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Everything is beautiful ... in its own way, of course.
In interviews last week, both Draymond Green and Terry Rozier said they were cool with teammates —and new Nets— Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. All that reporting about how Green and KD didn’t get along ... not true! Similarly, Rozier was not/not jealous of Irving.
Back in November, you may recall, Green was suspended for a game after a locker room altercation. Green reportedly called KD a “bitch,” and told the reigning NBA Finals MVP that “we don’t need you, leave.”
Similarly, there was no jealousy —none— between Irving and Rozier in Beantown ... despite Rozier’s end-of-season comments that “I don’t give a f*ck what nobody say, I sacrificed the most out of anybody. I’m a top point guard in this league. I feel like it’s a fresh start, whether I’m here or whether I’m gone.” Rozier left the Celtics this summer for the Hornets.
In separate interviews with ESPN and Bleacher Report, the two dismissed what happened as being important, saying they were cool with KD and Kyrie, buddy, buddy, actually.
When Rachel Nichols asked Green if he had spoken to Durant this summer, the Warriors All-Star (who just signed a $100 million extension) said indeed he had.
“Absolutely. I actually talked to K yesterday. You know, Kevin is my brother. He came to Golden State for three seasons. We won two championships … if someone would’ve told me, man, Kevin Durant’s gonna come to the Warriors and you guys are gonna win two championships and then have a shot at winning a third, would you take that? In a heartbeat. And so that was a major success. That’s my brother, and I’m happy for him.
“Because, you know, not many times in life do you get to do what you wanna do. He’s worked his ass off and had the opportunity to do what he wanted to do. And he did exactly that. And someone who puts the amount of effort that that guy puts into the game of basketball, he deserves to do exactly that.
He didn’t any advance notice of his “brother’s” plans, however.
“I found out that he was picking Brooklyn when everybody else found out. Which is exactly how it should be. You know, so many times you hear somebody say, “Oh, man, that guy didn’t tell me this.’”
Then, he added, somewhat bizarrely.
“The thing that people forget about in this league is like, this is our lives. I’m not about to go to Kevin Durant and say ‘hey Kevin, can I get my fiancé pregnant?’ … That’s my life. Am I supposed to come to you and A) let you know that’s what I want to do or B) ask you for permission? No. So I found out exactly when everybody else found out, which is exactly how it should be.”
As for Rozier, in an interview with Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report, said he’d been a fan of Irving even before they became teammates. He told Abrams that he recommended that then-rookie Jaylen Brown enjoy watching Irving play whenever the Celtics played Cleveland.
“I’m going to sit right here and have the best seat in the house, and I’m going to watch him do his thing,” Rozier said. “And I was a fan like that. But, of course, I still wanted the Celtics to win. But that’s just me loving the game. And it was just like, Oh let me see what I could take from his game and see the type of person, see how wired he is.
“A lot of people don’t know how great of a person he is. A lot of people think I hate Kyrie. And a lot of people think that me and Kyrie not cool, but we text, and I text him right before free agency. I sent him the eyes, and he sent the eyes right back, basically like you know what it’s going to be.”
Really? Okay.
On Tuesday, Gordon Hayward added his comments about Irving. Hayward, of course, was sidelined all of 2017-18 and still wasn’t fully recovered last year. Coach Brad Stevens was criticized for pushing Hayward too much and too far which also hurt Boston.
“The interesting part of the league is the drama that happens every offseason. I don’t know if there’s any league like that, where you have major guys moving teams.
”I wish (Irving) the best of luck as he goes to Brooklyn.”
The Nets play the Warriors at Barclays on February 5, the Hornets at Barclays on November 20.
- Draymond Green missed being the underdog - Rachel Nichols - ESPN
- YOU DON’T KNOW TERRY’S SCARY - Jonathan Abrams - Bleacher Report