Marcus Morris: 'Sometimes' Kyrie Irving's 'Emotions' Were Prioritized by Celtics

Details from the failed Kyrie Irving experiment in Boston continue to surface, and this time, it was former Celtics teammate Marcus Morris who lent insight to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. 

Morris, like Irving, departed the Celtics in free agency this summer. The 30-year-old forward signed a one-year deal with the New York Knicks and compared his new locker room with Boston's old one:

"The teams are different. We don’t have that one guy where it's like, okay, he's first. It's a team thing. No knock on Ky, but obviously he's a superstar, he's first. Sometimes his emotions were put in front of the team. I think here, we're all transparent with each other. We can all go up to each other and be honest with each other. That's the biggest thing, when you can go out and speak to your brother."

There were multiple reports last season concerning the Celtics' broken locker room dynamic, with Irving, who is now a Brooklyn Net, at the center.

"He takes the air out of the locker room," a member of the Celtics organization told Stadium's Jeff Goodman in May. "And you just never know what you're going to get with him."

Perhaps the biggest public example came in mid-January, when Irving called out his younger and less experienced teammates following a 105-103 loss to the Orlando Magic: 

"Experience, we're lacking it, and because of that, we have a lot of learning to do.

"We had nothing to lose last year. Nobody had any expectations. ... We come into this season with expectations, and it's real. ... That's new, it's tough and it's hard. What we're facing now is nothing compared to being on that stage, trying to get a gold trophy. It's hard now. What do you think it's going to be when we get to the Finals?

"We can't be comfortable being a fifth [seed]. I'm not comfortable with it."

Two days later, Irving clarified his intention behind the comments, noting that he just wanted to win "so bad" and vowing not to "question my teammates in public like that ever again." 

Frustrations would persist, though, and Boston entered the postseason as the fourth seed at 49-33. They lost 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Milwaukee Bucks. 

With the 2019-20 regular season tipping off Tuesday, the Irving-less Celtics will have to navigate the league as an underdog again, while Irving will take the pressure of championship expectations to Brooklyn—which will only be compounded by his eventual pairing with Kevin Durant, who is set to miss the campaign as he recovers from his Achilles tear.