Kyrie Irving explains remarks about Nets roster, spoke to teammates

Kyrie Irving clarified some of the things he recently said regarding the way the Brooklyn Nets have constructed their roster.

The comments Kyrie Irving made on Wednesday about Brooklyn’s roster caught the entire basketball world’s attention. Some think he has a point, some think the “missing piece” is already on the roster, that player is simply hurt — Kevin Durant.

Either way, Irving’s timing was questionable given it was his third game back after he’d been sidelined for the previous 26 games. Not to mention, he made those comments after he posted a -29 plus-minus in the Nets’ loss to the Sixers when no one else on the team was even a -10.

Furthermore, Irving also expressed who was part of the solution for the Nets by name — himself, Durant, DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, Garrett Temple and Caris LeVert.

Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen, who helped the Nets reach the playoffs last season, weren’t mentioned. Neither was Taurean Prince.

At Friday’s practice, Irving told reporters he could’ve added a few more names to his initial list, though he didn’t mean to single anybody out, per Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Irving also spoke to his teammates to clarify his initial comments.

Additionally, Irving explained his thought process to reporters:

I think when we have championship aspirations, that is where we want to be. How do we get there? Do you wanna be the eighth seed going into the playoffs? The seventh seed? But you’re able to be real with the team that you have here and you’re able to collectively, cohesively come together as a group. That is what you figure out. But the goals are still to win a championship. I don’t come in every day to frickin’ be mediocre or to be in the middle of the standings. Like, no. We know that it is going to take time. It is going to be patient. But the reality is, in order to compete against the Western Conference, we need those pieces to collectively come together and the team to mesh well and everyone healthy. We need to have all the things clicking.

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