Kyrie Irving to Boston for Thomas, Crowder, Nets 1st, Zizic

The way the Celtics are rolling right now, they will get one of those guys when the Lakers blow and give the Celtics the number 2 pick. ;-)

Everything has been coming up Green since the draft lottery night. Finally. It's been a long time coming now.

 After a nights sleep and reading other thoughts I will say I have warmed up to the deal. As someone said, in the NBA the team that gets the best player usually wins the trade. 
 In regards to losing the Nets pick, we can also look at it in the context that there is plenty of youth with more to come.

Lol Kirie left a little less than 6 million on the table to get out of Cleveland (by waiving the trade kicker). I don't know what LeBron did to this guy, but it sounds like he was willing to do anything to leave that place.

A lot of people think Kirie has a really good chance of signing a extension/future deal with the Celtics, which may be why they were more willing to include the Brooklyn pick in the deal.

Reportedly, Kirie had Boston in one of his preferred destinations he wanted to go to.

I would have rather used the Brooklyn '18 pick Bradley/Jae/et al. for Butler and George and kept Isaiah. I think that team has a higher ceiling the next 2 years than the current version at the same cost. Problem is, the timing on the deals didn't work given Draft day vs Free Agency start, and it banks on Isaiah being healthy and re-signing.

I think this shows Ainge thinks Kyrie >> Butler, since they likely could have gotten Butler at the deadline had they included it, and gotten an extra half season of a higher ceiling (though again so many moving pieces, who knows if Bulls would take '18 Bkn instead of '17).

2-5 years this is a better move, but there is definitely risk the team peaks this year in a year the championship is likely out of reach.

Also kinda hate rooting for a team that completely flushed a Conference Finalist. It just sucks as a fan. Isaiah was an awesome Celtic, and I like rooting for guys like him. AB, Jae too.

Finally, this proves that Brad is really the face of the franchise (or maybe even Danny). Kind of shocking to see the coach have the most power on an NBA team; only Pop has had that much juice, and he probably got lucky with 3 understated SUPERSTARS.

Surprised not by trade, not Thomas or Crowder, but by the secondary pieces being Zizic and the Nets pick. It feels like a lot to give up. I mean Cleveland didn't have many options and Thomas was clearly the best option. It feels like an overpay in a market where superstars are getting traded for 50 cents on the dollar. Who knows if the rumors were true, but Cleveland wanted Bledsoe and Jackson for Irving. It feels we gave up a lot more than that.

I don't hate the trade, but it's very risky. Kyrie needs to take a step forward and reach his potential. Become our #1 scoring option and play some D. Also where that Nets pick falls will really determine a lot about this trade. By all accounts the chances it's number 1 is lower than last year, but ESPN still gives them just under a 10% chance. At the same time if everything goes right I can see the Nets pick being in the 7-10 range. If the pick isn't top 5, this trade looks a lot better.

At the same time this trade makes Cleveland better, assuming Thomas is 100% this year. Thomas will get a lot more open looks playing with James and Love than he got on Celtics last year. Crowder allows them to play small ball with a 3 and D guy. I can live with that for the long-term upgrade in Irving. The Celtics have greatly improved over last year. The Nets pick could change everything. If they get a top 3 pick and an elite prospect next year. James won't be going anywhere. We might have just have given Cleveland the depth and young players they needed to retool and keep LeBron. Nevermind we gave them ammo to make a big trade. I fear a Thompson, Zizic and Nets pick for Cousins type deal at deadline if the Pelicans suck. They now have assets and that scares me.

So I'm really torn on this trade. Was thinking it would have been more like a few late first rounders or at worst the Lakers pick. Also surprised they had to include Zizic, though that's not a huge issue. I love Irving. He fits our time table perfectly and we don't have to worry about paying Thomas max money. Getting rid of Crowder opens up minutes for Tatum who needs big minutes. It's just tricky because I feel we overpayed and helped the one team that can beat us in East. I felt Cleveland had to make a trade, not just because of Irving wanting one either. The Warriors beat them so bad they couldn't just roll with the same team. Yet the Cavs got one of the biggest hauls for a star level player in recent memory. Way more than Butler, George, Cousins and even Love.

I moved this into its own thread. I don't think we need to keep everything in enormous megathreads in this part of the Forum - it makes it miserable to read back through things later. It's tough to do, say, gameday threads because this part of the board gets less traffic, but that doesn't mean we need to swing entirely in the other direction as well.

We can feel our way through, but just keep in mind that for big news like this, it can get its own thread, for sure.

Maybe this is blatantly obvious to some people, in which case I apologize...but trading what could be the #1 pick is not the same thing as trading the #1 pick. There's a much better chance, according to pretty much any statistical projection, that the Nets pick falls 5-10 than 1-4 overall next year.

If Ainge knew that the Nets pick was going to be 1 or 2 overall, and he also knew that Bagley or Porter or whomever he drafted was surely going to become an All-Star, he wouldn't have made the deal. That is certainly a possible outcome, but not the most likely one. The average outcome would be a later lottery pick with a lower projected value.

If the Nets pick does end up being top 3 overall, it doesn't necessarily make it a "bad trade," just a trade that had an unlucky or bad outcome. None of us including Ainge know for sure what that pick will end up as...all we can do is make the best average projection we can of its value.

I've been reading a lot about how Crowder is a great get by Cleveland, but I think he's a really poor fit on that team. He can't play the 2 because he can't guard quicker smaller dudes. He can't play the 3 because Lebron is there. He can't play the 4 because that would put Love at the 5 and LMAO. I'm sure he will have a role and he's a very good player, I just don't like the fit on the Cavs.

The distribution is not a true bell curve. If the Nets finish 5th to last, it is more likely that they end up 7th in the lottery than 3rd.

That's  just not true.  The Nets could be the worst team in league yet again next year.  Tanking teams like the Hawks, Pacers and Bulls have a lot more good young players.  If a few of them make big gains it could really change those teams.  The Nets have Russell and no other high end young guys.  How good that team will be depends on Vets bouncing back from down years. Until we find out what those guys have left in tank, the Nets projections are just a wild guess.  

The Nets traded there best player for Russell.   So it's not like they just added him to last years team.  The only team that might for sure have a worse roster is the Bulls if they dump Wade.  They haven't done that yet.  I can see teams like the Hawks and Pacers being better than expected. 

We really know nothing right now, besides the Nets are likely a bottom 5 team based on talent.

Looking at it from a non fan of either team it hinges on Irvings' performance.

Irving is a little better offensively and still plays tough defense. He doesn't do the wide array of things that IT can pull off but he's really good at what he does. Having to stand by and watch Lebron ball stifles his game. Kyries' handle/hip passes are crazy and at times and he can get hot from anywhere.

So now there's a new LBJ super team.