After Kyrie Irving attributed part of the Nets’ playoff struggles to not having had time to gel together during the regular season, the ESPN crew of Jalen Rose, Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon had had enough and ripped into Irving’s excuse.
“There’s a difference between reasons and excuses and he was the main reason they weren’t able to gel because he chose not to get vaccinated,” Rose, the former Michigan and NBA star, said Sunday on ABC’s “NBA Countdown.” “So everything else he said after that, I actually couldn’t...There’s a term I like to use, ‘I can’t hear what you’re saying because your actions are so loud.’”
Irving, the West Orange native and former St. Patrick High School star, was limited to 29 games this season -- averaging 27.4 points, 5.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds -- because he chose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Between his absence, an injury to Kevin Durant, an injury to Joe Harris and the trade of James Harden, the Nets finished 44-38, ended up as the 7 seed after the Play-In Tournament and now trail the Boston Celtics 0-3 in the first round of the playoffs. No NBA team has ever overcome an 0-3 deficit.
“We’re just trying to gel, and usually you’re gelling around the right time,” Irving said after Saturday’s Game 3 loss at Barclays Center. “The team in the other locker room is gelling at the right time. They’ve been gelling since Christmas. So, for us, we’re just in a new experience as a group, and we just got to respect that. Bring everything we can to this next game and just do one possession at a time.
“I don’t want to be too cliche, but I don’t have a lot of answers for how you make up time from October until now when usually teams will be gelling, and things would be feeling good.”
During a discussion of whether the Nets should sign Irving to a long-term contract while he has a player option for almost $37 million next season, Smith and Wilbon weren’t having it.
“That gall of that man to utter those words out of his mouth about how we haven’t played together, the nerve,” Smith said. “I mean, you gotta be kidding me.
“Let me be very, very clear...Kyrie Irving is box office. This brother deserves $50 million a year, I would never give him a long-term contract again. He cannot be trusted. You pay him one year at a time. I don’t care how much money he gets, but you give it to him one year at a time. You want to know why? Because you gotta make sure he’s going to show up to work.
“This man has played more than 11 seasons in this NBA, he has played over 60 games four times, and there’s 82 games in a season. He is one of the absolute professionals at missing work. I’m not giving him a long-term deal, you’ve got to be crazy.”
Added Wilbon: “He’s not accountable. We knew that coming into the season, we were reminded of it when he decided not to be vaccinated and we know this. To not trust Kyrie has nothing to do with basketball, it’s as a person. It’s personal and professional, he’s not accountable.
“We’re talking about a self-absorbed ego manic and this is what they get. You link up with him, this is what you risk.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
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