Watch Rob Parker and Chris Broussard discuss the recent crusade from Kyrie Irving supporters wanting the media to publicly ‘apologize’ for their long-time admonishing of Irving over the years, as both Rob and Chris agree that no one should be ‘apologizing’ for past behavior besides Irving himself.
Check out the segment above as Parker and Broussard chronicle Irving’s plight off the court that has come into the spotlight once again with Irving’s Mavericks back in the NBA Finals, and Irving appearing to be a more sympathetic figure.
Phil Handy: “I usually reserve my comments on certain things, but not today. There’s a lot of people in the hoop world who owe this man [Kyrie Irving] public apologies. Some of ya’ll tried to bury this dude and kill his career based on what you heard and not what you know. Word to the unwise – if you don’t know someone, you probably shouldn’t speak on them. Media and others always have their narratives but the real ones know. Kyrie, keep doing your thing. Bean would be proud. Put some respect on his name.”
Rob Parker: “Nobody said that Kyrie Irving couldn’t play basketball or wasn’t a great player. Who said he couldn’t play? The stuff that Kyrie got himself into, Kyrie got himself into. One is one thing, and one is another. One is basketball and one is a public perception. Whether you agree or disagree, those are things that come with being a public figure. It has nothing to do with him getting to the Finals. A public apology of what? You would have to refresh my memory for anybody who thought that Kyrie can’t play. We said he was one of the most talented guys out there. It was a shame how it worked out in Brooklyn; I picked them to win. People are on their high horse -- he won and is going to the Finals, and now you’re going to rub it in everyone’s face.”
Chris Broussard: “The overwhelming majority of the criticism that Kyrie got he brought on himself. This is his right, but he demanded out of Cleveland when they were a team that maybe was capable of winning more championships. He later realized he had a great situation playing with LeBron. He admits that now. That clearly was a mistake.
Then he reportedly threatened to have knee surgery if they wouldn’t trade him. He goes to Boston and says he’s 'looking forward to staying there' and then he leaves. Injuries are not his fault, but most of his career he has been injury-prone.
He really did say they ‘don’t need a coach, we can all do it together’ when Steve Nash was brought it. He really did take off a few weeks for January 6th. A lot of people didn’t like what happened on January 6th, but we still came to work. You just can’t do that.
The anti-vaxx is his right, but some people were critical of that. It definitely hurt their season to say the least.
Then people were asking him to apologize for the stuff in that book and documentary [‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America’]. I get Kyrie wanting to stand on what he believes and his principals, but it was like ‘you’re admitting these things you don’t agree with, so why not just apologize for those things?’ That was where pride got to him.
Then after all that commotion, that led to James Harden wanting out because Kyrie wasn’t playing because of the anti-vaxx stance. He then gets mad because they won’t give him a max contract, and then demands a trade.
Then he said the earth was flat and got mocked for that. Then said Thanksgiving shouldn’t be a holiday.
A lot of this stuff KYRIE has come out and apologized for. If you look at it now, he’s not doing the things that people were criticizing him for or people were raising eyebrows about. Now they can just focus on his basketball. What’s there to apologize for??”
Parker: “I don’t see an apology. If somebody said ‘KYRIE IS WASHED UP! I WOULDN’T TRADE FOR THAT GUY!’ then maybe you could say you were wrong.”
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