The Cleveland Cavaliers get their first crack at the Boston Celtics in the first of four meetings between the two ball clubs on Friday. Of course, there will be stories told of the good times had by Kyrie Irving with the Cavs organization.
Pay no mind to them.
Yes, Kyrie will forever be etched into Cleveland sports lore with his game-winning shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Yes, he spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career in Cleveland. And yes, he is by far one of the most prominent players to ever don the Wine and Gold.
But if you aren’t sick of narratives from the past being weaved into every single broadcast, you’re a much more patient human being than I am.
It’s understandable for the national media to pry these stories from players and those around the situation in Cleveland when the last four years were the most highlighted seasons of the franchise’s history. But quite simply, it’s gotten old.
It gets even older when your city continually gets trashed by the player you once considered to be your own.
Sure, you can argue that LeBron James left the Cavs high and dry again this past summer. But James has never once trashed the city of Cleveland in either of his departures. The same can’t be said for Kyrie.
Instead, Kyrie made sure to be super vocal that he was in a ‘real, live sports city’ upon arriving in Boston last summer. The remark came shortly after he thanked Cleveland for being super supportive of him and his play during his time with the organization. To say his words to Northeast Ohio were ultimately found to be shallow would be an understatement.
Many can deal with the ridiculousness that is Irving’s claims of the Earth being flat and his outlandish comments about Thanksgiving. But for fans that have been shoved nothing but countless articles regarding the Cavaliers’ demise, can we finally catch a break?
One of the biggest issues this author has with Irving’s departure and the nonchalant nature he did it in is that it leaves so much to be desired that we’re still chatting about it a calendar year later. So now every time he meets up with the Cavaliers, there’s something new we may not have known.
The Cavs are in a full rebuild mode, similar to the one that they began the year before they secured the top pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. They took Irving with the first choice and made it count, as he served as the main playing reason for LeBron to return home in 2014.
If this author recalls correctly, however, no one was anointing Irving to be the next savior of the franchise. Let’s try to avoid doing that with Collin Sexton, even more so tonight.
There will be a lot of comparisons drawn between Irving and Sexton tonight in yet another filler storyline, so let’s go through the easy ones first. First off, they both have been a member of the Cavaliers organization. Secondly, they’re both point guards. And finally, hmmmm….oh yeah, Sexton decided to rock the two across his jersey’s back. Irving did that for quite some time too.
And that was one of the first questions ever asked to Sexton during his introductory presser. Imagine being a rookie hoping to become the new face of a team and the media asks you about the previous guy to wear the number? Information like that is so irrelevant to this current mold of players that it begs the question of why even ask?
Sexton has been undoubtedly tremendous in his first twenty games of his NBA career, aside from a shaky start during some bench minutes. But with every shot he takes and pass he hurls, the camera will pan back to Irving and the chatter will commence about the two’s similarities and differences.
It’s just old. And the game hasn’t even started yet
Here’s the secret everyone in Cleveland would like to tell the public: We don’t care about any past information. It’s done and over with.
Enough with the Kyrie stories, enough with every different angle the media can take to try and create relevancy for the topic. He made his decision and there’s no point in bringing it back to the spotlight every time two teams that he’s played for match up.
Cleveland doesn’t care anymore, just in case you were wondering.