The Boston Celtics were eliminated from the NBA playoffs on Wednesday night after a disappointing season, and 24 hours did not even elapse before Kyrie Irving started taking criticism. The latest has come from former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, who called Irving “disrespectful” and a “bad leader.”
Perkins joined “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” for an interview on Thursday and shared his feelings on Irving.
“I think Kyrie, the way he went about it, was disrespectful to the city of Boston, was disrespectful to the organization,” Perkins said. “And he didn’t represent what Celtic pride is all about. I spent my first eight and a half years of my career in Boston and those fans are unbelievable, the organization is unbelievable, the history of the franchise in itself is unbelievable. And the way Kyrie went about it, ‘OK, yeah, I struggled. OK, on to the next game.’ Kinda like the, ‘I don’t care’ attitude. Just basically, throughout the whole process, I thought he had got it, but he was just a bad leader and he didn’t represent was Celtic pride was about. It was proven, in my opinion, he’s not a Batman. He’s a great player, Kyrie is an elite player, but he’s not a Batman. He’s a Batman when he’s on the team with LeBron (James), but he’s not a Batman. He can’t carry his own team.”
"In this series I think the way Kyrie went about it was disrespectful to the city of Boston, disrespectful to the organization and he didn't represent what Celtic Pride is all about… He was a bad leader and it was proven he's not a Batman." — @KendrickPerkins pic.twitter.com/OcUQG8rJ6V
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 9, 2019
Irving had a horrendous series against the Milwaukee Bucks, which ended in five games. He shot just 35.2 percent from the field for the series and was particularly bad over the last four games, all of which they lost. That came after he spent the season telling the media to trust his leadership as he tried to follow the LeBron James playbook. He has since proven he is not LeBron James and has taken criticism from many, including an anonymous teammate.
Despite all the criticism, one of Irving’s teammates did come to the guard’s defense.
