Written by SOURCE on February 16, 2019
Danny Ainge is pushing back against the idea that the Boston Celtics are better without Kyrie Irving. While the team has gone 9-2 without their star player this year, the Celtics president thinks believing they are a greater team without Kyrie is ridiculous.
“It’s completely illogical. It makes no sense,” Ainge said in an interview with the Toucher & Rich Show.
The Celtics have won the past two games Irving sat with a knee sprain. However, Ainge isn’t entertaining any talk that the Celtics would be better without their centerpiece.
“If you just look at the data over the past two years our team has been so much better,” he said. “It wasn’t but a month ago that we were trying to figure out how in the world are we going to score without Kyrie on the court.”
It’s also worth considering that just because the team won without Kyrie doesn’t mean they would not have won with him. In fact, the numbers point toward the team winning those contests even more handily than they did.
“Kyrie is by far our most efficient offensive player, without question,” Ainge said. “And our team, when Kyrie is on the court over the past two years, is by far more efficient with Kyrie playing than when he’s not.”
Ainge clearly doesn’t want to think about an Irving-less Celtics team any sooner than he has to. The star point guard has hinted that he’s willing to leave Boston this offseason if he can find an attractive enough offer. Ainge dismissed the talk earlier this month and believes the team and Irving will be able to work out a longterm deal.
