Cavaliers’ first-round draft pick Kyrie Irving took his basketball inexperience up a notch today when he shook hands with NBA Commissioner David Stern and confused him with famed composer Marvin Hamlish, saying, “It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hamlisch. You play the piano like Grant Hill.”
Irving apologized to Stern when an NBA intern informed him of his gaffe after ceremonial photos had been taken of the two while shaking hands.
“I guess this shows I don’t know my way around the NBA,” Irving later joked. “I barely remember Duke, having been injured most of the year and playing in just 11 games for the Boll Weevils–is that their name? I wasn’t around long enough to remember.”
Stern thought Irving’s “Marvin Hamlisch” remark was a joke and replied, “You rode the fast track to get here. Who got you this gig? Dr. J?”
“Ha, ha,” Irving retorted. “I might have mistaken you for someone else, but at least I know Julius spells his name with an ‘E’, not an ‘I’.”
By Rob C. Christiansen
