RealGM

Kenny finally has his own Steve Nash.

LAS VEGAS – From Jeremy Lin to Jeff Teague to D’Angelo Russell, Kenny Atkinson is known to get the most out of his point guards.
But he’s never had one as talented as Kyrie Irving, or as enigmatic as a personality. So what is Atkinson’s plan for the player with perhaps the greatest handle in the NBA?

“Give him the ball,” Atkinson said.

“I’m definitely starting to do my homework on him. It’s still recent,” the coach said. “I think the challenge is to get the best Kyrie. I want him to have his best season ever and continue that improvement and that’s tough because he played well last year. I know there’s a lot of talk out there, but you look at his numbers and I think the way he played really well. Definitely going to challenge him to keep improving. We play a system I don’t imagine changing a ton.
“You’ll have to ask him, but I think that’s part of the reason he was interested in coming here our style of play. I think we’ll come to a meeting of minds between me and him and how that works within the group.”

Atkinson said the Nets are embracing Irving with a clean slate.

“Whether it’s Kyrie or DeAndre Jordan or anybody, we don’t pre-judge from other situations,” Atkinson said. “We have our intel, we do our due-diligence, but we don’t pre-judge. I think the strategy is how can we fit this player the best possible way into our culture. That’s all of our jobs. We do it as a group. We do it collaboratively. I feel like our culture is strong enough no matter what type of player we bring in.”

GM Sean Marks indicated that current Nets players vouched for Irving, and it’s widely known Spencer Dinwiddie acted as a recruiter.

“I think it’s pretty difficult and it probably wouldn’t be the right thing for me to comment on what happened in different organizations. I’m not a part of that. I’m not in the locker room. To comment on hearsay and scuttlebutt isn’t the right thing,” Marks said. “All I can do is comment on what’s going on inside our franchise. We use our players for a lot of that. Our players are our biggest storytellers. They’re the ones that, ‘This is what the Nets provide for us,’ and so forth. We use them in a lot of our decision-making. Whether it’s a trade call or whether it’s free agency or what not, the players know these guys. They know them well. It’s about bringing these guys into our culture, bringing them into locker room, into our environment, and bid on all the people we have bid on now for three years. Putting our arms around these guys and see where it goes from there.”

“The fans are savvy enough,” Atkinson said. “They understand the guy can potentially be out. So I think they understand that situation. I’ll tell you we’re not going to use it as an excuse. We’ve added some really good players and our goal is to continue that rise.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/nets/ny-kyrie-irving-kenny-atkinson-sean-marks-20190710-zjv6nv5qdvatdkpkaabg6i6sdu-story.html

It's like us Nets fans have been paying attention to Marks and Kenny. We've been telling the GB this

Sent from my SM-G925T using RealGM mobile app

I'm tellin' ya, Kyrie is going to steamroll the league this season. I'm so excited for this campaign.

This is just what we have all been telling Celtics fans/GB 13-year olds.

This isnt Boston. This isnt the Boston locker room or culture or situation.

This is Brooklyn. Kyrie wants to be here, he always had. The Nets accept all personalities and people and they embrace them. they look for how they can make them better and fit them, not how they can ram the square peg into the round hole. our guys are humble, not bratty egomaniac kids like brown or rozier. our coach embraces our guys, not stevens who plays favorites. our GM puts culture and people over money and assets... not ainge who will trade anyone any time.

Kyrie is going to have a monster MVP type season provided health

Clueless outsiders will be clueless and bitter that Irving wanted to play for us instead of their crap teams.

For us it’s the perfect storm of tangibles for a superstar season.

For outsiders they think its doomsday all over again.

I trust Kenny and staff. KA loves his guards and he’ll be damn sure to exact every ounce of talent out of Irving. It’s gonna be a fun season.

And then we’ll get Durant.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

I've never seen venom from a fanbase like Boston to Kyrie. Dude legit became a scapegoat for all of their problems.

I actually saw fans mad at Kyrie because he was upset at their young players because partied in Miami IN BETWEEN back to back games and got ran off the floor predictably. They had guys crying about shots and roles all season. None of that would ever happen with our core guys.

I've never seen Caris, Joe, or Allen even get slightly bothered when they get benched or get less shots. Regardless of whether we win or lose. The Celtics were full of fake team players. I'm OK with my role if we win. That's why they combusted anytime anything went wrong.

I have no idea how Kyrie and Kenny will get along but the fit here is a lot cleaner on and off the court. I'm more worried about how our role guys step up.

MrDollarBills wrote:Clueless outsiders will be clueless and bitter that Irving wanted to play for us instead of their crap teams.

Bro...LOL

HAHAHA

Kyrie is GREAT fit for our offense. Kenny's system is perfect for PGs. This the least of our worries.

True test will be Kyrie and the performance staff. I want to see if they can keep Kyire on the floor for 70+ games.

We hear them talk the talk about how great they are now lets see them walk the walk. Keep Kyrie healthy and why wait until 2021 we can take the East this year. Yeah I said it, I'm not worried about MIL or PHI they aren't unstoppable. Why not BK as early as this year.

^
Agreed, Rockice.

Right now, I see us at 53 regular-season wins, good for 3rd in the East. We're talented, we're unselfish, we're all gonna be fresh because our depth is insane and we have the best performance staff in the business. The only thing that I think could swing us higher is if Caris and whomever starts at the 4 become 3&D aces. LeVert can make the jump, I think, although his resume in those 2 areas thus far leaves alot to be desired. I expect a heated battle in training camp between Taurean and Rodions, the winner will be the one who can bring the best of both corner 3's and versatile defending.

Whether they hit those lofty goals or not, the postseason is anyone's bet. We're built for it. I'm excited.

I turned that clip off halfway through. Kornheiser clearly hasn't watched the Nets play if he thinks there's an issue of fitting Irving into an offense that is tailor made for his skillset.

Dudes just talk, talk, talk and don't know ****.

Paradise wrote:

MrDollarBills wrote:Clueless outsiders will be clueless and bitter that Irving wanted to play for us instead of their crap teams.

Bro...LOL

Watch on YouTube

This is easily the dumbest clip on the internet. This is exactly why players hate the media.

MrDollarBills wrote:I turned that clip off halfway through. Kornheiser clearly hasn't watched the Nets play if he thinks there's an issue of fitting Irving into an offense that is tailor made for his skillset.

Dudes just talk, talk, talk and don't know ****.

Well it is a talk show. lol I tuned out after 30 seconds...