Kyrie to Boston (Official)

[BTP]

From what I've heard about Boston, it's one of those cities, where Gordon has a good chance to be more popular than Kyrie and viewed as the alpha on the team. Imagine what that'd do to Kyrie's ego...

 

[Et tu Brute]

Remember when Kyrie was "the man" before LeBron came?

They were awful.

He was also prepubescent.

 

[Et tu Brute]

More importantly, Marcus Smart, if he gets much burn at the 2.

Hayward is plus but big drop from AB.

Jaylen has tools, not sure his defensive effectiveness early in career. Could be good.

If not bottom 5, certainly bottom 10 (unless Ainge plugs gaps with a rim protector)

Surely a cheap Bogut deal is on the cards?

 

[Et tu Brute]

I bet GH feels somewhat stupid now, having a guy recruit him to the Celtics only to see him get traded a month later. lol The cavs gotten stronger and no way in hell is the Celtics beating the Cavs this year.

But Irving might average 80 in a playoff series vs the Cavs. They got no rim protection and Shump, Smith and IT no chance of staying in front of Kyrie.

 

[silesian]

that's why it's called "speculation" mate. I'm just making it up.

but even your good self would have to think the stories about Kyrie not speaking to teammates during the playoffs are a little disturbing ???

Pretty solid speculation. For as much as Locke said "it was Gordon's locker room" I never saw it. He is an introvert and not a negative force. Kinda like Stockton (in his book, he describes how the locker room fell apart in the last few years and neither he nor Karl stepped up to fix it).

But I doubt GH will ever be a positive force or team leader, like a Bill Laimbeer, Chauncey Billips, Magic, etc. These guys kept the team together and straightened out the troublemakers. I think IT had this role in Boston and not sure anybody steps up.

I'm bearish on the Celtics, at least for next year.

 

[silesian]

From what I've heard about Boston, it's one of those cities, where Gordon has a good chance to be more popular than Kyrie and viewed as the alpha on the team. Imagine what that'd do to Kyrie's ego...

He may be more popular, but I don't think he has it in him to be an alpha.

 

[Noomskull]

Thugs?

Really dude?

More like posse....

 

[cowhide]

This trade leaves me thinking 2 things -

#1 Cleveland got very great value for a guy who would have walked in 2 years. IT is not that far off from Kyrie currently and that 2018 pick could be massive. And Crowder is such a solid player.

#2 Boston can be amazing if Stevens coaches well. Their core for the next few years could be incredible if he can coach them up. Just look at this lineup:

PG Kyrie - top 5 offensive player
SG Jalen Brown - promising 2 way player
SF Hayward - All Star quality 2 way player
PF Tatum - very promising rookie
C Horford - solid 2 way vet
6th man - Smart who is improving

Boston has the talent (and numerous picks soon) to emerge as a contender. To me, it all comes down to Stevens. He is a better coach than Lue, but how much? We shall see...

Cavs won the trade, but nobody should be bashing the Celtics quite yet.

Sent from my VS995 using JazzFanz mobile app

Tatum is not a PF. He will get killed playing PF.

 

[silesian]

That could all be true and they still get at least the 4th seed.

4th seed in the east is a top 12-14 in the NBA. Meaning they would be slightly above average.

 

[cowhide]

Kyrie might be a weird dude. I think he is someone who worships Kobe and probably trends towards the antisocial side of things. Hayward seems to be a similar type of personality. Are these great locker-room personalities? Probably not, but I don't see them as detrimental forces. Prior to contrary belief teammates don't have to be BFFs to win games.

All I need to know about Kyrie is that he thinks the world is flat and he should be the man. Those two things make him a little crazy.

 

[Deleted member 95]

Interesting connection between Kyrie/Gordon: Both were players Kobe mentored last off-season.

Also both players wanted out of their situation after the mentoring, which ****ed over their former teams. Kobe playing long con on his past enemies.

 

[Stoked]

Cavs narrowed the gap with the Warriors. They now have another good defender at the 3, a very possible #1 pick next year, can avoid playing Shumpert, very likely a more cohesive locker room and improved their chances or re-signing Lebron next off-season.

Boston got worse now and dimmed their future. Irving is a stud offensively but sucks defensively. But he replaces another offensive stud in IT so that gain is minimal. But they have also given up their best asset in the Nets 2018 pick and finished killing off their defensive wing depth. They have no depth, worse D and a dimmer future. Awesome.

 

[candrew]

Boston needs to make another move.

Who is going to guard LeBron in the WCF? Gordo? Horford?

He'll easily average 40/15/10.

On the plus side for Boston, the Kyrie/IT flip gives them another year to develop their young players. IT would have been gone after this season - he definitely would have wanted to be the highest paid player on the team. That means 31+ mil. They save upwards of 20 mil with Kyrie under contract for next year and Crowder gone. Irving will most definitely opt-out; but that's in 2 years.

But the bottom line is this - a core of Kyrie/Gordo/Horford is solid; but not scary.

This gets them no closer to the finals - Cavs in 5.

So at the end of the day this may all be about staying competitive while "waiting out" LeBron to either move to the WC or have father time catch up with him.

 

[Jack Strop]

Outside of giving up the pick, I actually like this deal for Boston. How many of you who are criticizing the deal were advocating giving up anyone not named Gobert or Hayward over the last couple of seasons to get another star? Boston just did that.

IT was talking about Boston backing up the Brinks truck. He's older; he's coming off an injury. Do you want to max a guy like that, especially one who is very short for his position and has to rely on quickness? His dropoff during his next contract could be huge. Meanwhile, Boston gets a star PG in his prime who is under contract for two more years.

Yes, they gave up depth. But they have three potential stud starters in Hayward, Irving and Tatum. Smart, Rozier and Brown are all very good or promising backups. They need bigs. But they still have assets to do that. Probably next summer or at the deadline. This was a good deal for both teams. An A for Cleveland because of the pick. Solid B for Boston. They're a bit weaker this season, but they can develop Tatum and Briwn with zero pressure as Hayward and Irving will be the scorers.

 

[NAOS]

I guess IT's wife can stop following Robyn Hayward on Instagram.

 

[enchilada_style]

I don't think the Jazz could have matched that package to land Kyrie. I would guess that DL found that out pretty quickly.

 

[stitches]

Rudy's a coldblooded killer:

 

[Stoked]

Outside of giving up the pick, I actually like this deal for Boston. How many of you who are criticizing the deal were advocating giving up anyone not named Gobert or Hayward over the last couple of seasons to get another star? Boston just did that.

IT was talking about Boston backing up the Brinks truck. He's older; he's coming off an injury. Do you want to max a guy like that, especially one who is very short for his position and has to rely on quickness? His dropoff during his next contract could be huge. Meanwhile, Boston gets a star PG in his prime who is under contract for two more years.

Yes, they gave up depth. But they have three potential stud starters in Hayward, Irving and Tatum. Smart, Rozier and Brown are all very good or promising backups. They need bigs. But they still have assets to do that. Probably next summer or at the deadline. This was a good deal for both teams. An A for Cleveland because of the pick. Solid B for Boston. They're a bit weaker this season, but they can develop Tatum and Briwn with zero pressure as Hayward and Irving will be the scorers.

But they didn't get "another star". They traded stars, major difference.

This would be the same as trading Hayward for Paul George. Not keeping Gobert and Hayward and then bringing in Butler for example.

Also IT is 28, not 33....

 

[Jack Strop]

I don't think the Jazz could have matched that package to land Kyrie. I would guess that DL found that out pretty quickly.

Wouldn't have wanted to, tbh. Gutting the team to obtain a "me first", no defense PG would not have been a good idea. Having opposing offensive and defensive philosophies on the court at the same time just wouldn't work. Jazz need to be all-in on defense. They can't have 4 and a matador. Irving would certainly score, but the rest of the team would just stand around at times and get frustrated.

 

[Keefe]

Cleveland is going to embarrass the C's when they match up. Both Lebron and IT will be out for blood. Hayward will be guarded by either Lebron or Crowder which will be a fun night for him.

Exactly what I was thinking.

****, Benedict. Love this trade.

If you're the Cavs, would you try to go all-in and trade that Brooklyn pick and Tristan Thompson for Marc Gasol? He loves Memphis and may have a no-trade clause but to have a truly legit shot to win it all may sway Marc. Or is Lebron 100% gone after this year, making such a trade perhaps foolish?