It hasn’t been a smooth transition since the Nets formed their Big Three, but Kyrie Irving remains confident that the group will eventually work, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn is 3-2 since James Harden joined the team, including a pair of losses this week in Cleveland.
“Don’t trip. It’s a long journey,” Irving posted on Instagram. “We will be on that stage. The stage where the best of the best meet. … You know. The main stage. Where those who can, do. And those who cannot talk about those that are doing. If you rolling with us, great. Let’s rock. If you’re not, you know you wanna talk about our greatness anyway.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- As promised, the NBA is cracking down on post-game interactions between players to minimize COVID-19 risks, notes Liz Roscher of Yahoo. Irving and Miami’s Bam Adebayo were interrupted by a security guard Saturday night as they attempted to exchange jerseys. “I’ll give Kyrie the jersey on my own time,” Adebayo told reporters.
- Sixers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are committed to getting the most out of their partnership, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. They are interacting more off the court and trying to mesh their talents together on a Philadelphia team that has the East’s best record at 12-5. “We both see different things, so now for me and Jo, I think the relationship continues to grow,” Simmons said. “We talk a lot more now in terms of being on the floor and certain things we say. Knowing where he wants the ball, all the sets, and just flying, getting into the flow of the game, and just trying to read it the right way.”
- After waiving Alex Len on Tuesday, the Raptors have a financial incentive to hope he stays with the Wizards, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. If Len remains on Washington’s roster past February 24, which is the last day to release players before their contracts become fully guaranteed, Toronto will receive a $126,029 offset on his $2.258M salary, which is still on the Raptors’ books.
Poor Kyrie Irving: guy has become a toxic distraction now. WAY too much talk, and not enough backing it up. Guy sounds ridiculous.
Kyrie should be less worried about IG posting and more worried they don’t trade his ass before the deadline for some defense and depth
Talk about your greatness that lost 2 games to Cleveland?
Are the Raptors so cash-strapped that they need to worry about getting $126, 029 back from the Wizards?
It’s not like Toronto is begging for the money or anything. Would you turn down free money?
have you seen the exchange rate lately? heh
Actually Kyrie makes a lot of sense in what he posted, they need time, but at the end they will go far in the post-season, no one can doubt that, right?
They have the most talented big 3 like ever, as well.
Even the superabundant haters will hate, but hopefully at then end they will be silenced.
BTW don’t we all hate the usual Rent-a-Cops, always thinkin’ they have authority… let the guys swap jerseys for the goodness sake, SMH!
That’s the security guards job. If he doesn’t do it he’s fired.
I’d say lebron, wade and bosh or even magic, worthy and Kareem.. or Celtics with bird, Parrish and mchale.. or warriors with Kd, Thompson and curry.. the difference is they played defense too.. harden, kyrie and Kd can score.. hows that defense working out? if they can’t stop the other team it’s not gonna matter.. playoffs defense locks down.. defense is about desire to be good.. Kd is a good defender.. Kyrie and harden not so much.
Let them swap jerseys?? theirs a reason why the pandemic rages on.. because people think they know more than the scientists.. in nba wants to limit any unnecessary exposure.. kyrie is part of the players assoc.. he’s the vp.. he should know better
Why can’t he just buy it on the nba store like any other joe or jill sportsfan? It’s not like he can’t afford it… it’s doesnt have magic powers it’s just some dirty clothes
Game worn has more value, they donate them to charity.
Why wouldn’t Bam donate his own jersey then? Only Kyrie has Ebay? Lol. You have no idea what you’re talking about
Big Three Best team in East Best scoring team
How about you beat the Cavs first. Then we can talk about winning the East. Big Three ???
more like The Big Noise
Embiid/Simmons is the second coming of Shaq/Kobe, same kind of problems, maybe same kind of success?
They are not the second coming of Shaq/Kobe, they a second rate Shaq/Kobe. And even that might be generous.
Embiid isn’t as dominant as shaq and simmons is nowhere close to what Kobe was.. shaq was a monster.. Kobe was a killer.. not even close to kobe shaq comparison
That’s generous..
Lol there’s the delusional strike four we know and love. Yes everyimte I watch ben simmons all I can think is…Kobeee
I think theyre more like the duo that 5 years in needs to have articles written about how “they’re hanging out now”
wow!
How dare he after swapping sweat, and who knows what else? Regurgitation of what sounded like a good idea, yet lacks common sense is even dumber than riding the rip on Kyrie Irving media bandwagon. LOL
This is what a coach (with a voice) is good for, to remind players you don’t win a title before the last game… or whatever the cliche is… “One game at a time”. Irving & company are not great yet.
I could say, cut Irving some slack, since he was just answering a question as honestly as he felt… But… that was a highly composed piece intended to be widely read and probably quoted. Like a stanza or long motto or a Hallmark poem… I can’t think of the right label. An anti-elegy?— considering Irving is quite alive.
It might be seminal for an African-American contribution to literary forms… Irving would like that credit… the English don’t compose like that. (An Irvingesque?)
The German language might have a word for it in the “sturm-und-drang” tradition, which originally referred to the sights and sounds of war, then became a literary form. Theo.Roosevelt, as Dutch as anything else, had a famous phrase that’s similar, about being the man in the eye of the storm.
“Don’t trip. It’s a long journey,” Irving posted on Instagram. “We will be on that stage. The stage where the best of the best meet. … You know. The main stage. Where those who can, do. And those who cannot talk about those that are doing. If you rolling with us, great. Let’s rock. If you’re not, you know you wanna talk about our greatness anyway.”
Exactly what you’d expect to hear from a guy who came back from very difficult personal issues and has found a new sense of humility and perspective. Oh, wait…
Here is the real translation :”Since we’re going to end up in the Finals anyway I can pretty much do whatever I want during the regular season, not giving effort and ghosting the team on command. Thanks for understanding”
Can’t truthfully prove he “ghosted” the team from the information I’ve consumed. Just endless hit pieces. He’s had nearly as tough of an injury run as Exum, Cousins, Wall, and Thompson. He finally looks really good for the 1st time in a long time. Pretty sure the team was fine with it, and in the know, but the NBA required something be done. Who cares anyway, watching the Nets lose to the Cavs was the best scrub game I’ve seen all season! I wish them well on the experiment, Cavs too with their young core.
Irving was likely just motivating the GM to trade for Harden, that there might be a star in the backcourt at all times, and he could wax prosaic about greatness.
Thanks for the Cavs comments. Nance was really getting high for rebounds.
And what information is this? Kyrie ignoring calls/texts at random points is nothing new. It has happened several times with multiple teams. That’s a pattern. And his mood swings and aloofness have been well noted.
Yes, it’s theoretically possible this was put out by the Nets in order to put the blame on him, but when this type of concern has been raised across multiple franchises I think I’m going to side with those franchises rather than the guy who was at a illegal part not wearing a mask and who has not provided any sort of public explanation for his disappearing act. Why does this only happen with Kyrie? Why do we not see other players in the same sort of position time and time again?
If anything, you just sound like a Kyrie stan in calling such noted red flags “hit pieces”.