Kyrie Irving backtracks on 15-year veteran comment

The Boston Celtics are having a solid year this year but sometimes, solid ain't enough for some people

The team is in fourth place in the NBA's Eastern Conference which isn't exactly what people were expecting--although there is still time for them to right the wrongs and improve their squad.

That said, Kyrie Irving offered a solution earlier in the week that had a lot of people freaking out. Following a loss, he said he thought the team could use a 14-15 year veteran to help them improve. He walked back on that statement though after the team beat the Chicago Bulls Wednesday.

"I think I was speaking in general for where we are as a team in terms of what we have in here as a group, and obviously speaking to the responsibility that's put on me as well as Al (Horford) as well as (Marcus Morris) and Gordon (Hayward) to be the leaders of this team," Irving told MassLive. "And we're all relatively young as well. Al's the oldest out of all of us, he's 13 years in, 12 years in."

He added, "I think I was speaking just in general, because obviously there's a lot of movement going on around the league as usual this time. I wasn't speaking about anyone specific. I just was speaking to like a vet that's been through a championship run, through championship runs, that's able to be patient with this team as well as understand what we're going through of just figuring out the pieces and how they mesh well together."

There were a lot of rumors flying around that maybe he was referring to a guy like Carmelo Anthony because that's about how long he has been in the NBA. But no, apparently that's not the case.

Let's be real: a guy like that might actually help the team, but I get it: you don't want to say stuff that could irk teammates. Who knows though? Maybe they'll be fired up now and play better basketball...