Kyrie changing narrative of his career? Stephen A. gives Irving credit for playoff run | First Take

we know Kyrie Irving in the Celtics have some history Kyrie requested a trade from Cleveland was shipped to Boston in 2017 spending two seasons with the team in said in October 2018 he wanted to remain with the Seas for the Long Haul but after getting bounced by the Bucks in the conference semies in 2019 Kyrie broke his promise left to join the Nets as a free agent alongside Kevin Durant that summer and Kyrie compared the Boston fans to a quote scorned girlfriend and flicked off the crowd when the Nets faced Boston in the playoffs 2 years ago we know Kyrie has a history there here he is on the Celtics you know I had a rough time there when I was uh in Boston uh again just dealing with uh death in my family and dealing with a a lot of offc stuff that I I wasn't ready to handle so uh now that I'm in a great place uh to be able to vocalize how I'm feeling I'm ready to go back into Boston have fun with my teammates I know we're going to be locked in um and we're going against a great Boston team that has earned their to the NBA finals all right Wendy tell me this do you feel like Kyrie's completely changed The Narrative of his career in this playoff run he's in the process of doing it absolutely I think I think let's just maybe agree as a group which I know is impossible to have a conversation about Kyrie over this next week as he goes into Boston let's agree that when he got to Boston and he was looking for his own team and that was one of the reasons why he wanted wanted away from Cleveland and LeBron that he didn't handle it great and that it didn't go well was it all his fault no was he an active participant in it yes did he treat Jaylen Brown and and Jason Tatum the way maybe would have been ideal for him to treat younger players the way he has treated LCA jonic he did not was it again a perfect situation no he had this terrible thing happen with his knee where he had an infection in there it derailed his first season and that all happened I think this this situation with Kyrie it can be both things he can both have made a lot of mistakes and mishandled the situation and have learned from it and come in as a completely different person the The Duality of where he and LeBron were when he when he left him in Cleveland or where he is now to me is striking LeBron was 33 he saw Kyrie is the AA parent the player he wanted to bring along with him he said as much going into the finals in 27 Kyrie for various reasons including because he thought the Cavs were thinking about trading him didn't want that now after everything he went through in Boston and Brooklyn here is Kyrie at age 32 looking at Lucas saying this is the guy that I want to have with me I think it's a wonderful story that's still developing but let's respect the entire Arc we don't need to apologize for saying that he made mistakes in the past those were mistakes but we can also look at and say look how much he's grown and what how it's special what he's doing now well Wendy let me uh piggy back off of that to make sure that you're clear about where I'm coming from because when you mention the word apology and it comes to Kyrie Irving clearly a lot of people are talking about me and they're right to do so and the reason why they're right to do so is not because of the things that I pointed out I'm not backtracking from that I'm not apologizing for um saying the things that I said about Kyrie when he made the mistakes I chronicled what he said what what mistakes that he made I emphasize the point that I want to see him on a damn basketball court because he's a spectacular Superstar and we're seeing him do everything but play basketball and and he was stealing headlines in that regard where my apology comes into play is that there was clearly some some personal animus he and I had with one another that's our business uh I've never denied that um it's been very very clear me him his father okay and all of that has been resolved and that's water under the bridge and that's for us to that that was for us to handle and we did that but the fervor with which I spoke made it personalized and as a result that's where the apology came in not for the substance of what we were pointing out as basketball reporters and pundits covering this sport so I just wanted clarification on that having said all of that I do think that Kyrie has completely changed the narrative because he's on a basketball court you got to remember we might have pointed out some things we wish he had done better headlines that had nothing to do with basketball that he had found himself in the mix of but the biggest thing for us was that these were things that were preventing him from being on the court suspensions and other things that may have transpired get you behind on the court because you're stupid you're too gifted you're too spectacular for us to be seeing you everywhere but on the basketball court well if that was our position now that he's been on the basketball court and performing at the elite level we all know he was capable of performing at we can't sit here now and go like this okay show me more no no no no no he has shown it to us he's been on the court he's been a leader on the court he's been performing on an elite level on the court and the Dallas Mavericks have won because of it and last night is a perfect example Luca comes out there and goes ballistic on the Minnesota Timberwolves reeks Havoc upon them in the first quarter and then said okay Kyrie it's your turn or Kyrie said okay Luca it's my turn and went out and did the same damn thing to the Minnesota Tim wolves in the second quarter to show no matter what level you're capable of elevating yourself too as a basketball player Kyrie Irving is capable of elevating himself to that level all we want to talk about is his play because we're marveling at his level of production he deserves that credit and I'm not g to hesitate to give it to him so here's the thing right when I'm when I'm thinking back on this what mistakes did Kyrie actually make right we talk about his stent with in Cleveland with LeBron James he LeBron James was never a guy that he looked up to Kyrie Irving looked up to Kobe Bryant okay did LeBron James did Kyrie IR probably get tired of his name coming up in trade rumors when he was with the Cs when they didn't complete the mission hell yeah anybody would get tired of it because we all know all three of us who are sitting up here right now on National Television that when LeBron James is tired is tired of you or he feel like he could get better damn it he'll trade his mom okay if she was on the roster that's just how LeBron James go okay now when you move to the stent of when you move to the of his of his short uh stent when he was with the Boston Celtics that didn't work out for whatever reasons we still don't know they didn't see eye the eye he ended up going to another ball club we still don't have the full story when it comes down to what really happened with the Brooklyn Nets okay we know that Kyrie Irving he fought against being vaccinated we un that that was his right you know at the end of the day did we want him to get vaccinated to see him perform on the basketball court absolutely but I tell you this much Shan marks wasn't no saint in this situation and and sooner or later Kyrie Irving is going to tell his side of the story what has the Dallas Mavericks and this organization what have they done for Kyrie Irving to get this version of Kyrie Irving right what have they have done for him what they've done is they do what all organizations supposed to do and have done for their franchise guys they cater to them right they cater to them is it fair no but it's part of it when you get paid the big bucks you get special treatment and now all of a sudden along with that special treatment you have a guy that Kyrie respect that is his head coach because he's done it at a high level he's won at a high level he's an alltime great especially at the point guard position so now all of a sudden Kyrie Irving is bought in and we're seeing the best version of Kyrie so when we're talking about issuing out these apologies I was one of them that did apologize to Kyrie but because I did disrespect him in a matter of what I said some things that I feel like he could have took it personal or it was a personal shot at him even though I didn't mean it that way we was talking about the moment but at the end of the day I'mma say this about Kyrie Irving if he goes on to win this NBA goes on to win another NBA championship we G to have to start thinking about that list top 75 greatest players of all time and we also going to have to start looking in the direction of gr Hill and wondering why in the hell he's not on the Olympic team representing uh our country Olympics this summer stop right there stop right there stop right there for the second part the first part I completely totally agree with you top 75 Kyrie is one of the greatest players ever played the G of basketball that second part no because we all know that's not about basketball we all know that's about imagery that's about Team USA that's about who you want representing the red white and blue and stuff like that we we all know that we know that ain't about basketball all the time let me tell you something right now I don't give a damn personally speaking I don't give a damn about Kyrie or anybody else missing the team when you left Isaiah Thomas off of the original Dream Team in 1992 as far as I'm concerned everything pales in comparison everything takes a step back to Isaiah Thomas A two-time Champion one of the greatest point guards to have ever played the game a former president of the Players Association by the way Wendy by the way perks I said this the other day Mike wilbor and others will confirm it do you know that when he was the president of the Players Association Isaiah Thomas was one of the strongest instigators to diversifying the media covering the NBA because there weren't enough black reporters both male and female covering the sport Isaiah Thomas was the person in the80s fighting that fight so a lot of us doing what we do today we got him in large part to thank for it I got that confirmed by numerous Hall of Famers so when you leave that man off the original Dream Team I'm not saying that you're wrong about Kyrie or anybody else I'm saying clearly when it comes to Team USA some things can be politicized we that that robbery with Isaiah Thomas right there everything fails in comparison to that everything uh I I understand that they say but it is an uncomfortable conversation that we need to have because when it comes down to being in the conversation of top 15 or top 20 best players that's representing our country Kyrie Irving is that he's the most skilled player in the NBA he's supposed to be on that team there's no other way around guys but that team is not just about basketball is all I'm trying to say that's it here I just want to ask you guys something else yeah there's some other things involving business and certain endorsement contracts that sometimes break the tie I think the reason that Kyrie was especially hurt was because he came out last year and said he looked so much looked forward to being a part of the team and he'd been a part of Team USA in the past and so there's sometimes that Equity matters but I would just say that we're not 100% sure perk what the team is going to be yes they've named the 12 guys but we have to see who's healthy and everything like that so I would say it's not necessarily over although I think Kyrie's defense this second half of this season gives Grant Hill and Steve cerr something to reconsider because I think the defense was also a part of the reason why they didn't go that direction and my only and my only response to that Wendy and perk is that there's nothing to consider here basketball-wise basketball-wise Kyrie Irving should be on that damn team there's nothing to question the issue is when your Team USA and you're playing an international competition and you're representing America they're going to make political decisions no matter what they tell you I don't care what they say they're going to make those decisions like you pointed out Wendy business corporations your association with Team USA the red white and blue blah blah blah they're bringing that up [Music] he

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Id: HcsJ15pqJCc

Length: 13min 1sec (781 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024