Cleveland Cavaliers finally trade Kyrie Irving
The Cleveland Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, other players and a pick. Who won this trade, and who does it help more?
The Kyrie Irving era for the Cleveland Cavaliers is officially over.
Wow.
According to the great Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Cavaliers have traded Irving to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets‘ 2018 unprotected first round pick.
While the trade works out for both teams in the end, it also gives the Cavaliers much-needed cap relief.
After Irving waived his trade kicker of $5.8 million, it will give the Cavs $29.1 million in tax savings. Their tax bill is now $49.3 million, instead of $78.4 million. Any kind of cap relief is positive for the Cavs at this juncture.
This is a trade that works out for both teams. I’m not a huge fan of it because I think the Cavs could have gotten a better offer elsewhere, and Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum weren’t included in the deal. I don’t think either team loses any significant advantage among the players.
Last season, Irving averaged a career-high 25.2 points and 5.8 assists per game. He shot 40 percent from 3-point range, which was pretty good ranked against other point guards. Thomas averaged a career-high 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game.
However, Thomas shot 37.9 percent from long-range, which is only a 2.2 percent difference from Irving. I expect that number to rise with all the open opportunities he will get in Cleveland, and how the offense will be spread out with teams worrying about LeBron James and Kevin Love.
Heck, it was one of the reasons Irving shot so well in his three years playing with James and Love.
I do think the 3-point shooting numbers will go down for Irving. He will be the focal point along with Gordon Hayward, and all those easy opportunities he had on the Cavs won’t be there anymore.
Opposing defenses can now focus on those two, and without a legit 3-point threat on the team, it will be tough. He wants to be the man so bad, well, now he’ll get his shot.
Defensively, most NBA fans know that neither one is very good. When Irving is motivated, he can be an average defender just with his height at 6’3″. But the same can’t be said for Thomas. At only 5’9″, it’s easier for taller, larger guards to drive right by him.
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If he can work on his steals, he would be an irritant and effective. It was one of the reasons Allen Iverson was so effective. He wasn’t the best defender, but he was able to get a hand on the ball, and sometimes draw the foul while doing so. Of course, Iverson played in the era where hand-checking was allowed.
The Cavs also get much-needed defensive help with the addition of Jae Crowder. Ironically, they drafted him in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft and then traded him to the Dallas Mavericks.
Crowder could play the Rick Fox role for the Cavs. He does all the little things that don’t show up in the box score, just as Fox did for the Los Angeles Lakers during their early-2000s run.
It’s what a championship team needs.
He’s a 3-and-D player who can guard the wings, and also play defense against power forwards. He’s tough, and would fit right into the Cleveland culture. I liked him ever since he played with Dallas. He just had that grit, and a mean streak to his game, and he finally brings it to the Cavaliers.
The Cavs also got center Ante Zizic from Croatia. He’s a long, athletic player that can run in transition, put the ball on the floor and make plays. His overall game is still raw, but he has upside that could help the team in the future. He reminds me of a very young DeAndre Jordan, only a little further along offensively.
But the best part of the whole trade could be the Nets’ 2018 pick. I think they will improve with the additions of D’Angelo Russell and DeMarre Carroll, but it’s not going to be enough to even get the 8-seed — even in the extremely weak Eastern Conference.
It has a chance to be a top-five pick, and the upcoming draft is supposed to be loaded again. They could also trade the pick to continue to improve the team during the season. I’ve already seen fans talk about possibly getting Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins with it, but let’s pump the brakes for a second.
For the fans that think James is still potentially leaving, this should assure them that he isn’t — especially from an organizational standpoint.
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I believe that he will stay in Cleveland for the rest of his career. There are way too many factors for him to leave, which I will get into in another article.
It showed that they’re still trying to win now, and aren’t going into a rebuild mode. They’re likely still not done making moves and can improve. If that isn’t a winning foundation and attitude, I don’t know what is.
As I’ve stated in my podcast, and in other articles, I don’t like how this came about. It could have been handled differently by Irving and his “party.” Having a selfish, me-first attitude isn’t going to get you far in the NBA, or anywhere in life.
But what’s done is done. I hate to see the James-Irving-Love era come to and end, but that’s how business and egos work.
Cavs fans will never forget what Irving did for this great city of Cleveland in giving them their first championship since 1964 with “The Shot.” He will always be remembered in the hearts of Clevelanders for that. It will be difficult to see him in the enemy’s colors.
Next: NBA Trade Grades - Cavaliers send Kyrie Irving to Celtics
It would be like Bernie Kosar getting traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the ’80s. I wish him well, but not against the Cavs.
Thank you Kyrie.