You’re dreaming, my DBR friend, if you think Kyrie Irving would ever truly consider himself to be 1b to ANY basketball player in the world, even Kevin Durant.
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Kyrie burnin' that incense in the Garden. Wait, what?
Seriously, I love it all. I abide by the Barkley philosophy for wanting Harden on the Nets. Go for it, just to watch it burn. Sports is a great big entertainment business and I love guys like Kyrie spicing things up (in this case with Sage).
I am still so disappointed in OKC that they did not keep Durant, Harden and Westbrook together. Is there a timeline where they did and LBJ has only 1 or 2 rings?
I don’t know if these three would pull together an Abbey Road type accomplishment, but it would be wonderful to see them try.
Ummm, Cassius Stanley in the middle of the 2nd round may be a little tiny bit of a steal:
https://twitter.com/overtime/status/1340109506848681984
I wasn't wrong about Kyrie.Now he's burning stuff in Boston.Dukie or not this cat is weird.
Realistically, the Nets front office is too competent to trade for Harden. If he were a two-way superstar with the D being better than the O, then it'd make sense.
But, as is, the Nets if healthy project to have a top-3 offense (and they might be #1 if Kyrie and KD play enough) and a top-20 defense or so. The Nets' competitive advantage this season will be their excellent depth (especially in a Covid season), and it'd be unwise to gut that depth to trade for an old, expensive player who doesn't improve the team's weakness. (I mean, I suppose it depends on the price, but all indications are that Houston is asking for a treasure chest in return.)
Meanwhile, after a horrendous first quarter in the first game, RJ having an excellent pre-season. Still can't shoot the 3, but great court sense being exhibited with his all-around game shining. Getting to the rim well. FT shooting much improved. Thibs highly complimentary.
Just galls me that my Knicks have become Kentucky north (5 on roster (!), Payne as asst. coach, Calipari chiming in, and WWW around on payroll - all Leon Rose). But Knox shooting well now, Quickley potentially becoming our PG, etc. I'll take it if we start winning. Way too early, but I have a good feeling about this team, including the coaching.
Bolden on the floor for a while in the Knicks' blowout of the Cavs. Seemed to acquit himself well. Active, engaged. A few putbacks, at least one block.
YES! How can we make this happen?
I agree with this completely, as I don't think those 3 mercurial personalities could co-exist for longer than a Team USA stretch. Listening to a lot of podcast debate about Harden, I have heard the point that trading for him means trading for his next two years because it will be hard to want to sign him to his next deal when he'll be 33 and wanting a huge max. Of course, they also point out that his player option in year 3 is $47MM which we can't assume he'd just by-pass. He's the 2 time defending scoring champion, but can he play within a team concept anymore? The pundits were also making the point that for teams trying to win a title now, when you start arguing what they would give up for Harden, it can be hard to say, "Don't do it." But, that is what I find myself saying because I don't think he can fit in an offense that doesn't revolve around him anymore.
I understand the Kentucky distaste, but I have always lived by the idea that once a formerly hated college player is on the Knicks, I adopt them. There are too many Wildcats and Tar Heels in the NBA for me to be too picky. There are also too many Wolverines (holdover from the early 90s), Hoos, Spartans...I basically hate any team that's every beaten Duke.
When Phil Jackson did new age stuff, he was a master motivator. When Kyrie does something that hurts no one, he's weird and wrong.
sourceQuote:
Jackson would have the Lakers meditate before games, burning incense during the sessions to set the mood. Immediately, Shaq noticed something about the smell of the incense, which Jackson had said was sage.
"It smelled just like weed," O'Neal said. "I said coach, 'Is this weed?' He said 'no, it's sage, it's the cousin of cannabis.'"
Kyrie is kind of a weird dude, but he's hurt no one and only ever tried to express himself. There are much bigger things to worry about, in my view, than how a person decides to motivate himself.
I think you have to look at the whole package on both guys to understand what you may think is a double standard.
Phil Jackson was an eccentric guy who occasionally used new age stuff to motivate. He was more than that though. He was viewed as a team player when he played on the Knicks and, as far as I can tell, never let ego get in the way of perfecting his role on that team.
As a coach, he was the master at turning strong egos and potentially selfish players into a cohesive unit. His new age stuff was a minor part of the bigger package. He knew how to talk to players, how to get ten individuals to play as a team, how to motivate his players to not be complacent with one or two titles but to keep moving and improving. From a P.R. standpoint, Phil was great. He never said anything stupid, always acknowledged his players and generally played his role well.
Kyrie, on the other hand, seems to have difficulty acknowledging the accomplishments of other, e.g. LeBron. He seems to have difficulty being part of a team, look at his comments about new coach Steve Nash where he initially contended that decisions were made by consensus rather than by the coach. Kyrie has difficulty expressing his views, if they are really his views, that the earth may be flat, that he doesn't need to talk to "pawns" in the media, that he finally has a teammate who can hit a shot in the clutch etc.
They both may have burned sage but they are two different guys with much different approaches to team, media and issuing coherent media statements.
I'm not looking to persecute Kyrie but his public persona is odd and not all that likeable.
Right or wrong, I think many consider Phil Jackson as eccentric but authentic. I don't think everyone views Kyrie the same way.
Actually, there are not that many Carolina players in the league and really not many who would make a positive difference to your team (even the Knicks).
There are 13 former Tar Heels currently in the NBA (in order of draft year from most current to least): Cole Anthony, Cam Johnson, Nassir Little, Coby White, Theo Pinson (2-way contract with Knicks), Tony Bradley (not clear if he will make the Sixers roster), Justin Jackson, Reggie Bullock, Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green.
Now, several of those players are guys who don't even figure into teams regular rotations -- Pinson, Bradley, Bullock, Zeller, Davis, and Ellington. But, more importantly, how many of those guys are players that you would really want on your roster? Coby White has a nice future. Cam Johnson is a decent player who probably will have a long career. Contenders still like Danny Green's 3&D and Barnes is a useful rotation guy. Anyone else? I mean Nassir Little had some spurts and is young enough that he could develop, but he isn't really helping teams win or lose right now. No one knows what Anthony will become.
But the rest are fringe players at best.
Bottom line, the odds that your team has a Carolina player on it who is worth rooting for is probably like 8-10% at the most. For the vast majority of NBA fans, UNC players are not worth thinking about.
-Jason "how the mighty have fallen..." Evans
Kyrie will think the Earth is flat next haha.
Calipari himself might not be too far behind. As I've written before, the combination of (a) Duke being the recruiting top dog, (b) elite recruits being willing to play at non-bluebloods (e.g. Edwards at Georgia, Wiseman at Memphis), and (c) the G-league Select Team now taking on elite high-schoolers like Kuminga, has savaged the UK program (still a good program, but "good" isn't enough there).
Well yeah, but still....
Sichuan Blue Whales (2019–present)
On November 28, 2019, Hansbrough was reported to have signed with the Sichuan Blue Whales.[33] On December 13, 2019, Hansbrough recorded a career-high 49 points and 22 rebounds in a 108-105 victory over the Jiangsu Dragons. [34]
On October 4, 2020, Hansbrough re-signed with the Sichuan Blue Whales for a second season.
You need one jump shot to win the game. Would you rather Irving or Lebron take that shot? Would you rather Durant or Lebron?
I place Lebron on the Mt Rushmore of GOAT contenders, but my answer to both questions is "not Lebron."
Kyrie would be better off to not say anything, but what he did say was accurate and not necessarily a slight to his former teammate.
Of course most will take it that way, because, many really are just pawns of clickbait narratives. :D