Kyrie Irving heard what Stephen A. Smith said about him and the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he’s more concerned with winning a championship for Cleveland than defending himself from another negative report aimed at him and his teammates.
Smith said Monday on ESPN’s First Take that Irving is not happy and wants out of Cleveland.
When asked about Smith’s comments, Irving shrugged them off, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com:
“There’s nothing to really address,” Irving said. “Obviously there’s going to be some misunderstandings, it’s part of being on a team. For me, as a maturing young player in this league, I know what we have and the opportunity we have in order to be something special. My communication is open with all of my teammates, just knowing what’s going on and how I feel about things.”
While he didn’t get too hot and bothered publicly, Irving did relay a sense of frustration at the media’s obsession with picking a player every week to pile on as it relates to the Cavaliers:
“For me, all that other stuff, what everyone is going to say, they’re going to pick one player and it’s going to change every single week,” Irving said. “When they think that we’re down and out, they’re going to choose one player. For me, it has no effect on my life or what’s going on. It’s all about winning and winning a championship for Cleveland.”
Whatever you may think about Irving and the alleged chemistry issues with the Cavaliers, his response here is exactly what you’d like to hear from a team leader.
Yes, there is plenty of fodder for criticism right now in Cleveland. Since winning five in a row, the Cavs have lost three of their last five games, and their lead over the Toronto Raptors is just 2.5 games heading into the month of March.
Still, of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers are perhaps the best equipped to potentially handle the powerhouses in the west. Clearly, defense must once again become a priority for this team if they are going to make it that far, and offensive cohesion has been lacking of late.
However, this team is full of veterans who know how come together when the going gets tough. Irving and the Cavs may be going through a rough patch right now, but nobody should expect the team to just crumble down the stretch.