Don't boo Kyrie Irving, at least not tonight

Kyrie Irving–perhaps the best pound-for-pound finisher in the NBA, the #1 pick that lived up to it, the signer-of-long-term-Cleveland-deals-before-it-was-cool, the name on the back of my kid’s jersey, and most of all, the man who hit the biggest shot in Cavaliers NBA history–returns to Cleveland tonight.

Yes, he has his quirks. He may not believe in a spherical planet underneath his feet, he may not be interested in playing on a team certain to contend for the NBA Title again, he wants to be more famous than the best player on the planet. This summer his apparent dislike for LeBron James led to him asking for, and receiving, a trade, to the number one Eastern Conference threat, the Boston Celtics. And whoo, boy, Cavs fans don’t know how to react when they tip off the season tonight.

Does he get the full Albert Belle/LeBron James White Sox/Heat treatment? I should hope not. I would hope that forever, Kyrie Irving is loved–or at least remembered fondly–by Cavs fans. Shoot, I’d buy him a drink if I saw him, from now until eternity because of 2016. But of course, there are fans who want to curse his name.

Please don’t.

Please remember this. And say “Thanks, Kyrie.”

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

Cheer appreciatively, then root your ass off against the Celtics. The trade they had to make to land Kyrie may have hurt their team as much as it helped them, and to be honest, may have done the same for the Cavs. Kyrie may be trying to drop little burns about a “real sports city”, which makes no sense, but LeBron is also twisting the knife with his constant reference to Kyrie as “the kid.”

If not for anything else, this should be an entertaining game. If LeBron is in, it will be fire. If LeBron misses the game because of his ankle, hey, the Cavs with DWade and DRose need to see what they can do.