Why does the trade of Kyrie Irving to Boston for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's unprotected #1 confuse me? Let me count the ways:
1) I cannot imagine the 1980s Celtics trading with the Sixers or the Bucks or the Pistons and certainly I cannot imagine the Celtics trading, for example, McHale or Parish to one of those teams.
I am sure that this has happened at some point outside of my memory, but I cannot recall a team as good as the Cavs trading a guy who has been 2nd team all-NBA to a key conference rival. Bizarre.
2) What does this say about Isaiah Thomas's torn hip socket? I mean, in 2003-04 Sam Cassell had over 12 Win Shares and was second team all-NBA, leading the Wolves to a #1 seed in the West. In the playoffs, he struggled with a mystery ailment, which the Wolves deemed "back spasms" and which eventually was diagnosed as a torn hip socket. The Wolves had to play without him and lost in the conference finals. Cassell before 2005 had WS seasons of 9.2, 8.5, 8.6, 9.6 and 12.1. After the torn hip socket, Cassell never had an 8 WS season and had only one decent year for the rest of his career.
If Isaiah Thomas suffers the same dropoff, and goes back to being a 4-6 WS player (he had 12.5 last year), what are you really getting for Kyrie? A good bench guy?
3) Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic?
Jae Crowder has long been the #1 "untouchable" Celtic because he is a "glue guy." I recall him mostly as the guy LeBron blows by every single possession of Cavs/Celts games. He is an OK player, but he is not supposed to be a key cog on a championship team. The fact that the Celts have held him out of deals so often is baffling to me.
Ante Zizic -- https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2017/06/16/meet-celtics-prospect-ante-zizic
Like most Euro big guys, it is impossible to evaluate them until they come and play in the NBA, but if this article is to be believed, the Celts gave away a top 10 level draft pick as a throw-in. If he is, instead, Jan Vesely, then it is a non-factor, but imagine if the Cavs had a decent big guy who wasn't like 6'8" (Tristan Thompson).
4) Why would the Celts Pick this Trade to Give Away that Brooklyn #1?
I am a Duke guy, I have good feelings for Kyrie's game. But I would have thought that the Celts had far better opportunities for this #1. Maybe they fear that Brooklyn won't be so awful and the pick may fall to a #5? Who knows - but this pick has LONG been the cornerstone of the idea that the Celts were going to dominate the league (or at least the East) for 10 years. Keep IT, Hayward, the crucial Jae Crowder, Horford, get a high pick (Tatum) develop Jaylon Brown and then BAM Porter or Bagley!!
Suddenly the pick goes to.........your arch rival? If Porter or Bagley becomes the next great thing and the pick went to the Cavs.....doesn't that mean LeBron probably stays around? LeBron always talks about how he loves Chris Paul and Melo and Wade and blah, blah, blah, but if he wants to play until 38 or so, doesn't he want to play with a YOUNG superstar whose game he can groom? He saw that Cleveland had good young players - went home. Do you want to ENCOURAGE LeBron to stay in your conference and keep beating you?
5) How does Isaiah Thomas fit with LeBron?
Maybe he is physically shot and will just split time with Derrick Rose. If so, no problem. But if IT is going to be AT ALL useful to you, he has to take a ton of shots and render LeBron worthless on 20-30 possessions a game. Is that what you really want?
6) The Old Celtics Roster, While Less Talented, Made More Sense With Brad Stevens Coaching.
The hardest thing about playing the Celtics was that they were very young and played hard for 48 minutes and always believed they would win. This belief carried them through despite their general lack of elite talent (Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder would jack threes down 17 in the 4th with as much confidence as if they were Curry/Thompson.Durant).
You now have a Kyrie-led squad. No one has ever accused Kyrie of outworking his opponent. Gordon Hayward isn't a grinder. You've now reduced the value of Jayson Tatum. Unless you are going to give him the LeBron role of distributing the ball to the scorers, what role, exactly, does he play now?
The whole trade makes absolutely no sense for anyone. I guess I'd have to give the advantage to Cleveland. They get a couple of assets that, if lightning strikes, may be awesome "gets" and they get a chance to keep LeBron around for 4-5 years.
Weird.
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