Kyrie Irving's Pregame Pump Up Speech In The Nets Home Opener Could Not Have Been More Awkward

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The Brooklyn Nets enter the 2022-23 NBA season with a ton of questions and a ton of expectations. This was a plan that was supposed to deliver titles, and they're yet to even make an ECF. That's not great. Now, after an offseason in which their best player demanded a trade and the team refused to give the second best player an extension all while also having to integrate a player in Ben Simmons who hasn't played basketball in forever, this is a team that is the ultimate wild card. Oh, before I forget, Seth Curry and Joe Harris are still banged up too. Despite all that, the Nets are one of those teams that have "title aspirations". Yes, the rumors are true, they didn't win a single game in last year's playoffs, but this is a new season with new hope where anything is possible.

The pickle you find yourself in as the Nets though is what you do on Opening Night. Who can you possibly send out there to give that pump up "thank you" speech to the fans? Kevin Durant very publicly demanded to be removed from the Brooklyn Nets about 2 months ago. He's probably not the best guy to do it. That leaves…..Kyrie?. The player the team didn't want to extend who is 100000% going to leave this team over the summer and go play with LeBron. How do I know that? I listened to his speech

I've heard this Kyrie before. Even believed what he told me at the time.

I've lived through this exact situation and can tell you how it ends. In terms of that speech tonight, the whole thing was kind of awkward no? Did that pump anyone up or get you excited for a deep Nets playoff run? 

This is why the Nets fascinate me. They do have elite top end talent, so it's not as if you can completely write them off. In the NBA, if you have the talent you can cover up a lot of holes. Remember, this is a contract year for Kyrie. He needs to rebuild his market immediately. There's a chance this team does put it together to the point where they make the top 6, and then in a playoff series you still have Kevin Durant. Anything can happen.

At the same time, the Pelicans are having their way with the Nets as I blog this so who knows. It doesn't feel like Kyrie's pregame speech did all that much to bring the energy, which I for one find shocking. Probably because everyone in the building knows that by this time next year he'll be a Laker so who could really blame them.