#at the start he refuses to play with anyone other than andrew outside of regular practice times

[afurtivecake]

this part in tfc where kevin tells neil why he chose him has been haunting me for weeks:

because exactly how many strikers has kevin played with that he thought worth his time? and how many of those played like they have everything to lose? at the start of that series, before he warms up to neil and to the rest of the team, is that list of "worthwhile strikers" longer than riko?

keeping in mind that kevin would have picked neil out around march, while he was still very much fresh from the ravens... it makes me insane to think that kevin might have picked neil because neil felt familiar to him. maybe on some subconscious level, he picked neil because neil reminded him of someone he had just lost. maybe he watched neil play and it reminded him of the parts of riko that he had once admired - the singled-minded dedication, the fight, the drive to prove himself - parts that maybe he hadn't seen from riko in a while. at least not since being in power and being in control started meaning more to riko than becoming the best at exy.

he may not have intended to choose someone like riko. he may even have thought that a no-name newbie from nowhere ought to be the furthest thing from riko that was possible for anyone to find. but, maybe kevin wasn't so immune to falling into old patterns and choosing people who resemble those he's trying to leave behind.

[faedawayyy]

A Useless Guide to the Carmichaels

DISCLAIMER: this is a bunch of headcanons that i’ve come up with. OBVIOUSLY since synn and katie and nadine and meg in a way have characters that are tied to their family...BUt these are my original headcanons for the family, so if things aren’t quite right or sound different, it’s bc they’re my most developed family and it’s the way i’ve written them in canon verse!

SYLVIA CARMICHAEL - GRANDMOTHER

sylvia’s family are russian and came over to england after the war. her father was a general and her mother was a seamstress and she was raised in a very, very conservative and upper-class family. she went and studied at st andrews in edinburgh and that’s where she met hank carmichael, who her  father always pushed her towards from the moment he knew of him.  sylvia carries a lot of her family values and clashed with her GEN X kids because their ideologies were so different. for example, she sturggled edwin’s sexuality and oliver’s more liberal mannerisms. it doesn’t stop her from trying to “guide” her grandchildren.

HANK CARMICHAEL - GRANDMOTHER

hank was born and raised in england. his father was an extremely wealthy banker, his mother died when he was young but he never really thought about her because his father never spoke of her. he was raised mainly by his aunt while his father worked around the clock. they were an extremely wealthy family and when he was old enough, hank attended boarding school. he never really had parental guidance and his creativity always ran wild. he was trouble at school, but smart enough not to get caught.  after he graduated from st andrews and moved in with sylvia, he invested his entire trust-fund into a book publishing business, which is still successful to this day. he’s a huge family man due to not having one when he was younger

second generation.

EDWIN CARMICHAEL

edwin is the oldest of sylvia’s and hank’s children and always worked hard to be a people pleaser. he was often referred to as the golden child and the absolute brightest star in his mother’s sky. from an early age, he showed interest in entertainment which hank inspired and supported.

things changed for edwin in the middle of high school when he decided to come out about his sexuality. he was severely bullied and his relationship with sylvia broke down. he STILL hasn’t got the best relationship with his mother, especially after he married his husband, but they stay civil for the rest of the family’s sake. 

he now works in property and lost his confidence in acting when he was bullied.

OLIVER CARMICHAEL

SYNN’S CHARACTER, BUT HERE IS HOW I INTERPRET HIM. oliver is the second oldest child of sylvia and hank. he was rebellious from the start. he never enjoyed trying to live up to edwin’s golden standard, he hated the events and the social climbing. he just wanted to be a regular kid and have regular experiences, but it never happened for him.  when he was 18, it hit him that he was an adult and sylvia and hank have 0 influence over him. he took his trustfund, travelled and got the hell out of violet springs. however, just like with everybody else, age caught him up and he ended up settling in london with a woman he met while backpacking in australia.  he likes his children knowing their family, so he reluctantly shows up to family events but you’d never catch either of them in violet springs if they didn’t have to be.

JAMES CARMICHAEL

james is the middle child and arguably the most successful of the carmichael’s. he was never the favourite and had a streak in him that caused him to clash with hank from a young age. he was a loveable rouge who grew into a loveable white-collard criminal. he was smarter than he let on and had endless ambition.  like edwin, he attended university but instead of picking a profession that hid away from his true ambition, he invested his entire trustfund into a studio in los angeles where he planned to make amazing films...it paid off. he married his wife (patricia) who he met when she worked as a set designer on one of his projects, but it wasn’t all happily ever after.  james played around with money a little too much and tried to take out his competition in shady ways. this led to things getting too much for him and he faked his death almost a year ago. all of his family beside mason believe him to be dead.

JOHNATHAN CARMICHAEL

completely synn’s character, the father of theo

SINEAD CARMICHAEL

sinead was the only girl of five children and completely used it to her advantage. she watched the way her brother’s and father knew how to dominate rooms, conversations and other people. she grew up with the mindset that she could have absolutely anything she wanted, as long as she worked (or cheated) hard enough for it.  sinead dropped out of school at 15 and almost gave her mother an hernia. she blew most of her trust fund on a sweet 16 and then a sweet 18, anything that was left went on her 21st. she’s a very “live in the moment” woman and cares little for consequences.  she actually ended up teaming up with james and starring in a few of his earliest projects before becoming an actress in her own right. she’s blacklisted by a lot of hollywood producers for her refusal to submit and listen to direction. she’s head strong and does what she likes. 

third generation.

RUBY ROSINI - ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF EDWIN.

when ruby was adopted by edwin, there was all round excitement from every single member of the family; a little, brown-eyed girl from italy arriving on their doorsteps. she was so different from the majority blue-eyed children who filled the family tree. the cousins all immediately became protective of her and loved getting to know who she was as a person. now they’re grown up, she’s viewed as a cousin and it’s easy to forget that she was ever adopted or came from anywhere else. 

THOMAS CARMICHAEL - SON OF OLIVER 

thomas is the oldest son of oliver and like his dad, he’s a bit of a free spirit but unlike his dad, he’s a lot more laidback and less likely to clash or argue with anyone. as far as carmichael’s go, he’s quite wholesome and kind and oliver will 100% say that it’s because he was raised away from the madness of their family.  however, growing up away from the others isn’t as good in his eyes as it is in his dad’s. he often feels boring and on the outside, he will always do his best to fit in with the other guys and is easily manipulated. as a child, he got into trouble so many times from listening to the shit brody and leo used to tell him to do. even to this day, he’s overly loyal and attached to them because he’s desperate to feel a real part of the family.

KATELYN CARMICHAEL - DAUGHTER OF OLIVER

katelyn is the oldest of the third generation and oliver’s daughter. she’s blunt, witty and doesn’t mince her words. unlike most of the women in her family, she cares little for appearances or staying in certain social circles. she’s a drama teacher in a high school and enjoys living a normal life, but does dip into the funds of her family name every now and then to have a bit of fun.  she’s a blast at family parties and everybody is always excited to see what scandalous or stupid thing she’ll do next to annoy her grandmother. 

ANASTASIA CARMICHAEL - DAUGHTER OF JAMES 

the oldest of james’ children and undeniably the real favourite. she’s an overachiever and type of girl who was good at everything in school and still is; she’s athletic, artistic, academic, a good mother, an amazing business woman, she’s smart, she’s intuitive, she’s healthy and rarely loses in competitions with her siblings or anyone else for that matter.

anastasia has her daughter, darcy, and is engaged to ryder banks. there’s no love there but like her grandmother, she understands the importance of appearances. you’d have to be crazy if you thought she hasn’t had a string of affairs and STILL has them. however, she also has standards and is very selective over who she lets get close. 

darcy is her #1 priority and she’ll fight fiercely to make sure she always stays that way.

LEONARDO CARMICHAEL - SON OF JAMES

leo is james’ oldest son and again, like anastasia, kind of set the bar in the early days for the rest of his siblings. when it was the two of them and mason, everything was about leo and anastasia, they grew up in constant competition; leo tended to always fall short of his sister’s achievements. however, as they grew and the two of them came into their own, it was clear that leo was never going to be one to be in the shadows for too long - starting with gaining the attention from girls as he grew through high school. even girls in brody’s and miles’s year were heart-eyes over him and he was a few years older.  yet, just like with the rest of his siblings, he was promised and later engaged to somebody that his father handpicked for him to ensure the carmichael wealth wouldn’t dwindle out and fall into the wrong, new money hands.  OOC//i could write more but it doesnt feel right bc he’s now katie’s character. obviously i have my own ideas/fiancee for original leo! 

MASON CARMICHAEL - SON OF JAMES

mason broke the trend of extroverted, go-getter type kids and ended up being the quietest and youngest of the bunch until miles was born. he was a big momma’s boy growing up, and even though he’s never really felt like the favourite, he always enjoyed the company of adults and quieter environments compared to his siblings who would thrive around kids of their own age.  mason is wise beyond his years and it’s a running joke that he was supposed to be born first. he is the only one that knows james isn’t dead and was trusted with this information because even though brody was the favourite by a longshot, james knew mason would keep it quiet and be less affected by the secret.  mason both hates and loves being a part of the carmichaels. he loves his family but also hates the madness that comes along with it.

BRODY CARMICHAEL - SON OF JAMES 

brody never really had to work to be the favourite of his parents - he just is. he had the right amount of intelligence, cockiness and charm to keep adults on side throughout his whole life. ironically, out of everybody in the third generation, he’s probably the biggest fuck up too but the adults turn a blind eye to it because it’s him.  a huge reason he’s favoured by james is because he was clearly enough for charles to allow him to marry his oldest daughter, disney. this was such a big deal for james because charles has a LOT of connections (shady and not shady) in the entertainment industry and he knew the merger between the companies would keep the carmichael legacy in tact for generations.  brody usually rises to being the favourite and is slightly smug about it, but he also cracks the most under pressure and has had dozens of meltdowns over the span of his life growing up.

MILES CARMICHAEL - SON OF JAMES

miles is the youngest...son...of james. james has no idea that patricia had an affair and that miles isn’t actually his son. miles has always struggled severely with keeping up with his siblings. he developed common but crippling mental health issues in his pre-teen years such as depression and anxiety. it started with acting out and being a “problem child” but quickly developed in being too scared to leave the house. he locked himself away and wasted away his young years not really interacting with anyone outside of his immediate family. on top of that, he had he achievements of brody, mason, anastasia and leo to remind him of what a failure is...eventually he just stopped trying.  these days his siblings are supportive and aware of how he can get. his cynicism is literally his humour and he’s just taking one day at a time.

BELLA CARMICHAEL - DAUGHTER OF JAMES

bella was dubbed the next brody. all of her siblings adore her and so do her parents and grandparents. she’s the second child who can do absolutely no wrong in anybody’s eyes. bella was a young star and worked in hollywood making tv cameos long before she started school. she had two lives; her school and dance life, and her celebrity life. she grew up with more life experience than other kids and this made her painfully cunning. she knew exactly how to get people on side and had whoever she wanted wrapped around her little finger.  she and brody were hit hardest by james’s death. bella was all over the place and gained a little weight - something she wasn’t familiar with after being petite her whole life. she’s now just trying to stable herself again.

THEO CARMICHAEL - SON OF JOHNATHAN

SYNN’S CHARACTER

HERA CARMICHAEL-RUSH

hera is the middle child of sinead. she too is inteligent and calculated but she’s also the opposite of the james’s girls. hera has never worked a day in her life and has no intention to. she’s a socialite and just like her mother, does what she wants when she wants to. she lives off of mommy’s money (because her dad bailed on them and honestly, fuck him). hera also came out as bisexual at a christmas party because she knew it’d make sylvia uncomfortable. she’s a wind up and enjoys getting a rise out of people.

OPHELIA CARMICHAEL-RUSH

ophelia is old enough to remember the messy divorce of her parents and adopted her mother’s bad-ass and care free attitude towards it from that day on. she hates her dad for what he did to their family but doesn’t let it hold her back and when she turned 18, she took him to court to keep her name on the inheritance of his million dollar winery business...and won. she’s the trailblazer for her quieter and more introverted siblings. she’s someone who knows she’s gorgeous and uses her looks to her advantage. 

LUNA CARMICHAEL-RUSH

luna has always been shy and hid behind the bolder personalities of her sister’s. she used to feel boring because of it but has quickly accepted that’s who she is and she’s happy with it. as she becomes 26, she’s starting to feel extremely embarrassed and insecure about her lack of experience with anybody. yet, her father walking out makes her find it hard to connect with and trust people. she has high standards and no standards at the same time and is really lost in terms of her romantic relationships. HOWEVER, she is thriving in her career and mason has featured her as an actress in many projects. she currently attends rosewell and enjoys the french culture.

DAMUS CARMICHAEL-RUSH

damus is a pastiche of every criminal and calculated act a carmichael before him has committed. he actively seeks out trouble and due to not being able to find his “place” in the family, he seems to like to win the affections of his elders by getting involved in dodgy dealings that they’ve set up - particularly those of james and johnathan. damus gets a rush out of being in on his family’s darkest secrets but he also feels like a spare part - the one who gets put into dangerous scenarios because the others are too precious to do so.

third generation age order: - katelyn  - anastasia  - leo - thomas - ophelia   - mason  - brody - hera - luna   - ruby - miles   - bella  - damus 

fourth generation (work in progress): - darcy and wren, children of anastasia  - fleur and dixie, daughters of brody  - victoria and peter, children of mason  - jacob and harlow, son of theo

[dysfunctional-college-roommates]

Okay, so this is my very last-minute gift for @nakasomethingkun through @aftgexchange. So, I meant there to be stuff related to the 4th of July and to Andreil reuniting during their long-distance relationship, and this... sort of has that stuff. Anyways, it might not be exactly what I meant it to be, but I kind of like it, so hopefully you will, too?

[Now on AO3 with some minor edits]

Neil Josten didn’t pay much attention to birthdays. He willfully ignored his own, did little more than slide a phone to Andrew on his, and in that tradition, America’s birthday was hardly a blip on Neil’s radar.

Other people turned the Fourth of July into an entire spectacle party. Other people woke up early, spent hours in the car, and made their way to a beach or a backyard. They made small talk with people they would have avoided otherwise; they drank more than they would have otherwise; they ate food they wouldn’t have otherwise. Other people turned a regular day into something else, like it was so unique that this country had come to be.

Maybe it was Neil’s life growing up that had made him feel this way. When he was nine, all he’d wanted was to see the fireworks. But the FBI had been watching, looking for evidence of his father’s criminal activity. Neil hadn’t understood that at the time, but he’d pieced it together since. He’d been told that he couldn’t go outside to watch from the lawn; he couldn’t even peek out the window. He’d sat on the living room floor and simply listened to the sound of them while his mother read a book. And then he’d gone to bed.

Since then, Neil had spent more than a few Fourths in other countries. Sometimes they were in a city with a large enough population of foreigners that their accents weren’t memorable, and sometimes there had been sparse parties tripping through the streets. When he was fourteen, Neil had heard the commotion of them outside his window, but he hadn’t understood what it was for. He hadn’t realized the significance until the next day, as his mother hurried him past someone’s abandoned American flag T-shirt in the street.

The past few years had been a little better for Fourth of July experiences. There had been waterskiing with Allison (well, watching Allison waterski while the rest of them had struggled to understand the physics of standing on water). There had been grilling with Wymack and Abby (they’d left Kevin with the grill for one minute, and all the burgers had wound up burnt). There had been, best of all, sitting in the house in Colombia with Andrew, lights off, trading truths as the fireworks exploded somewhere else.

But this year, Neil hadn’t given much thought to it. Nicky had said something back in May about petitioning his office for a party (and how it was totally going to work this year), but no one else had brought up any plans for the holiday. Neil, for his part, had expected practice. This was one of the nice things about professional Exy: there were no class schedules to get in the way. Neil’s coach, he knew, was more organized than most with regard to the practice schedule, but Neil kind of liked the predictability. Routine was a luxury that he could suddenly afford.

This was what Neil could expect from his routine: Monday and Wednesday, he was in the weight room in the morning, running light drills in the afternoon; Tuesday, he was running drills all day; Thursday, he played at least one scrimmage; Friday, there were drills in the morning, and maybe another scrimmage. Every third Friday, they had off, though, and Saturday was a free practice day – you were free to do what you wanted as long as it was practice. Sunday was their day off. These were facts that Neil could use to plan visits to Andrew. They were facts that he could use to predict what tomorrow would look like, and that was a comfort to someone who hadn’t always known where or if he would be by the end of the day.

Here was something that liked to muck with predictability: holidays. Holidays shifted trash day so that Neil’s trash was sitting at the curb for an extra day. Holidays closed businesses that he’d needed to get to. Holidays shoved aside the normal setup of stores for weeks beforehand, making it impossible to find the stupid bag of Oreos that had been right there last week.

None of these inconveniences had reminded Neil of the Fourth quite yet – and the explosion of red-white-blue at the front of the grocery story was hardly noticeable against the backdrop of his team’s aggressive marketing scheme. Here was what reminded Neil that the Fourth of July was approaching: on Thursday, Coach Garces sat them down after their last scrimmage and said, “All right, here’s the holiday schedule for next week.”

Neil looked around at his teammates in confusion. He wasn’t quite at home here yet, wasn’t quite sure of himself when it came to speaking up in this group. He’d been so completely comfortable with the Foxes that it was weird, being uncertain now.

In any case, no one else on the team looked confused – or looked, in general; they were all just paying full attention to the coach. She continued, “Now, some of you – you know who you are – have let me down before and will be doing special practices with me all weekend. But the majority of you are getting the benefit of the doubt. You will keep up your training over the next week – I want you running drills on a court at least twice, and keep up your weight-room routines. A single one of you comes in unprepared or hungover next Thursday, and you’re all stuck with me for Labor Day.”

There was silence as the team processed this. Finally, one of the guys recruited around the same time as Neil – something Freeman – spoke up. “Are you serious, coach?”

“We only got a couple days last year,” added Samantha Li, who’d been with the team for a few years now.

“Maybe I’m being generous,” Coach Garces replied, standing up with her clipboard as a general indication that she was done with their questions. As she headed for the exit, she added over her shoulder, “Or maybe I’m showing my gratitude that there was no rotten egg prank this Easter, Bell.” She tapped the doorframe with her clipboard. “Availability schedules for the court and weight room will be up in thirty minutes.”

As several of the players started swearing to Bell that they’d told him she was onto him, Neil just sat there. Just a few years ago, Neil never would have dreamed of choosing anything over the opportunity for extra Exy practice. He would have been in Garces’ office right now, asking if he could join the group who were being punished. And yet –

“Josten!” Samantha Li called from across the meeting room. She was one of the better strikers on the team, so they were friendly. “Hey, you plan on sitting there all night?” she teased. “Or do you want to come out for celebratory drinks? I’m buying!”

A cheer went up from several of their teammates, and Samantha looked around at them disdainfully. “Sorry,” she said, “not for y’all.” Samantha could be kind of ruthless; Andrew, when Neil had first described her, had suggested without concern that if she ever met Allison, they would destroy either each other, or the world. Neil, personally, didn’t think that Samantha could quite measure up to Allison’s level of confidence and unflappable independence, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say so to her.

“Not planning on sitting here all night,” Neil replied, standing to prove his point, “but not going out either. Sorry.” He knew he didn’t sound apologetic, but he wasn’t sorry for that, either.

Samantha crossed her arms, but she didn’t look angry. “Plans?” she inquired. Neil shrugged. He thought about how, just a few years ago, his plans would have been to hole up on the empty court and get in as much extra practice as he could. He thought about players he’d faced off against in college, the ones who’d already been tapped to join the US Court. He thought about Kevin and Ichirou, each awaiting greatness from him, but for different reasons. He thought about Andrew.

Andrew, who expected from Neil only what Neil expected from himself, and only because Neil expected it from himself. Andrew, who was possibly the best goalkeeper that Exy had ever seen, but had already told him, in not so many words, that he refused to be on two Exy teams without Neil. Andrew, who claimed to hate Exy, but put in extra hours when Neil was there. Andrew, who he could be with in just a few hours by plane.

“I might,” Neil said. “Not for sure, but – yeah. I’m pretty sure I have plans.” He grabbed his gear bag off the floor and offered the room at large what Andrew had once called his ‘I’ve hidden the explosives somewhere in this building’ smile. “See you all next week.”

Andrew had mixed feelings about airports these days. He still wasn’t a huge fan of flying, and he was even less a fan of crowds. The crowds were even more of a nuisance these days, with the periodic appearances of Andrew’s face on billboards and commercials (the PR team had only made the mistake of not giving him a heads-up once). There always seemed to be people taking his picture, people staring, people asking for autographs, no matter how many times he pulled knives on anyone who got too close. No matter how many times he categorically refused to give an autograph to anyone taller than he was (he’d picked that one up from Neil).

There was one good thing about the airport, however, and that was that it connected him to Neil. Well, occasionally, Andrew was just the slightest bit appreciative that it brought Aaron or Nicky to visit, too, but that hardly made a dent in the downsides of the airport. The true redemption of the place came from reunions with Neil in baggage claim.

But Andrew was running a little late today.

It was Neil’s fault, of course – he’d called during practice, of all things, and announced that he was about to leave for the airport. He’d given Andrew the arrival time, but with no advance notice, he hadn’t been able to leave early. He’d turned his usual shower into a thirty-second rinse, dumped his gear in a heap in the back of the car, and spent most of the drive breaking the speed limit, but still, he’d arrived after the plane. In fact, by the time he pushed through the doors, the conveyor belt was already starting to spit out luggage from Neil’s flight.

And yet, where was Neil? Andrew watched Neil’s obnoxious orange duffel bag make a lap around the carousel and tried not to think about the last time he’d seen Neil’s bag without Neil. There were a million scenarios that he was carefully not thinking about. He’d scanned every person in the crowd at least five times now – a full plane mulling around, grabbing their bags and greeting their loved ones. Except for Neil.

Neil, Neil, where was Neil? Andrew hated him for doing this to him. Minutes ago, every cell in his body had been zinging with the anticipation of seeing Neil again, and now every cell was screaming with possibility that he might not. He couldn’t stand the fact that he was always so far from Neil, that he was always so out of the loop on what was going on with Neil. He hated that it was possible for him to pass hours with Neil hurt and him not knowing a thing about it.

Andrew was getting ready to sound the alarm, to muscle his way through airport security and damn the consequences. He was ready to search every plane in the airport. And then Neil walked out through the gate exit, chatting with a couple of flight attendants. Neil could start a conversation with anyone, as long as it was about Exy. Andrew was going to kill him.

Neil’s eyes were already darting around the room, even as his hands made gestures and his mouth kept moving. He found Andrew in a matter of seconds, his sentence turning into a smile that did stupid things to Andrew’s pulse. It really was uncanny how easily Neil could find him, and even more so how he could give Andrew these feelings like reminders of being alive.

And Neil was still grinning at him, but he was still talking to the flight attendants, like he had all the time in the world. It was almost unbearable – it would be, if Andrew didn’t like looking at that anticipatory expression so much. Neil’s gestures were faster now, and Andrew knew – he knew – that Neil was talking about him. He’d seen it too many times now, and yet, every time was like the world was ending. Andrew hadn’t seen too many people talk that way about him – like they wanted to be talking about him – before Neil.

Finally, Neil shed his flight attendant posse and sprinted over to Andrew. He still had that anticipation grin when he stopped less than an arm’s length from Andrew. He held out his hand near Andrew’s clavicle, waiting. Andrew responded by reaching up to put his own hand on Neil’s shoulder, a consent through similar action. Neil let his hand gently fall, his index finger curling around the side of Andrew’s neck while the others curved over the top of his shoulder. Andrew let himself rest his jaw against Neil’s thumb as his own thumb stroked along Neil’s jaw.

“I think your bag has gone around three times by now,” Andrew commented, and even after all these years, that quiet tone in his own voice was unfamiliar to him.

Neil was smiling that sort of smile that Andrew didn’t want to name, that it would hurt too much to name. “You could have grabbed it for me,” he commented.

“That is a service I only provide in the event of a kidnapping,” Andrew replied, keeping inflection out of his voice to hide that the association, the possibility had infested his mind so recently.

Neil squeezed his shoulder, as if to say, I’m here, I’m okay. “I should get my bag before they think I’ve abandoned it,” he said. Most of other passengers had already left the area, and only the few who’d taken a detour after deplaning were still looking for their bags.

“It’s been a while since a federal agency had a word with you,” Andrew remarked, a sort of agreement.

Neither of them moved. For minutes, they just stood there, watching each other faces, even though there were no surprises there. Then Neil said, “I don’t want to kiss you in an airport.”

Andrew did not laugh, but he was amused. He did have to admit that it was a very cliché idea, the kiss at baggage claim. He chose not to mention that they’d done it anyways, the first few reunions. Instead, he took his hand from Neil’s shoulder and grabbed his fingers with it instead. He told him, “I think you should get your bag, then.”

[shervonfakhimi]

The NBA’s Version of Doctor Strange’s Finger Point

In ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ when Tony Stark and Peter Parker were deliberating with the Guardians of the Galaxy on whose plan was best to stop Thanos in their tracks, Dr. Strange was meditating and using his time stone to look into the future to see 14,000,605 different scenarios in which Thanos would be defeated. He only saw one, he told Tony. Fast forward to ‘Avengers: Endgame’ during the epic fight scene towards the end of the movie where he lifts his finger after he initially refuses to answer whether or not *this* would be the one of 14,000,605 scenarios where they won, letting Tony know it’s either now or never. While not to the level of extreme as the fate of half the entire universe for sure, we have finally met our NBA equivalent of this moment.

In the 3rd quarter of Game 5 as the Warriors’ double digit lead was crumbling right in front of their eyes, Kevin Durant rose for a pull-up jumpshot just around the right elbow, splashing it with Iman Shumpert in his grill. However, he hobbled back to his defensive duties, raising questions as to whether he really did get hurt and how severe it may be. (Also, what the hell Reggie Miller? It’s your job NOT to speculate and make all of us panic like he suffered a catastrophic injury.) Fortunately, Kevin Durant suffered only a grade 1 right calf strain amidst the heavy burden he has had to carry this postseason. While good news, he is still expected to miss time and almost surely will miss the rest of this series. That means the Rockets have the best chance of anybody to knock off this iteration of the Warriors, and why the Game 5 loss stings so severely.

The positive side for the Warriors is that after Steph Curry got out of his massive Game 5 funk, forcing contested 3s and missing layup after layup, he stepped up amidst KD’s injury and pulled Game 5 out from nothing. Golden State still has been a positive in Steph’s minutes without Durant this season and postseason, but nothing quite of the sorts when both are killing it together at the same time. Their +4.4 Net Rating with Steph Curry on the floor and Kevin Durant off the floor would rank 6th in the NBA during the 2018-19 regular season, so they still clearly can be a worthy competitor to the Rockets without KD. However, Steph’s usage rate rises exponentially without Durant, as evidenced by his Game 5 late game barrage, meaning he’ll have to carry a heavy burden again to win one of these last two games. So we know Steph can step it up, and assuredly his fellow splash brother Klay Thompson (who apparently didn’t get my Endgame reference), Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala have stepped up in big games before, so the Warriors got this down pat, right? Well, I’m not so sure.

Members of the pre-Durant Warriors are still there, but this is not the same ‘strength in numbers’ Warriors of year’s past. Their defense is not the same as in year’s past (they weren’t even a top 10 defense in the regular season) and will surely take a step back there without Durant’s ability to mold into whatever the team needs him to do on that end of the floor. Placing fellow Game 5 hero Kevon Looney or Andrew Bogut into the starting lineup in Durant’s spot cramps an already volatile at best spacing for the Warriors outside of Steph and Klay, but brings more rim protection that they now lack without Durant. Alfonzo McKinnie is maybe the closest facsimile to former Warrior Harrison Barnes in terms of his ability to switch defensively and hit shots (he did shoot 35% from 3 in the regular season but only 21% in the postseason), but is still a downgrade from even him. Quinn Cook or Jonas Jerebko bring more firepower on offense but will be hunted to no end defensively. Jordan Bell and Jacob Evans seem like long shots to play and haven’t gotten seemingly any burn in non-garbage time. The Warriors don’t have many options outside of leaning on their Death Star lineup studs *even more* (this is where not having DeMarcus Cousins as a big body who can buy offense and could be a counter for the Rockets’ ‘Tuckwagon’ small ball lineup of their own, which has been amongst the best in the league since this series has started) with Looney in Durant’s spot.

Not only are the Warriors now beat up without Durant, they haven’t played with the same tenacity as year’s prior. Perhaps they’ll be rejuvenated to prove to everyone (including Durant?) they don’t need him. But, whether it be the 31 point Clipper lead, getting handed to on their home floor by the Clippers in Game 5 of that series, letting Game 3 of this Rockets series slip after Durant carried them to the lead in the 4th quarter of that game or letting Houston hang around in Game 5, missing opportunity after opportunity to put that game, the Warriors have not had the same strange-hold on opponents. Teams have caught up to them math-wise and don’t fear them the way they did even two years ago. Perhaps that could be due to their 11th best defense in the postseason. Heck, the Rockets have bended the math so far that they have skewed the 3 point line into *their* advantage (the Rockets have made 25 more 3s in this series so far). James Harden only shot three times late in the 4th quarter, but still made the right plays with the ball in his hands. It still would have been nice to see him dominate late and carry his team to a victory, but you’d think he’d go full throttle to win these next two games. Same for Chris Paul. Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers and PJ Tucker have been fantastic defensively switching on the perimeter to ensure Steph and Klay don’t get free. Steph has only shot 39.3% from the field this series and 26.2% from 3 on 19.8 shots per game. Klay’s only shot 41.7% from the field and 34.7% from 3 on 16.4 shots per game. The series has been close (6 points, to be exact) all the way throughout, and that mostly with Durant not only playing, but dominating, especially since when he let us know who he is.

Houston already *could* have won this series if Durant were healthy and now he’s gone. Last year when Chris Paul went down, Houston and many others thought the Rockets should have won that series. While I bet it wouldn’t have the same glory as if KD were healthy, I do know the Rockets would take it either way. If anyone would know, getting through the labyrinth of the NBA playoffs is as much about health and luck as it is about actual basketball. It might not matter; one hot shooting night is easier to muster than two and that’s all Golden State needs. Speaking of one, however, that’s how many fingers all of those Golden State detractors are holding up. Because, like Doctor Strange, they know this is the best shot at taking the Warriors down. The fate of the (basketball) universe is at stake because of it.

[yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog]

Mark Rypien's Super Bowl legacy goes from triumph, to tragedy, to triumph again

MINNEAPOLIS – Mark Rypien was a special quarterback for one season, and only one season.

The only other time the Super Bowl was played in Minnesota, Rypien finished a season that is unlike any other in NFL history. In 1992, Rypien’s Washington Redskins beat the Buffalo Bills, 37-24. Rypien was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVI.

It’s not exactly fair to call Rypien a one-year wonder. He made a Pro Bowl in 1989, as an injury replacement when Joe Montana and Don Majkowski were hurt. He had a solid run of success from 1988-90. But nothing else in his career approached what he did that 1991 season.

Other players have had exactly one great season in the NFL. Washington had one later on named Robert Griffin III, for example. We’ve seen Super Bowl heroes come and go quickly. Timmy Smith, anyone? But nobody through the history of Super Bowl MVPs has put together a full, great season like Rypien had, and never again reached that level of success before or after. Rypien was one of the best players in football in 1991, and won a title. By 1994 he wasn’t even a starter in the league anymore.

Mark Rypien won Super Bowl XXVI MVP after Washington beat the Buffalo Bills. (AP)

That Super Bowl changed his life in ways we all could guess.

“You can’t write your name, sign an autograph, without writing ‘Super Bowl XXVI MVP,’” Rypien said.

It also changed his life in ways he never could have predicted. He is now consumed with the Rypien Foundation, which helps children with cancer and their families. He’s the group’s chairman, and has helped it grow to fantastic success. It had a net revenue of more than $921,000 in 2015, according to tax returns. It became his life’s mission after losing his 3-year-old son Andrew to cancer in 1998.

Rypien understands that the one great day he had at the Metrodome so many years ago isn’t simply one reason his foundation has been able to help thousands of kids battling cancer.

“It’s the only reason,” Rypien said.

*****

Rypien’s 1991 season didn’t come out of nowhere, but close. His first three seasons as a starter, he had 37 interceptions in 33 games. He was considered too mistake-prone for the Redskins to win big. Late in training camp in 1991 there was still a lingering question about whether Rypien would hold off Stan Humphries for the starting job.

“We thought he was good,” said NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly, who was in Washington’s front office from 1977-99 and was general manager of the 1991 team. “Did we think he was elite? In all honestly, he hadn’t done it enough to think that.”

The 1991 season was a perfect convergence, for Rypien and the team. The Redskins had great players – Jim Lachey, Charles Mann, Art Monk, Darrell Green. Gary Clark, Mark Schlereth and Joe Jacoby among them – but it was a team defined by depth. There were no real weaknesses.

“I think Joe Gibbs said it’s the easiest season he had,” Casserly said. “The players were prepared to work every day.”

Washington started the season beating Detroit 45-0, which was the largest win in team history. The Redskins began the regular season 11-0, and finished 14-2. Their two losses were by five combined points. The Redskins won their playoff games by 17, 31 and 13 points. They had 12 wins by double digits and nine wins by at least 20 points. You don’t often see that level of domination in the NFL.

Football Outsiders’ advanced stats rank the 1991 Redskins as the greatest team of the past 30 years by a landslide. In 2016 USA Today ranked the 1991 Redskins as the greatest Super Bowl champion.

“The science and the numbers and the stats say we were the best team and it wasn’t close,” Rypien said. “So we have that to hang our hats on.”

Rypien threw for 3,564 yards and 28 touchdowns, both of which led the NFC. Rypien’s strength was throwing the deep ball, and he did so with amazing accuracy that season. His 8.19 net yards per attempt is seventh-best in a single season all time, and the top six spots are occupied by some of the most iconic quarterback seasons in NFL history. Rypien got eight MVP votes. He finished fourth behind Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly and Barry Sanders, three cinch Pro Football Hall of Famers.

“He couldn’t do anything wrong,” Casserly said.

A dream season culminated in Minneapolis. The Redskins crushed a Bills team that was great in its own right. Washington was just better. Rypien had 292 yards and two touchdowns. His deep passes were deadly, as usual. Rypien was named Super Bowl MVP, and it was well deserved. When the game was over he was picked for a then-famous commercial and yelled into the camera, “We’re going to Disneyland!” It was a most fitting end to his fairy-tale season.

Perhaps Rypien was in the right place at the right time. He had a world-class offensive line that allowed nine sacks in 19 games, a great running game, three fine receivers in Monk, Clark and Ricky Sanders, and a Hall-of-Fame coach in Gibbs. But don’t call his 1991 season a fluke. Rypien had a great season, from the blowout of Detroit in the opener through the Super Bowl.

“We all played the best when it mattered most,” Rypien said. “I do also say, I played at a high level when it mattered most. That’s when I get some self-satisfaction.”

And then, perhaps just as improbably as he emerged as a star, Rypien’s reign as a top quarterback vanished almost overnight.

After nearly winning MVP in 1991, Mark Rypien threw 17 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in his final two Redskins seasons. (AP)

*****

Rypien was just 29 years old when he reached the top of the NFL world. And after that season, he never came close to that level again. Rypien had a 97.9 rating in 1991, and a 67.7 rating after. He spent just two more poor seasons as a starter before settling in as a backup with four different teams. It’s a unique football tale.

In 1992 Rypien got a then-team record three-year, $9 million deal after holding out, but his season itself was frustrating with 13 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and a 9-7 record. Then Gibbs retired. In 1993 the Redskins went to the West Coast offense, a scheme that accentuated short passes. That was all the rage in the NFL, but it did not fit Rypien’s strengths.

The Redskins dominated the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys to start the 1993 season, but Rypien tore his meniscus in his knee the following week. He was supposed to be out 8-10 weeks. But with his team 1-3, Rypien came back after missing just two games. When he’s asked if he looks back on his career with any regret, that’s what he mentions.

“I felt for my guys. I wanted to come back so I came back early,” Rypien said. “I wasn’t 100 percent. I saw my guys struggling and there was a loyalty to them.”

On one good leg, Rypien was awful after he returned. He threw one touchdown to 10 interceptions in his final 10 games before hurting his knee again. Washington went 4-12. Less than two full years after leading an incredible team to a dominant Super Bowl win, Rypien was done as the Redskins’ starter – the team cut Rypien after he refused a pay cut and drafted Heath Shuler third overall a few months later – and he would never be a regular starter in the NFL again. He was just 31 years old, and labeled as a backup.

“It could have been the holdout, it could have been the injuries, and our team was not as good,” Casserly said in explaining Rypien’s fade. “Maybe defenses caught up to what he did with the deep balls. It was probably a combination of everything.”

Mostly, Rypien focuses on the positives. He had one unbelievable season. Most players don’t get that.

“I don’t know he has any regrets, because he’s humble enough to say, ‘I had an opportunity and I won a Super Bowl MVP,’” said Steve Rector, his childhood friend and the president of the Rypien Foundation. “Certainly he’s not disappointed about anything. He knows he had a unique opportunity and he took full advantage of it.”

Perhaps the way Rypien’s football career went after 1991 doesn’t bother him because he dealt with something far more devastating off the field.

*****

Rypien’s career log has a strange gap. He settled in as a backup with the Browns, Rams, Eagles and then back to the Rams from 1994-97. Then he was out of football for three years before a final hurrah as Peyton Manning’s backup with the Colts in 2001.

That gap is because he left the game in 1998. His 3-year-old son Andrew died after a battle with brain cancer that August.

“After that, I didn’t know exactly the fog I was in, and not having a compass in life and not giving a [expletive] about life,” Rypien said. “I didn’t know if I cared about life at all anymore.”

It wasn’t until he was brought the idea of starting a foundation to help children with cancer and their families that he found a way to refocus.

After a while talking about 1991 and the Redskins, he’s asked about his foundation. His voice finds a new energy. He excitedly explains how it got started in 2004, all the help from various businesses and leaders in the Spokane, Washington, community and the foundation’s various program. He goes on for 10 or 15 minutes without pausing for another question. He mentions that the foundation is the best way he can honor his son.

In 2006 the NFL honored former Super Bowl MVPs, going clockwise starting from left: Mark Rypien, Desmond Howard, John Elway, Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Terrell Davis, Larry Brown and Emmitt Smith. (AP)

The Rypien Foundation Children’s Emergency Center at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital is at the core of it all. The foundation wants to provide care, sometimes with forgotten things like dental care. It wants to help families however it can during a hard time. There’s a focus on kids being kids even when they’re sick, which is why there’s a movie theater and an outdoor terrace with games for them. The most recent addition is a hospital-based school with two full-time teachers. Kids who battle cancer often fall behind in their education, and the school helps them keep up. The school is named after Andrew Rypien.

“As tragic as Andrew’s passing was, in his mind it was a vehicle to take his success and channel it into making a difference,” Rector said.

Rypien spends a lot of his free time at the center, or doing fund-raising events. Rypien “breathes the foundation, 24/7/365,” according to Rector. Those fundraisers, like his many golf outings or an annual winemakers’ dinner, wouldn’t be as successful had it not been for Rypien’s magical 1991 season. People will always remember Rypien from that Super Bowl. There are weekends set up with Diamond Resorts International where members can tailgate and take in a Redskins game with Rypien,  the old Super Bowl hero.

When the NFL honored all of the Super Bowl MVPs at Super Bowl 50, Rypien was alongside some of the game’s all-time greats. He was introduced before the game right after Jerry Rice and Ottis Anderson, just before Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young. He says he has to pinch himself when he’s included in that group. But what endures for him isn’t being in the same group with Rice and Montana or seeing himself pumping his fists in slow-mo when they show Super Bowl highlights or the ring he has. It’s that what he did on Jan. 26, 1992 against the Bills allows him to help kids dealing with cancer, and also help their families whose pain he knows too well.

“It has opened up so many doors,” Rypien said. “They want to be part of hanging out with a Super Bowl MVP. They don’t want to be with a runner-up. But a Super Bowl MVP? You want to rub shoulders. That’s solely the reason we’ve been successful.”

In 2006 the NFL honored former Super Bowl MVPs, from left to right: Mark Rypien, Desmond Howard, John Elway, Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Terrell Davis, Larry Brown and Emmitt Smith.

Rypien knew on that day in Minneapolis many years ago that his life had changed. But he couldn’t have predicted how.

“Not in this way,” Rypien said. “The excitement was fun, to be a part of that team, and it was an incredible thrill. But to see what impact it has had so many years later, and it’s because of the win. It’s because of the win.”

Winning a Super Bowl, even as a bit of a flash in the pan, lives forever. Sometimes when Rypien goes back for a Redskins game (he says he usually does five games a year), hobnobbing with fans to raise money for his foundation, he’ll walk around the parking lot and stop at random tailgates.

“For a second they’re like, ‘Who are you … oh my God it’s Mark Rypien!” The reactions are great,” Rypien said. “It’s great to go back there and relive those days. The people remember that. They don’t forget.”

Mark Rypien has been running his foundation to help kids with cancer since 2004. (Photo courtesy of the Rypien Foundation).

– – – – – – –

  Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

[emblem-333]

Danny Ainge's Gamble On Kyrie Irving

I’m becoming more disenchanted with this stupid sport by the day. All the preconceived notions of sports I conjured in my youth have been disproven in the last few years. whisked away the illusion I had of loyalty still remaining prevalent in sports. The Spurs being the lone exception - players, coaches, general managers look out for primarily themselves. It’s why Gordon Hayward refused to take $500,000 less to make room on the roster without having to trade anybody. It’s why Paul George is in OKC, his old team is trying to throw a monkey wretch in their former player’s plan to return home to Los Angeles.

We don’t like it, even as fans benefit from it, the NBA is a business where childlike wonder doesn’t thrive. Old men go ring chasing, teams casually fire GMs and coaches every summer and trade players they don’t like regardless of how much they mean to fans and the team’s identity.

The Isaiah Thomas trade makes sense for the Boston Celtics in a computer. Kyrie Irving isn’t yet the superior point guard, but is younger, under contract for an extra season and will be cheaper to retain once a free agent in 2019 (he has a player-option for 2019 he’ll most definitely exercise). For all what Thomas was in Boston, he isn’t the ISO threat Irving is. He’s yet to hit his ceiling, while the 5-9 wonder hit his already and will only decline - coming off a server hip injury that’s derailed careers in the past, it isn’t unreasonable to believe we’ve seen the best of Isaiah Thomas.

Obtaining Gordon Hayward made the talented and prickly Jae Crowder expendable. You may disagree, certainly Ainge didn’t. It’s an armchair observation, but how far was your team going if Jae Crowder was your second best scoring option? He’s a wonderful player, he hasn’t been able to be the two-way threat he once was prior to J.R Smith slashing him in the playoffs in 2015. Still, Jae hit nearly 40% of his threes, hit an inordinate of twos (54%), and can get to the rim when his knees are healthy. In theory he should help your team defensively, yet for the last two seasons his DRtg jumps from 102 to 108, which isn’t scary, then you factor in his last two playoffs, against Atlanta in 2016 a hobbled Crowder put up a 99 DRtg. The next season, a healthy Jae, with defensive Swiss-army knife Al Horford, his rating jumped fifteen points.

Course, it isn’t easy guarding LeBron James. That can overemphasize anyone’s shortcomings. His DRtg rating was a solid 109 prior to the Cavs series for the postseason. Of course DRtg isn’t the definitive stat to accurately account someone’s worth on defense.

To me, Crowder is a solid two-way threat, when the offensive burden isn’t on him. If he is playing 27.5 minutes a night for you, as opposed to the 32.4 he played for Boston in 2016-‘17, his knees won’t wear down like they did and his jump shot may become more of a consistent threat in the playoffs. Outside of an explosive Game 1 vs Washington, Crowder shot 32.3% from beyond the arc in the post season prior, and 35% after. I’ve been of the unpopular opinion that he should take more TWOs than threes. The importance given the 3-point line been emphasized so much, a large chunk of the court has gone untouched. San Antonio exploited the glitch in the system against Houston, I wouldn’t mind seeing other teams try to do the same.

Ante Zizic in four-years will be Timofey Mozgov…

Evaluating the final Nets pick by the Celtics is most likely not of an opinion widely thought. Ainge believes the Nets aren’t a dumpster fire - and weren’t one last year, only when competent guard Jeremy Lin suited up for only 36 games did the Nets fail to crack more than 20-wins; 13-23 in games in where Lin started.

Newly acquired D'Angelo Russell has potential, is in dire need of a change of scenery. His basic stat line and per 36 are similar to Lakers favorite Kobe Bryant. Only in Laker Land was the second overall pick considered a bust upon arrival, never mind his first season being sacrificed to the Kobe Farewell Tour. His own coach threw him under the bus because D'Angelo caught a teammate cheating on his significant other. His second season things were more tame. Glimmers of a three-point shot showed, in a large sample between November 2016 and March of 2017, Russell hit 35.5% of his long-range attempts. 15.6 ppg, 4.8 asp, 3.5 rpg, and 1.4 steals per game. Keep in mind, Russell has had to make die with Julius Randle (an athletic forward without much of anything else), Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng taking up most of the cap room and clogging the lanes.

Jeremy Lin is an average backup pushed into a starters role because of the Nets depleted roster. Nonetheless he is still an actual basketball player. Prospects Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are at least better than Randle. The gigantic elephant in the room is Brook Lopez - the second best player in Nets history is no longer starting at center. Subbing Lopez for Mozgov certainly is a downgrade. The complete roster of the Brooklyn Nets despite this is still superior to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brooklyn added DeMarre Carroll when healthy is a decent starting forward, that’s loss a step from his days in Atlanta, but can still defend his position. And though I despised the trade, Allan Crabbe is a better player than Andrew Nicholson. Crabbe cannot do much but shoot. It is debatable whether he’s any better than Lin to start at SG. Both aren’t positive forces on defensive, their impact limited to their ability to shoot the ball. Except Lin can run the offense, where Crabbe cannot. But having D'Angelo makes Lin expendable.

Factoring in the laughable top-heaviness of the league, teams are undoubtedly tanking for next year’s draft. Atlanta, Indianapolis, Chicago, Orlando, New York, Phoenix are purposely going to lose fifty-plus games. New Orléans did not try to lose last season and were bad enough to stay in the latter parts of the lottery. Sacramento has time and time again appeared in the middle of the lottery, even without trying. There is no reason to believe the Kings won’t duplicate that result this upcoming season. In Los Angeles, if Danilo Gallinari and Blake Griffin aren’t ever healthy, the Clippers are out of the playoff race by Christmas, they could shut down their roster to get a high draft pick.

Perhaps the Nets are one of many teams who’ll win twenty-five to thirty games and by the fate of the ping-pong balls will land outside of the top-5. This is the gamble Danny Ainge is making. The package of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizc is enough for Irving - a top-5 lottery pick means he wildly overpaid for a player not better than IT.

As for Irving…yes, he isn’t better than Thomas…for now. I am probably being generous when assuming if he is healthy Thomas will still be better than Irving for the 2017-‘18 season. After that however, Thomas will never be an All-Star caliber player again. Thomas is on the back-9 of his career, his game relying on explosive speed, athleticism to get his shoots. Often he finds himself knocked to the ground, his wrist getting slapped, body being smacked around adds wear and tear to his body. Opposing teams running him off screens, making it impossible to get his shot off without it getting blocked. Yet, all that swarming of Isaiah for 2.5 years hasn’t deterred him from playing at a high-level.

Irving doesn’t need to worry about the same limitations Thomas does. But his game is far from altruistic. He’s an unwilling passer, and yearns to be the next Kobe Bryant; believes strongly in “Mamba Mentality”.

I can understand Kyrie wanting to leave LeBron. The third-greatest player of all-time is an asshole. There’s no need for nuance. Irving values a franchise that is stable. Well, he’ll get that in Boston. He wants to be the straw that stirs the drink, all of the assists coming from him. Is Irving the best player on the Celtics? Probably not. Does he give a fuck? No.

It’s frustrating because Irving has shown he can pass, hit his man off the cut, showing off his court vision. Unfortunately he doesn’t wish to play that way all the time, only in short spurts. He’s going to dominate the ball, and I worry he thinks the only way to silence his critics is to have an impeccable stat line even if the loses pile up.

We can point to him and LeBron’s disappointing regular season, finishing 23-23 en route to an underwhelming 51-win total. But keep in the mind the massive upheaval the roster went under mid-season and the age of the core role-players. Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver, J.R Smith are in their mid-30s, and the unimaginative offense helmed by LeBron and Ty Lue did little to get worth out of them.

When push came to shove, on the grandest of stages Irving showed he can single handily destroy all your hopes and dreams. Everyone points to his Game 4 throat-stomp of the Celtics. Let’s not forget after Irving hit 48.6% of his shots, 43.6% of his threes, and averaged 28.5 points and nearly 5 assists.

Irving is a mixed bag. For all the talent he possesses he just wants to score. That’s all he wants to do. But the fact he’s going from Ty Lue to Brad Stevens has to count for something right? Name one player that’s passed through the Stevens vortex and hasn’t improved? Even Tayshaun Prince’s corpse hit 55.9% of his field goal attempts.

In two-years Kyrie Irving can become the best point guard in the N.B.A. It’s only a matter of if he wants to do it his way or not.

For now, he’s fourth best in the East - eighth best in the entire league. He’s played for four overmatched coaches, before James’ return, Irving’s best teammates were Jarret Jack and Seth Curry. He is moving into a situation where All-Stars Gordon Hayward and Al Horford are his best two guys. The tools are on the Celtics roster for Kyrie to be great.

In a computer this trade made sense. The cynical side of me likes this trade because Thomas is of no use to us beyond next season - he may not even be of use this season if his hip injury sidelines him. But Celtics Nation had reached a point up until the trade they’d rather lose with Isaiah Thomas than win with anybody else.