Kyrie Irving had some strong words to say as he spoke at Nets practice Friday afternoon.
The point guard defended the way he pushes his teammates and the organizations he's played for, after being criticized over comments he made earlier in the week.
"It's a telltale sign of the career that I've had," Irving said. "Some of the moves that I've made individually, and then as well as coming to different environments and organizations. ...It's not like I'm an a--hole yelling at everybody in the freaking locker room all the time and you hear all these stories."
Irving had recently said that the Nets' holes were "glaring" in terms of pieces the team needs to play at the next level.
"At the end of the day, my name... is in a lot of people's mouths all the time and it is what it is. I've earned that respect in terms of how great I am as a player and there's still more goals I want to accomplish in this league, and I can't do it without improving an organization and winning a championship and that's what it comes down to. So I'm going to continue to push and continue to demand greatness of myself and demand greatness out of my teammates, and we go from there."
Irving then ended things with a bang.
"If it's harsh as a leader or it's too much for anybody, you're not in our locker room -- stay the f--k out. It's as simple as that."