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Duke Blue Devils: Kyrie Irving Shrugs Critics

By John Woodcock

Feb 28, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) loses the ball as Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) defends during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 28, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) loses the ball as Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) defends during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Duke Blue Devils guard Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland? No way, he says.

Former Duke Blue Devils player Kyrie Irving probably gave Cleveland fans a sigh of relief when he came out today and said there was nothing to talk about concerning ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith’s comments that Irving wanted out of Cleveland.

Irving’s comments on the issue may not completely put the issue to bed for those who wish to read between the lines. His comments as reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN follow thusly:

“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.”

That and comments following those suggest that Irving is not unhappy, just frustrated with the ups and downs and expectations of being on a championship contending team. As even Irving recognized, this is a big opportunity that he is not likely to find elsewhere. You can’t just play with someone like LeBron James everywhere you go in the league.

As the Cavs have been a drama epicenter this season, people have placed the blame on why the team is not better on various shoulders. Maybe it was David Blatt, but he’s gone. Maybe it’s Kevin Love or James. Maybe it’s Tristan Thompson. Or maybe it’s Irving. Irving is right, the criticism does have a flavor of the week feeling to it. Irving has also put up some monster games over the course of the season. If he was truly unhappy, you would imagine his play might suffer.

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In fact recent criticism came when James rested against the Washington Wizards and Irving got beaten by opposing point guard John Wall. Losing a matchup battle to Wall is no crime and the Cavs were never going to win a game that was defined as Irving versus Wall. To win the collective Cavs had to beat the collective Wizards and that did not happen.

Cleveland is still likely to be the number one seed in the East, which means Irving has a pretty good chance to be in the NBA Finals. Critics or no.

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