Kyrie Irving: I apologized to LeBron James

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/kyrie-irving-apologized-lebron-james-054717853.html



Kyrie Irving: I apologized to LeBron James







Dan Feldman,NBC Sports 7 hours ago



The Celtics star is finding veteran leadership more difficult than he realized.

Celtics star Kyrie Irving slammed his younger teammates for not understanding how to win a championship.

Which ironically made Irving sound a lot like LeBron James talking about Irving early in their time together with the Cavaliers.

Irving sometimes disliked LeBron’s leadership back then. Similarly, Irving’s comments didn’t go over well in Boston, especially with Jaylen Brown.

But apparently Irving realized how he fit both sides of the situation and addressed it, including with LeBron himself.

Jay King of The Athletic:

Jay King

@ByJayKing
Jaylen Brown to reporters in New York: “It’s not the young guys’ or old guys’ fault — it’s everybody.”

More: “We just have to have each other’s back at the end of the day. We can’t make comments, we can’t point fingers.”

Kyrie Irving has pointed at the young guys all season.

1,816
7:42 PM - Jan 14, 2019



Jay King

@ByJayKing
Kyrie Irving: “I’ve gotta empower them. (Jaylen Brown) was right.”

575
8:09 PM - Jan 16, 2019


Irving, via NBC Sports Boston:

"I’ll tell you one thing, and obviously this is something that it was a big deal for me because I had to call Bron and tell him, “I apologize for being that young player that wanted to everything at his fingertips, and I wanted everything to be at my threshold. I wanted to be the guy that led us to championships. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be all that.”

And the responsibility of being the best player in the world and leading a team is something that’s not meant for many people. And Bron was one of those guys that came to Cleveland and tried to really show us what it’s like to win a championship. And it was hard for him. And sometimes getting the most out of the group, it’s not the easiest thing in the world. And like I said, only few are meant for it or chosen for it.

And I felt like the best person to call was him, because he’s been in this situation.

He’s been there with me, where I’ve been the young guy of being the 22-year-old kid and wanting everything. Wanting everything right now. Coming off an All-Star year starting then this heck of a presence comes back, and now I got to adjust my game to this guy. And you take it personal, but at the end of the day, he just wants what’s best. He has a legacy he wants to leave, and he has a window he wants to capture.

So, I think what that brought me back to was, alright, how do I get the best out of this group, of the success they had last year, and then helping them realize what it takes to win a championship.

It takes a real man to go back and call somebody and be like, “Hey, man, I was young. I made some mistakes. I wasn’t really seeing the big picture like you were. I didn’t have the end of the season in mind. I just wanted to get my stats and make All-Star games. In his career, it means like this much [holds fingers close together] at that point. So, it was just good. It gave me peace of mind, too, to go about what I’ve got to go do."


Kudos to Irving for his self-realization. Few people recognize their hypocrisy.

And kudos to Irving for immediately making amends – both toward his younger teammates and LeBron.

Learning how to win at the highest levels is extremely hard. Irving did it.

Teaching someone else how to win at the highest levels might be even more difficult. Irving isn’t there yet.

To his credit, Irving took a lot of grief while playing with LeBron and worked through it. LeBron’s leadership style isn’t for everyone. LeBron gets away with insensitive criticism of his own teammates and coaches, because he’s such a great player, and it’s generally believed he knows best, anyway.

As excellent as he is, Irving doesn’t have that same cachet as a leader. He can’t just follow the LeBron model.

Irving also might not have young teammates as willing to persevere through the negatives of following a LeBron-like leader and internalize the lessons as Irving was.

That said, even Irving tired of it, as he requested a trade from Cleveland.

I wonder whether Irving regrets that now. If he understood LeBron’s burden with young teammates sooner, would Irving have stayed with the Cavs?

Maybe Irving just wanted the leadership role himself, regardless. He has it now in Boston.

Now, he must find a leadership style that works after identifying one that doesn’t.



bob
MY NOTE: I think Kyrie called LeBron after the Orlando loss.


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He is apologizing to the wrong guy.

How about those young teammates?

Kyrie is an absolute stud.

John Karalis @RedsArmy_John
yesterday
Here's another Kyrie Irving quote from last night: "I want to test these young guys, but I can’t be a bully like that. I want to get the best out of them, but I can’t do it personally like that. Just so you have that part of it too in addition to what you saw on TNT



bob


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dbrown4 wrote:dboss,

I believe after he had all this blow up, he apologized to his teammates in private.  

db

P.S.  Kyrie's not going anywhere unless Danny pulls the trigger or changes course.  Makes no sense for Kyrie to back up/take a step backwards and go back to now injury-prone LeBron. Kyrie has a chance here to do something far greater than what LeBron has done.  This is his show now.  Yes it takes work.  If he folds up shop and limps back to LeBron...give me a break!

P.S.S.  No one is a natural born leader.  Takes time...lots of it.  Kyrie was out last season at a very critical time...the playoffs.  He's coming around.  Growing pains.  It took LeBron about 5-6 years to find his ass with both hands.  Kyrie will figure it out.  

I'm all in for Kyrie.  Sometimes he goes uncle drew with his comments.  He is the best player on this team and has a tremendous influence on the team culture.  He will continue to develop as a leader on this team.  

When teams with sky high expectations struggle to deliver, all sorts of things can happen but teams like the Celtics can work things out among themselves.   Soon as the media gets hold of anything that may appear controversial they will broadcast it.

dbrown4 wrote:The Celtics have mystique, pride and awe.  It's hard not to get you butt in line when you look up in the rafters and realize this is the team you are representing.  Only the Lakers, Bulls, Warriors and Spurs have this also.  While I have said this behavior for the team in general is not quite what I'm used to out of a Celtic team, I understand that it takes a lot of behind the scenes work and growth to get to the top of Mount Everest.  Boston may have forgotten about how the press will take the slightest behind the scene thing and run with it trying to blow things up!  They'll figure it out.  

db

P.S.  In recent history we may have been spoiled with Pierce, Garnett and Allen.  They had a pre-season meeting and they all agreed to leave their egos at the door in order to win the championship.  Guess what?  That worked!!

It was like catching lightning in a bottle.

Three veteran allstars deep in their prime and all looking for that elusive championship. That allowed them to be mindful of each other's needs and they had a great distributor in Rondo who dished out the cookies. What is most memorable about that team was that it clicked from day one. The year prior the Celtics manged to set a Celtics record with 16 straight loses. Then the next year they take home the bacon. Very unusual. But they had a great guard, forward and a big plus complimentary role players (several veterans among them) that were comfortable in what their roles were.

kdp59 wrote:ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said a source believes Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving is now destined to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2018-19 NBA season, and a reunion with former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James is possible with the Los Angeles Lakers. – via Bleacher Report
Top Rumors, Free Agency, Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics

Smith continued: “And so now we have a situation where I know nothing about this. I haven’t asked. I’m just referring to a text I received last night. I will never say who it is. Never. But it says, ‘Hey, a bit easier to come to LA now.’ And you have people in the NBA that are now believing if indeed the Boston Celtics, loaded with talent, Danny Ainge being the genius that he is as an executive, knowing that he has enough talent not to stick with Kyrie … All of the sudden there’s another guy that’s gonna be on the free agent market this summer. It’s gonna be Kyrie Irving.” – via For The Win

Kyrie opting out of his contract and becoming a free agent is not news. I do not see him going back and playing with Lebron. I think the apology thing has open the door for more speculation. Kyrie said that he was going to resign with Boston.

Did anyone see the game the other night? Kyrie took his thumbs and pushed out his Jersey with Boston written across the top.

Does anybody seriously think Kyrie Irving is going to pull a Durant?  Put his tail between his legs and slink out to be with LeBron, admitting he cannot lead a team?  After going through one divorce already?  After he said he's finally starting to feel comfortable here in Boston and on this team but it took a year for that to happen because that's how long it took before people stopped asking him about LeBron?  He's going to go out to LA and start that cycle all over again?  In reverse?!  If he does that I have no respect for him, not as a player and not as a man.

His opting out has been known all year.  He had the chance to sign an extension and said it would be stupid for him to sign an extension because of all the money he'd be leaving on the table.  Has anything changed?  Oh yeah, he called LeBron and told him he was sorry he didn't realize how hard it was to lead a team.  BFD.  How many of us have told our parents, after we had children of our own, how we were sorry we made their lives harder because we didn't realize how tough it is to raise children?  Didn't mean we were going to move back home with them, did it?


bob


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