Nets' Kenny Atkinson Says He Won't Judge Kyrie Irving Based on Celtics Drama

Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters at the NBA Las Vegas Summer League that he will not "prejudge" any of the team's new acquisitions—namely ex-Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving—for any reported drama prior to their current stop.

"I think that's the mindset," Atkinson said per Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.

"Don't prejudge. And that's Kyrie, that's DeAndre Jordan, that's everybody. Because these guys, just like me and you, they're imperfect. Like, do we expect a 27-year-old guy to be perfect? They're not going to be perfect, and I think that's true with all our guys. If we give them a clean slate when they step in our facility, that's the way to look at it."

The final season of Irving's two-year tenure with the Boston Celtics did not go as planned, with the preseason Eastern Conference favorite finishing 49-33 and losing in five games to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the playoffs.

Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports detailed a series of moments that represented a disappointing season, including Irving calling out younger teammates following a Jan. 12 loss to the Orlando Magic and telling reporters to "ask [him] July 1" about his future destination during a Feb. 1 press conference.

Celtics wing Jaylen Brown didn't take kindly to the Irving remarks.

"We've just got to have each other's back at the end of the day," Brown said on Jan. 14. "We can't make comments. We can't point fingers. We've just got to continue to empower each other and have each other's back."

ESPN's Jackie MacMullan wrote about Irving and drama within the Celtics locker room, noting that "Celtics players concede that earlier in the season Irving's mood swings often left them treading lightly in the locker room."

She added that Irving "confided to ESPN that being a leader was more complicated than he ever imagined" and that "he adopted a passive-aggressive stance with the younger teammates, strikingly similar to the LeBron James tactics that infuriated Irving in Cleveland."

Celtics guard Marcus Smart went to bat for Irving, however, when he made these postseason remarks.

"Bulls--t. That's bulls--t," Smart said regarding Irving's leadership being a catalyst for the team's disappointing year.

"Not one of us on this team knows what Kyrie's been through. Probably a few amount of people in this world knows what Kyrie goes through. It was hard for him as well. He was forced into a situation where it was business over the friendships, where he had to come into a situation knowing that this is a group of guys that had something going before I come here. 'How will I fit in?' He didn't want to disrupt that. And that says a lot. This is Kyrie Irving we're talking about. And he's talking about coming in and disrupting us."

Irving's closing months in a Celtics uniform were clearly rocky, but in fairness to the point guard, he did step into a tough situation last season.

Boston rolled through the 2018 playoffs without an injured Irving and nearly took down LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, losing in seven games.

The young players who led the Celtics' quest for the NBA Finals (e.g. Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown) all had to take backseats to a perennial All-Star in Irving, who led the team in scoring and usage.

Irving won't have a similar issue in Brooklyn, where the Nets have undergone a significant roster overhaul that includes a trade of point guard D'Angelo Russell and the departures of numerous key rotation players including DeMarre Carroll, Ed Davis and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Brooklyn also didn't experience much postseason success, with the team winning just one playoff game.

It's a brand-new era in Brooklyn with Irving as the centerpiece and Kevin Durant on his way after he recovers from a ruptured Achilles. In that sense, Atkinson is right to have a clear mind when coaching Irving this season, as a fresh start on a new team may be what the point guard needs.