Kyrie and Durant should be likable. Why aren’t they?

[Roy H.]

What happened to these two?  I’m not sure if I am capable of articulating my points clearly here, but these two play some of the most beautiful basketball on the planet. Kyrie’s handle may be unrivaled, and Durant is the modern prototype for what a player should do on the court. 

And yet off the court, they are paranoid, surly, and quite frankly, dumb.  Perhaps it is recency bias, but I cannot remember a time when an All-NBA level player had such a stark contrast between his skillset / the beauty of his game and his personality.

Is it just social media that amplifies the stuff?  If Larry and magic played today, what media and social media pick a part all of their faults until they were hated?

(And no, guys like Iverson and Starbury don’t count for me. Neither played a particularly efficient or beautiful style of basketball.  KG is close, but his game and persona seemed to be perfectly congruent.)

[KGs Knee]

Kyrie is very well liked. Maybe not around here, but overall, he is a huge fan favorite and is revered by a number of people.

Kyrie is an absolutely fantastic human being who very clearly cares about people. Those who don't like him are the people with the problem and really should to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. You won't, and I don't actually care, but yeah, that's my opinion on the matter regardless of how unpopular that opinion is around here.

Durant, meh, he's what he is. I do agree with him about how disgusting the media is, but that's about it.

[Roy H.]

Kyrie is an absolutely fantastic human being who very clearly cares about people. Those who don't like him are the people with the problem and really should to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. You won't, and I don't actually care, but yeah, that's my opinion on the matter regardless of how unpopular that opinion is around here.

He’s a fragile, paranoid snowflake of a person who has flaked out on teammates on at least three different teams and who quit in the playoffs. 

[Donoghus]

Durant's a thin-skinned, rabbit-eared, petty person who didn't help himself by ditching OKC to go to GSW of all places.  Essentially, walking into championship the cheap way. 

Kyrie? Well, where do I even begin?

[BringToughnessBack]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/nba-kyrie-irving-turns-post-game-attention-to-israel-palestine-too-much-going-on-in-this-world-not-to-address-151304582.html


I defended Kyrie his whole time in Green and was sad to see him bolt. Yes, he has done things I did not like personally like sage in the Garden but overall, his heart appears to be in the right place off the court. It is hard to find fault with his comments in the above link about the evils of war and standing as one as well as that Basketball is not the most important thing in the world right now.

I know people over in Israel who fled to bomb shelters at 3am and let me tell you, war is no joke. Both sides are living in a nightmare right now and it appears to be heading to an all out war.

Our ability to find fault with others who are different is built deep into our DNA…it is a thing that is not so human but human nonetheless. In so many areas we fail to find ways to come together as one. We have a long way to go to evolve as better humans or maybe not that long if we don’t find a way.

[jambr380]

Kyrie is an absolutely fantastic human being who very clearly cares about people. Those who don't like him are the people with the problem and really should to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. You won't, and I don't actually care, but yeah, that's my opinion on the matter regardless of how unpopular that opinion is around here.

He’s a fragile, paranoid snowflake of a person who has flaked out on teammates on at least three different teams and who quit in the playoffs.

Yeah, I mean this is the first time I've ever seen Kyrie described this way. It sounds like he is describing Mother Theresa or Gandhi. I am sure there are lots of NBA players who like Kyrie, but he does himself no favors with the way he handles anybody outside his inner-circle. He has an arrogance about him that is tough to pinpoint. And, honestly, if he had just re-signed with the Cs like he said he would, a lot of this would be covered up - especially for Cs fans. It may even be endearing.

I am wondering if you began this thread because of Pho's BKN 'villains' post in the other thread. The  back room deals and quitting on other teams part was just perfect.

[Roy H.]

I am wondering if you began this thread because of Pho's BKN 'villains' post in the other thread. The  back room deals and quitting on other teams part was just perfect.

I actually haven’t seen that yet. I’ll check it out.

[Celtics4ever]

Both are Divas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PhoSita]

Kyrie is an absolutely fantastic human being who very clearly cares about people. Those who don't like him are the people with the problem and really should to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. You won't, and I don't actually care, but yeah, that's my opinion on the matter regardless of how unpopular that opinion is around here.

mmmk

[PhoSita]

I think the best thing you can do is go watch some of those later season episodes of Game of Zones.  Think they nailed KD and Kyrie pretty well.


I'll just add a couple thoughts

(a) Nobody likes somebody who thinks he's smarter and wiser than everybody else, especially if he's young and hasn't accomplished very much of significance on his own.  Particularly true when that guy made a point of seeking out a situation where he would be seen as "the man" and then checked out in a really obvious and obnoxious way and bailed when things got difficult.

(b) There are few things that make it harder to like somebody than when they have an attitude of "People should like me because I'm great, I shouldn't have to try to make people like me."  Particularly when that person is paid many millions of dollars to, at base level, provide entertainment for people.

[SparzWizard]

Durant blew a 3-1 series lead to go to another team who blew a 3-1 series lead in the Finals to win 2 more titles. And then disses Curry saying Curry needs Durant in order to win chips. Screw Durant.

Irving is a crybaby diva. The one who still believes the earth is flat.

[Roy H.]

Contrast those two with Lebron.  Am I correct that that he’s generally perceived as less of a dink?

[Jiri Welsch]

I came to terms with this about the time my age lined up with rookie player ages. Sometimes the guys that warrant admiration on the court for their amazing skillsets, are simply not cool people.

Differentiating between "fun to watch on the court" and "he's definitely not a cool person" has allowed me to like LeBron during most of his career. We might even have one or two budding superstars who fall into the "not cool" category and I'm totally fine with it.

The examples of Irving and Durant, however, are that their personalities are so dislikable off the court that it trickles on to the court for many.

[PhoSita]

Contrast those two with Lebron.  Am I correct that that he’s generally perceived as less of a dink?

I think LeBron is genuinely more charismatic than those guys.  I also think he cares about his public persona, whereas those guys have expressed open contempt for the idea that they should have to manage their public persona as celebrities.

I don't particularly like LeBron, in particular how he runs things behind the scenes with his pet player agency influencing the league.  But at least he's unequivocally earned his status as the greatest active player and at least top 5 all-time if not higher.  He has earned the right to carry himself like an all-time great, because he is. 

Kyrie has never been the best player on a team that's made a meaningful playoff run.  Kevin Durant has done great things in the playoffs on the way to winning multiple rings, but he did so on the most stacked team the league has ever seen. 

[johnnygreen]

Kyrie is an absolutely fantastic human being who very clearly cares about people. Those who don't like him are the people with the problem and really should to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. You won't, and I don't actually care, but yeah, that's my opinion on the matter regardless of how unpopular that opinion is around here.

He’s a fragile, paranoid snowflake of a person who has flaked out on teammates on at least three different teams and who quit in the playoffs.

Did I miss the Jaylen Brown rant thread of how he just quit on this current team? He "suffered" through games after the injury long enough to manage to reach his 57 games (reduced from 65 for a 82 games season) played incentive clause in his contract for nearly a $500K bonus. I do wonder if he would have had season ending surgery if the Celtics had beaten Miami on that Sunday game.

I still think there is something internally we don't know about as to why Kyrie, Horford, and Haywood. As far as the last playoff series Kyrie played for the Celtics, the whole team quit.