FIRST TAKE | Kenny Smith gives honest dose of reality to Stephen A. Smith over Kyrie Irving slander

but it's my time uh if one thing's for certain it appears Dallas was the right move for Kyrie Irving much of the talk this postseason has been regarding the changing narrative on Irving's Legacy outside of game four shooting struggles he has had a heck of a playoff run Kenny Smith during last night's TNT pregame show alluded to a conversation he and Stephen A had about Kyrie I want to play that for you has it been like a constant change in his thought process about him but the mass media um as a basketball player you know we're not talking about his political or social stances and looking at him in a negative view um and and I I'll say it I wasn't going to say but you know Ive I've never said it to Kyrie but I've said it to Stephen A because there one time Stephen A was an advocate about having a battle with this guy and I had to call Stephen I'm like this guy's from our our neighborhood I named like six people and I said Stephen those people mentored you mentored him so when you say something about him you're actually saying it about us all right Stephen A just heard Kenny there what's your reaction to his comments he made last night on TNT he was 1,000% correct and you know Kenny you know a lot of people are my brothers because I know him I got two brothers here I love both doggy and Jay um but Kenny Smith and I go back decades and his brother Vincent Smith trained me used to train me at lost Battalion Hall on Queens Boulevard doggy and Jay um from the time I was in junior high school that's how far back we go and when Kenny said what he said last night what I appreciated about it so much fellas is that I'm very very big if you going to quote me quote me accurately you want to hold me accountable hold me accountable but hold me accountable for things that I actually say and do as opposed to people's interpre ation of what I said that's what annoys me about today's world in this clickbait world that we're living in anybody can create anything Kenny Smith didn't do that what he said last night is exactly what he called me about more than a year ago and he brought up he mentioned about six dudes three come off the top of my head Rod Strickland um Kyrie's Godfather Gary Howard former executive director of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel former deputy sports editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer his brother Reggie Howard three of those individuals that I just mentioned are like family to me we go back decades I love them to death and we all had conversations religiously about it but when Kenny Smith called me and said to me he's from the neighborhood he's one of us and you know when you talking I understand where you coming from I understand how passionate and ferv you know fervent you feel about this you know Stephen A you got to think about that and the reason why it's so appropriate that Jay Williams is on this s is because Jay Williams and I has but have buted heads in the past you know when we sto butting heads Jay when Kenny Smith gave me that call because I was forc to then think about what you were telling and I said damn they got point and then months later Kyrie sees me Kyrie comes up and he says at this point man ain't even about me and you it's about you and my pops because we had gotten into it because of Kyrie and immediately when Kyrie said that I looked at him I said you're right I called his dad then he and his dad and I dric and I met up in New York City and we made am men's apologize to each other which is what men should do and I can honestly say that um Kenny Smith is a big reason for that Kenny Smith is a big brother to me he's somebody that I not only love and respect but I look up to I love him to death and I admire him and I respect him and I know how thoughtful he is and I honestly hadn't seen things the way that I ultimately ended up seeing it until he gave me that call and so I have to sit up here on national television and completely acknowledge that he was 10 he was 1,000% correct and accurate in every word that he uttered last night and I appreciate him and I love him for it yo Stephen I I got I mean Kenny Smith is a big brother to you you're a big brother to me uh that was one of the most awkward times we've had in our relationship that we had to navigate through yeah I I just commend you man like um obviously you are the best in TV and I say that looking directly at you like you have the power and I think a lot of people when they come on your show they recognize that and for you to be on national TV today to openly talk about that situation I don't think a lot of people on TV in positions like you have have a conscience the way you have right now man and I just want to commend you for that because it' be easy for somebody to kind of triple down or double down or do whatever they is that was in but that's why you're always built differently and I think the one thing about Kyrie or all of us the way we think is that we're all open to talk about and acknowledge things that we've done in the past it doesn't mean that's who we are in the future and um the one thing I'm going to say about the whole Kye thing that and it's not about you Stephen A I think during that time and there's a lot of stuff that happened with Kyrie I think one of the things that people missed at home because they only saw the sound bites that we ended up talking about they didn't get a chance to be in those locker rooms or around some of the media members is that every single day when you have to live with certain media members and I'm not talking about you Stephen I'm talking about people around the team right that have the job to ask questions everybody's trying to make a name in this industry in some form or fashion to a degree and I think sometimes when you get asked the question over and over and over again you feel like you're being put in the corner and sometimes the way you react to those questions doggy the third and the fourth time ends up becoming the sound bite that people talk about like it was the first time of course but you know contextually the world doesn't operate that way and then it becomes a Snowball Effect yep and I I think a lot of that occurred throughout the time with Kyrie where the frustration amounted to him feeling like he was in a corner and then combating certain narratives and the question around does this change the Legacy no I think certain people are going to think about Kyrie the way they're going to think about Kyrie for the rest of their lives there's nothing you can do about it but when you hear people like Stephen A and other people saying hey there's a lot of nuance to this this is different uh I'm glad we're having that conversation now because he didn't handle everything correctly but it's also not the way some of the media painted him out can I just say something really quickly and obviously I was sitting here when you guys had battles about it but he was clearly vilified in a lot of ways and I'm not trying to make light of the situation but in sports winning cures all right he's going out there right now averaging 25 points per game shooting 48% in the play no I'm not saying that but people for whatever reason people are looking at him differently now and now it's a different so I do feel like the narrative is changing currently as it's unfolding whether he wins a title or he doesn't yeah I think he's proved from a basketball standpoint I think everybody knows how great he is be S win a championship for Cleveland we saw him make that jumper over uh Curry everybody knows on the basketball court he is a tremendous yeah unbelievably great player and I tell you he's done a tremendous job in Dallas he went there off that trade he probably want to maybe go to La he went to Dallas he had a basically acquest to donic who was there first and was probably better at this point of his career than Kyrie has and he's played and he's played very well and this year has been superb now having said that you know to me there is a lot of scenarios in Kyrie off the court issues nothing that traumatic but the vaccine thing and left Boston and obviously the Nets that's not going to completely go away because that is part of his past and do do you completely trust Kyrie over a long period of time based how he's played in the last year and he's played great I'm not sure that that he's not going to get himself getting away again of his greatness because we all know how great he is is this going to continue for the next five or six years where he's not going to miss a road trip in the middle of January you know as he did with the Nets because he wanted to go to his uh he wanted to go to a birthday party is this going to continue I don't know for me it it feels like a new day Stephen A but respectfully you know I get where you're coming from doggy but this ain't the day to have that subject because really it's about we know what Kyrie did to mess himself up we're not walking away from that like the criticism that I was giving him at the time I just wanted him on the basketball court and I was saying damn there's always an excuse to miss basketball games but where Jay ultimately comes in where Kenny Smith comes in where Rod Strickland comes in to a lesser degree Gary Howard and various others come in was the fervor with which I spoke and so when Jay Williams is like there seems to be a little something extra and it would annoy the hell out of me because I'm like just say what you saying just say what you're saying well damn it Jay said it you see what I'm saying and I wasn't hearing it I was thinking about I'm speaking fact no I'm Stephen A this first tape it's the number one show I got this camera available to me two hours every weekday and I'm coming at it with a level of fervor that Jay Williams was saying saying was inconsistent with what they normally see Kenny Smith was in saying it was inconsistent with what they normally see Rod Strickland was saying it was inconsistent with what they normally see what I'm saying is I have to own that I have to own that's just I didn't see it it wasn't intentional that's how I felt but in the end that didn't make me right and when Kenny Smith said what he said to me M because I know he's my big brother I had to like damn I I I didn't see that way let me let me not forget to leave out Phil handy the former coach assistant coach with LA who was an assistant coach with Kyrie in Cleveland loves Kyrie dearly Kyrie loves him that's who Kyrie was hugging first when he won the championship with LeBron Phil handy also called me Love Phil handy these are real brothers and when they said what they said y as I reflect on it they right they right they were right Jay I want to get to something else uh one I respect you owning it and two like we said in this last segment it it's it's never too late to do the right thing right so so I appreciate that it's big of you a lot of people wouldn't do that there's some other sound I want to react to so also on last night's pregame show Draymond Green made mention of the comments he made on Shaq's podcast that were regarding Stephen A Smith so here's Dre apologizing for how it all went down I also got to say something sh I was on you podcast the big podcast you just mentioned Stephen A and I said something that didn't come out the way I said it so I want to apologize to him I said that publicly I'm going to apologize publicly the way I meant for it to come out it didn't so I was wrong for that I do apologize do you apologize to Stephen A yeah I apologize I was going to have he told me he going to fly down here and kick you all right I I ain't worried about that I ain't worried about that at all but I do apologize uh Charles is the best always bringing a little a little a little it feels so serious and then bring you a little levity the situation listen I'm just loving this moment all these men being accountable I mean how do I get this in my life Stephen A your reaction to Dre I gotta admit to you um I was shocked um and I think that the word that you know hit me was um it humbled it humbled me in certain ways from this standpoint um I thought it was a real big thing for him to do I never expected that and it just validated you know all the things that I feel about Draymond Draymond and I are pretty close and you know we've talked a lot over the years he's got a lot of things going on in his life that are very very beneficial and I think that there's a lot of things that he wants to accomplish Beyond his playing career and I'm always here to help anytime he needs anything from me so it would it took me a back when he said what he said because I knew that wasn't true I've always spoken up about his character and I've always been a supporter of his but the once I was grateful for his apology you know a bit of humility hit me because I started thinking about Alan Iverson and then when I fore [Music] speee [Music] for e e for [Music] spe for what me [Music] 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Channel: Repair man

Views: 62,369

Keywords: ESPN, Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, NFL, NBA

Id: 5fxAqFZ0ZWI

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2024