Before Kyrie Irving joined Brooklyn, he seemed to have issues with some of the “young guys” he’d played with. Though since Irving has left Boston, his younger ex-teammates — Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier (who also left Boston) and Jaylen Brown — have absolved the Nets guard of the Celtics’ dysfunction in 2018-19.
Of course, the Nets had their strange moments throughout the 2019-20 season. Irving was one of the individuals who drew attention to himself when he made comments about Brooklyn’s roster. But Irving Nets teammates stood by him.
Even Jaylen Hands, who was with the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, after he was selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft by the franchise, had nothing but good things to say about Irving when the 21-year-old guard was asked about the veteran on the Locked On UCLA Bruins podcast:
It was dope to just see him work. For me, I got to see him work every day. I got to see how serious he takes pick-up games. I go to see how serious he takes shooting by himself; how serious he takes the weight room. He is a great teammate, very uplifting. So, from him he was always [preaching] ‘keep getting better, adapt, keep working, pay attention, listen.’ And he is a great person.
Hands played in 40 of Long Island’s 41 games this season, starting 18 times. He averaged 11.3 points per game on 41.9% shooting (35.1% from deep) while playing 22.4 minutes a night.