Is He Crazy? Or Just Stupid?

One of my Facebook friends summed up Kyrie Irving pretty succinctly and pretty accurately the other day: "He's a lunatic!"  I couldn't have said it better myself.  Because just when you think he can't do anything crazier or more outrageous, he finds a way to outdo himself.  So, we actually shouldn't have been surprised about his latest misadventure.

I'm, of course, talking about his tweet promoting an antisemitic Netflix movie.  Kyrie eventually deleted the tweet, but not after the damage was already done.  The Nets gave him a chance to backtrack and apologize, but this is Kyrie we're talking about.  Of course he didn't!

In a way, I admire his commitment.  Even when he's wrong, he refuses to back down.  Even though it would've been incredibly easy to issue a halfhearted apology that he didn't really mean, he didn't do it.  Instead, he went on the attack, blaming the media for asking him the same questions that he continually refused to answer and vowing to "learn from the experience."

That's the thing, though.  Kyrie went to Duke.  Duke's a very good school.  I know he only went there to play basketball, but still.  Shouldn't he have learned something while he was there?  Beyond that, wouldn't common sense dictate that antisemitism is bad?

Kyrie eventually did issue his apology, but it was already too late by that point.  The Nets suspended him for at least five games for conduct detrimental to the team and made him make a donation to the anti-defamation league.  Kyrie has also lost some endorsements, and Nike has cancelled the launch of his latest shoe.

Last year, of course, Kyrie was in the news pretty much all season because of his refusal to get vaccinated.  He wasn't allowed to even enter the facility unless/until he got the shot.  As a result, Kyrie couldn't play in home games for most of the season (although, oddly, he was able to attend as a fan as long as he remained in the stands, which made very little sense).  The vaccine mandate was lifted late in the season, so he was available for the playoffs, but his constantly being in and out of the lineup is a big reason why they ended up getting swept in the first round after entering the season as a title contender.

The Nets stood by him through all that.  And it appears they're standing by him again.  They've vowed that the five-game suspension is a minimum and he'll have to go through several steps before he's allowed to rejoin the team, but general manager Sean Marks also explicitly said they won't release him.  So they're clearly willing to put up with the Kyrie Circus.  But for how long?

How long will they put up with his shenanigans before they decide enough is enough?  Yes, they're paying him a lot of money.  But is that worth the headache?  And when will they finally admit that just maybe he might be part of the problem...if not the entire problem?

It's been a dysfunctional mess in Brooklyn for a while now.  The Nets made a big splash with all of their superstar acquisitions, putting Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden on the same team.  How could they lose?  Well, as it turns out, very easily!  Because it takes more than superstars to have a winning team.  Especially when those superstars are oft-injured (Durant) or their own worst enemy (Kyrie).

Harden decided he'd had enough and asked for a trade, so they obliged him and sent him to Philadelphia, getting Ben Simmons in return.  Swapping Harden for Simmons has made very little difference, though.  The Nets got off to a horrible start this season.  Someone had to pay the price, and it was Head Coach Steve Nash.  And it looks like they're going to hire Ime Udoka, who's currently suspended by the Celtics for an inappropriate relationship with a female team employee, as their new head coach.  Let that sink in for a second.

Nash's firing is all the proof you need that the Nets are willing to let the players do pretty much whatever they want with little to no consequences.  Nash couldn't win.  He never had the team's support.  In fact, the players were openly calling for his firing.  How is a coach supposed to succeed in that environment?  And, to make matters worse, the Nets seem perfectly content to let it continue.  They aren't concerned with winning as much as they're concerned with keeping their highly-paid players happy.

Why else would they put up with Kyrie and all his antics?  The vaccine thing was one thing.  (As I've said before, the difference with Kyrie and Djokovic is that Djokovic at least has a reason for not getting vaccinated.  His reason is stupid, but it's still an actual reason.  Kyrie's reason, meanwhile, is "I don't want to and you can't make me.")  But this is completely different.  And it's nothing more than an example of Kyrie's ignorance and stupidity.

Even if it was sheer ignorance, it's plain stupid.  Simply by tweeting the link, he made it look like he was promoting the film.  Whether he knew what it was actually about doesn't matter.  And the fact that he either didn't realize how that looked or didn't care just makes him look so much worse!  Actually, scratch that, the only thing that would be worse is if he actually believes it.

Which brings me back to my original question.  Is he crazy?  Or just stupid?  Does it even matter?  Bottom line, Kyrie Irving is unpredictable.  Meanwhile, the Nets are left doing damage control every time he says or does something ridiculous (which is often).  How long are they willing to do that?  And is it even worth it?  Especially when everyone's life would be so much easier if they just cut him loose.