One year has past since the Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving to the Celtics, and the aftershocks are continuing throughout the league, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. Irving demanded a deal last summer because he was tired of being in LeBron James‘ shadow in Cleveland. He wound up going to Boston in a move that may have launched a rebuilding project for the Cavs and set the Celtics up to be an elite team for several years.
The final deal sent Irving to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn’s unprotected first-rounder that became Collin Sexton. The Cavaliers received a 2020 second-round pick as added compensation when they claimed Thomas’ hip was in worse shape than they were led to believe.
The addition of Irving changed the Celtics’ prospects, Blakely notes. It gave them more size in the backcourt and ended the need to compensate for Thomas on defense. It upgraded the talent level and gave Boston a chance to compete with the Warriors if they should meet in the Finals. And it validated Danny Ainge’s decision not to go all in with trade offers for Paul George or Jimmy Butler earlier in the summer.
There’s more tonight from Boston:
- Gordon Hayward has made significant progress in recovering from a severe ankle injury, but his greatest challenges still lie ahead, Blakely notes in a separate story. Blakely talks to Chauncey Billups and Reggie Jackson, who have both been through long rehab processes, about the difficulty involved. “You’re a shell of yourself when you first come back,” Jackson said. “That’s the toughest part … every player that makes it here, has some type of greatness. So, you can’t be that until you’re full-go again.”
- Marcus Morris is the latest NBA player to speak out about mental health issues, sharing his story with Jackie MacMullan of ESPN in her five-part series running this week. Morris discusses the trauma of growing up in a violent North Philadelphia neighborhood and said he never sought help until Ainge and coach Brad Stevens urged him to see a psychologist. “I know lots of guys who are dealing with some kind of anxiety and depression — not knowing if they have a job next season, not knowing if they’re going to get traded,” Morris said. “It’s so stressful. Everyone is pulling at you. They want your time, your money, a piece of your fame. … If you have depression, you should be trying to get rid of it instead of bottling it up and letting it weigh on you and weigh on you and weigh on you.”
- Jayson Tatum looks ahead to training camp and talks about his offseason work with Kobe Bryant in a question-and-answer session with Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
Paul George had the broken tibia suffered during the summer, and was able to come back part time late the next season. He’s fine now. Yahoo showed a video of Hayward dunking. He looked fine doing that. Kyrie said he’ll be ready for training camp. Hayward thinks he’ll be ready for the season. I’m wondering what the Celtics plan on doing with all those 1st round picks next season. If Sacramento isn’t first, but in the top 5, they hit the jackpot.
None of CLE’s trades have worked out since Wiggins was traded for Love. And a certain dumb loud percentage of the Cav fanbase still moan about losing Wiggy, who was never on the team and is an albatross, and having Love, who’s a happy-to-re-sign champ.
Not that much moaning about snake Irving, except for the idiots who wanted NTC Lebron traded instead. Did I say idiots yet?
Anyway nothing against BOS, they’re likeable enough and was smart enough to make a viable offer for Irving. Also, ethical enough to say IT wasn’t even jogging yet, had no rehab plan, ignored advice about it, and more or less, was likely lying to everyone including himself.
Trade should have been voided.
The Cavs had the chance to void it. They chose to take the 2nd round pick from the Celts instead. The Cavs were thinking the Brooklyn pick would have been higher. Bad move.
You don’t just get rid of Depression.
He didn’t say you just get rid of it, he said you can’t bottle it up inside, so you need to get rid of it. Meaning, I held it in too long, and now I’m working towards a cure.
There is no doubt that the Cavs lost the Irving deal. Though teams never recover equal value when a Superstar asks to be traded, taking back IT in that deal was just plain dumb. Only getting an additional second when the extent of the injury to IT was revealed was even worse.
People overlook whats cavs did with the irving trade.
It crowder pick became hood clarkson nance jr and sexton.
That makes it even worse. Lol
I truly hope Boston lets JT shine in the team, I think he is such a great talent, if given the chance to be “the man” in the team I think he can reach the highest levels in the league, surely he can take Boston farther than Kyrie, hopefully Stevens will see that, Kyrie is good but JT is gonna be out of this world, just keep him happy & will enjoy him for many many years.
Kyrie simply was not gonna play for the Cavs anymore, so getting some good, new ball racks for him in a trade woulda been sufficient. Pretty much, that’s all they got.
I’m not sure it validates not trading for Paul George. Arguably, IT, George, Tatum, Crowder, Horford is better. Assume you traded Bradley, Smart, Rozier/Zizic/Yabusele and one of the ‘19 firsts (not SAC), that’s a better offer for IND, you’d have Collin Sexton now (benefit of hindsight, but everyone knew it was going to be a good pick in a loaded draft). That trade offer sounds about right though I think. Oladipo ended up playing well, and Sabonis might be a decent rotation player, but Yabusele is intriguing, Bradley and Smart would’ve been great fits there, plus they were expiring so it would’ve increased their flexibility, and they could’ve negotiated whatever they wanted on picks. You also wouldn’t have Morris, but you still could’ve added Hayward.
Indiana wasn’t going to deal with Boston unless it got Tatum or Brown. Same with Kawhi.