NovU wrote:What just happened is mind boggling. Ainge finally fucks fucks really fucks up. This is great to hear but even worse, Dan Gilbert just built a superteam out of thin air plus the pick.
I believe Kyrie next to LBJ boosted his play this past couple years. Kyrie next to Hayward will be a mess, helps neither. Horford/Hayward/Kyrie aren't a big 3 teams will fear. Ainge just turned #1 seed into #5 seed team this offseason. Grats.
Isiah alone is a better player than Kyrie at this stage of their NBA career. This is why addition of Jae Crowder vastly unbalances this trade. Minutes these two are going to replace are gonna be huge for the Cavs. Imagine durable and prime Isaiah and Jae playing in place of erratic Irving and ancient bodies like Frye and Richard Jefferson. Adding to the insult, Brooklyn pick absolutely gang rapes. Is this legal? How?
Making this deal with the biggest rival in same conference, did Ainge lose his mind? He had a good shot, great shot at getting to the Finals for the next couple or few seasons. The thing is the Cavs were only gonna get worse while things were looking up for the Celtics.
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The Celtics gave up a 29 year old, 5'9" Thomas coming off of a hip injury, for a 25 year old, 6'3" Kyrie Irving. Thomas wasn't going to get max money, as we wouldn't pay a 30+ year old undersized PG who relies on quickness and athleticism that kind of money. Irving gives us more years (If he re-signs in a couple years, which I think he will), and he isn't the same liability on defense. While he's not a great defender, he is quite a bit taller, and what happened to Thomas in the Wizards series wouldn't have happened to Kyrie.
We gave up the BKN pick, but not the LA one. Moving Crowder makes perfect sense, because of the log jam at that position. This will give Brown the opportunity to log more minutes (Which he deserves), and Tatum will see the floor more. Tatum has tremendous upside. Thomas and Hayward will be a mess? I heard the exact same thing about Garnett, Pierce and Allen when they came together, people said egos would get in the way, that it wouldn't work. Well, it did. Gordon Hayward isn't a ball dominant player, Kyrie will have the ball in his hands far more as a Celtic. Not only that, combine those two with Horford who is one of the most unselfish bigs in the league, and it should work out just fine.
I hurt for the loss of IT, because he was all heart. It reminded me of when I would watch Iverson and he would put it all out on the floor. To say however, that the Celtics got raped, is completely false. We received a player 4 years younger, who hasn't even entered his prime, and was a major part of a CLE championship. This move makes sense, but it still hurts.