Stephen A Smith returned to the studio in fine form this morning. Among the things he discussed was the Kyrie Irving controversy caused by his statements on KD’s podcast.
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Kyrie Irving had appeared on Kevin Durant’s pod last week, and made a number of iffy statements. One of them was stating that Kevin Durant was his first teammate who he could defer to in clutch moments, or trust to make the same shots.
Another was how the Nets do not really ‘need a head coach’ given the presence of tacticians such as him and Durant.
Stephen A Smith chastizes Kyrie for ‘head coach’ comments
Stephen A Smith is one of those people who was very vocal against Steve Nash’s appointment as the Brooklyn Nets head coach.
The ESPN ‘First Take’ host had called it a case of white privilege at play. He was ridiculed from all quarters for his partisan, racially motivated take.
Also Read: ‘Ben Simmons can be LeBron James 2.0’: Stephen A Smith on how Simmons can be like the Lakers star
Kyrie Irving said that he “didn’t really see [the Nets as] having a head coach.”@stephenasmith: “That might be one of the most ignorant damn things that I’ve heard a player say.” pic.twitter.com/UCMcpXkC8C
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 2, 2020
The greatest moment of Kyrie’s career was hitting the game-winning 3-pointer against the Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
That was a team coached by Ty Lue, who has been viewed more as a man manager than an X’s and O’s coach. But Kyrie played his best basketball (in the regular season) under Brad Stevens, a voraciously talented head coach at running plays.
The fact that Kyrie still advocates for a head coach willing to pass on those play-calling duties beats most NBA viewers. At the NBA level, one has to be detached from the game to understand and adapt to the needs of the game.
