Kyrie Irving dances on the court, on stage & on our minds - cherish it!
I know that most Celtics fans realize by now that we have a real character on our hands, and his name is Kyrie Irving. He is mischief personified, and he is a lot of fun. I think we need to stop worrying about his future with the Celtics and simply enjoy him while he is here. There is no one in the League quite like him.
Kyrie-as-performer is not new. At the latest, it started in the halls of St. Patrick's High School. We see his early beginnings as an entertainer in the video below.
Those same dance moves also translate well to the basketball court. I honestly never thought in recent memory that I would see a more-exciting offensive player than Isaiah Thomas, but Irving is just that. When he takes Lonzo Ball 1-on-1 to the hoop, announcer Mark Jackson calls it Ball room dancing. Exactly!
In case anyone missed it, it looks like we have a comedy duo in Jaylen Brown and Kyrie Irving. In this double act Brown is clearly the straight man, and Irving is the funny man. Per Wikipedia, see if the definition fits:
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession but drastically different in terms of personality or behavior. Often one of the members of the duo — the straight man, feed, dead wood, or stooge — is portrayed as reasonable and serious, while the other one — the funny man, banana man or comic — is portrayed as funny, less educated or less intelligent, silly, or unorthodox.
Jaylen as reasonable and serious? Definitely. Kyrie as silly and unorthodox. Right again. But at least in one case, they exchanged roles. I love the video below mostly because it tells me this Celtics team has fine chemistry. If two teammates can be this comfortable with such pointed humor, it makes me believe this can all work very well towards a Championship. Watch Jaylen mentally preparing for his, "I'm sick of you, Kyrie."
So the real question is, who IS Kyrie Irving? Is he a dancer, an actor, a basketball player, an intellect, a comedian? The answer is all of the above. He is a complex, intelligent individual who also happens to be one hell of a basketball player. Kind of sounds like a less-staid version of Bill Russell, who actually may be playing a part in the question of Kyrie staying with Boston or leaving.
How so? Irving loves the limelight. He danced on our minds with his Flat-Earth Theory - dazzles us with his handles on the court - and amuses us with his Uncle Drew stuff. But I truly believe that he would love to see his #11 up in the TD Garden rafters, along with additional Championship flags. Bill Russell's number-six is up there along with 11 Title banners that Russ was vitally involved in. Kyrie would love to lead his team to something remotely akin to that heritage.
To paraphrase Kyrie's straight man, Jaylen Brown, "We are not sick of you, Kyrie." We are intrigued, entertained and looking forward to what you and your teammates can accomplish this season and beyond. We have never seen the likes of you in Boston. We hope you stick around, but meanwhile, we will enjoy the show.
Follow Tom at @TomLaneHC
Photo via TrailerAddict.com
Videos via ClutchPoints, Scouts Honor Celtics, NF & ESPN
