It's no secret that the Boston Celtics have not been the best team in the NBA this season. As a matter of fact, some might even say that despite all that they have achieved in the past few years, this team has still failed to live up to the lofty expectations many had/have on them. One such critic is none other than Charles Barkley.
Barkley did not mince words as he called out Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens as the two individuals who he believes should be held accountable for Boston's struggles of late:
“Danny Ainge is a good friend of mine, but he’s not done a good job with all those draft picks he had,” Barkley said ina recent interview on ESPN Radio’s Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin (h/t Mark Nilon of Fansided). “He hasn’t done a good job because he made a mistake with Kyrie Irving, I think he made a mistake with Kemba Walker, and, um, that team is not very good at all.
“Think about it — Boston had a hundred number one draft picks and they haven’t done anything with them. Now they’re irrelevant because there’s nobody in their right mind thinking, like, Boston is even close to being a contender so, like I say, you have to blame the guys.”
Shots fired from Sir Charles here. The Kyrie Irving saga is over in Boston, and we can all agree that–with the benefit of hindsight–bringing him to Beantown was not the best decision made by the front office. Barkley's remarks on Kemba Walker, however, are a different matter altogether. Walker is still in contract with the Celtics for the next two years, so for Barkley to call Kemba/Ainge out like this is pretty controversial.
Barkley did not stop there, though. He also blasted head coach Brad Stevens for the team's lack of success:
“Brad Stevens got to get some blame for it too because when they were winning we were patting him on the back, now we got to kick him in the ass,” Barkley claimed. “That’s not personal, that’s just how this business works now.”
Barkley has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself and this is yet another example of his no-holds-barred style of commentary. It will be interesting to see, however, what the Celtics faithful think about the Hall of Famer's hot take here.
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