Kyrie Irving admits being a leader has been more complicated than he ever imagined. Irving was called out on his passive-aggressive stance with younger teammates by Jaylen Brown.

"It wasn't really a pushback," Brown says. "In reality, I agreed with what Kyrie said. I just thought it was unfair to single out the young guys. We all needed to do better."

"There's been a lot of emphasis on the wrong things," Irving explained to ESPN. "People make it as if basketball is the most important thing in our lives. So, you [deal with] the money and expectations and all the things that come with being in a professional environment.

"I fought all that this season. It's not about having everything if you don't have the happiness of playing the game."

While the Celtics endured issues during the season, they are in a good place now.

"In hindsight, we could have been a lot better," Brown admits. "We were trying to figure this out. Not just us in the locker room, but Brad (Stevens) and the front office, too.

"Maybe we did a little too much talking in the media, and then we read it, and it separated us in some sense. But there's no bad blood in our locker room. There never has been."