Marcus Smart Defends Kyrie Irving

Nobody’s had a kind word for former Duke star Kyrie Irving since the Boston Celtics flamed out against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Nobody until Marcus Smart that is.

Smart said this: “He was forced into a situation where it was business over the friendships. He had to come into a situation knowing this is a group of guys that had something going before [he came] here. ‘How will I fit in?’ He didn’t want to disrupt that. That says a lot. This is Kyrie Irving we’re talking about it, and he’s worried about coming in and disrupting us. We took him in with full arms. We tried to understand. But like I said, we never really understood because we’re not in his shoes. That’s just a bulls--- statement to say his leadership skills killed us.”

That’s a very different perspective and refreshing. And certainly it’s true that none of us have been in his shoes.

Whatever happens it’ll be interesting to see where things go from here. Irving is still young and hugely talented. Whether it’s in Boston or somewhere else he has a lot of basketball left.