[Afseth] Kyrie Irving on Team USA’s roster process: “I grew up in a time when we actually had to try out for USAB, and we did meet up as a group and as peers, and there was a mutual respect that we earned from one another, and trying out, and then seeing what five meshed well…”
by Mechaultima
29 Comments
Most of the players on the team grew up in that time too
Who picks the team
Weird statement, got to wonder if it hurt his feelings that he wasn’t asked to play in Paris.
“Back in my day, we didnt have things handed to us on a silver platter. These young bucks like Curry, KD, Lebron, and Kawhi dont get it.” -32 year old Kyrie Irving.
Why the hell would team USA deal w Kyrie, don’t even need another pure scorer
The guards are Steph, who is Steph
Booker and Jrue, who played the most recent Olympics
Edwards and Haliburton, who played the most recent FIBA Worldcup
The only gifted spot is Steph and Kyrie wasn’t going to be picked over Steph.
Also Kyrie –> [Grant Afseth](https://twitter.com/GrantAfseth/status/1781019060936851558)
Kyrie Irving on not being on Team USA: “I would have loved to, but I wish my brothers well, and I just didn’t fit into this team. … I have nothing but respect for those guys over at USAB. At this point in my career, I think my focus should be on winning the championship…”
Before people start tweaking in the comments.
I don’t really care about this, but it was always cool to see NBA players have to try out to make a team.
He should play for Australia.
I grew up in a world where suggesting the world was flat got you humiliated and laughed at so much no one bothered listening to your opinion again but here we are.
Tryouts we’re talking about tryouts?? Current gen probably.
We all agree Jalen Brunson would get the PG injury backup slot before Kyrie right?
I get where he’s coming from- it’s unfortunate, by the next Olympics he’ll be rather old, this year being one where Lebron & friends initated a swan song/dream team type of deal screws out a few people in that position of almost enough prestige and almost enough talent like Kyrie who can’t really pivot to either argument.
Man got unlucky but it won’t change anything here.
Definitely worded weird with the “I grew up”. Sounds like he’s an old head and they just grabbed the best guys under 25 or something.
But I agree with the overall sentiment. I thought the training camp/tryout along with the select team made it feel more like an actual program being built.
I woulda preferred kyrie over Hali…
I don’t think there’s any guards on the team where you can say definitively that Kyrie should be there over him.
When you factor in that you don’t have to worry about any of them running their mouth and starting an international incident, it’s pretty obvious why he’s not on the team…. let’s be honest, he was never going to be on this squad.
People should read the full quote before making the same comment as everyone else.
Guy who refused to be part of the team USA program for the last 4 years is mad said USA program didn’t include him. Color me shocked
I grew up in a time when Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, etc did not have to try out for shit.
one cool thing about kyrie is you can immediately discount his opinion without worry you are making a mistake
How old does Kyrie think he is?
Kyrie talking like he’s 60 years old
I don’t think Michael Jordan or Kobe tried out for team USA
Maybe don’t be bat shit crazy and an embarrassment publicly for your country and you’d get picked too kyrie… When Team USA has 30ish guys as good as you that aren’t Ye supporters, it’s an easy decision.
Plus realistically, Bron probably picked the team anyways.
He also grew up at the only time the US team ever lost in the Olympics since pros were eligible lol so I’m not sure what the message is here
The amount of haters bringing up unrelated stuff is wild
Putting his comment aside, he should be on this team; There’s at least 1 guy at the team he’s outperforming. Also Jalen Brunson, why is he not on the team??
This is a cherry picked quote. He was pretty mature about it imo
Redemption in Playoffs