Marcus Smart on Whether Kyrie Irving Ruined Celtics: 'Bulls--t; That's Bulls--t'

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart said the idea that point guard Kyrie Irving's leadership sabotaged the team's season was "bulls--t" Thursday.

Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe and Boston.com provided the NSFW video:

The Celtics, who were a popular pick to win the Eastern Conference, fell in the second round of the NBA playoffs to the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. Irving's leadership immediately came into question via numerous sources, including Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com and ex-Celtic center Kendrick Perkins.

Smart didn't agree with the assertion, however.

"It was hard for him as well," Smart said regarding Irving, who joined a Celtics team that made the Eastern Conference Finals the season before his 2017-18 arrival and did so again when the point guard was out for the entire 2018 postseason due to knee procedures.

"He was forced into a situation where it was business over the friendships, where he had to come into a situation with a group of guys knowing that they had something going before [he] came here," Smart said.

The Celtics guard also noted "it says a lot" that Irving didn't want to disrupt the team's success and chemistry upon his arrival despite his star-studded resume, which now includes six All-Star appearances and an NBA title.

Smart closed by saying that pointing the finger at one person was "bulls--t," considering that there are four other players on the court with Irving, 12-13 on the roster and an entire coaching staff.

On one hand, Irving probably didn't do himself any favors by making comments in the media regarding his teammates after tough losses.

As Bontemps noted, "Irving repeatedly would poke at the team's young players—specifically [Jayson] Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier—through the media. He wouldn't explicitly call them out ... But it was clear whom he was referring to."

On the other hand, Smart is right: Nearly everyone on the roster is culpable for the Celtics' disappointing finish. For example, Bontemps wrote "Brown spent the first several weeks of the season looking uncomfortable in the starting lineup, often forcing things."

Rozier struggled in a backup position and saw his player-efficiency rating dip from 15.1 to 12.9, according to Basketball Reference.

And Tatum struggled from the field. Per Bontemps: "[His] 0.69 points per direct isolation was the worst mark among 95 players with 100 such plays this season, per Second Spectrum data. The combination earned him a seat on the bench next to [Brad] Stevens on more than one occasion."

The bottom line is that Irving is partially responsible for the Celtics' early exit, but no single player deserves to be the primary scapegoat.