Cavs - Celtics trade

So about a month ago Kyrie Irving decided he wanted out of Cleveland! Yesterday he got his wish. Being sent to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's 2018 first round pick.

So the big question, who came out of the trade better off...Short answer, I believe Cleveland did.
Heres why...

Before I get into it I just want to say my knowledge of the "business side'' of the NBA is pretty basic! I dont know what the "Derrick Rose rule" is. I also dont know what "Bird Rights" are. But based simply on the pieces moved and players who will either be unrestricted free agents or have player options after this season, here is my analysis.

In my eyes, this deal improves Boston a little, but not enough to elevate them above Cleveland! They get Irving who, in my opinion, is a taller version of Isaiah Thomas. An elite scorer and big time clutch performer, an ok but not elite distributer and fairly average defender. They got Gordon Hayward in free agency, but does he make up for the loss of Avery Bradley (how was he not an All NBA defensive player??), Kelly Olynyk and now Jae Crowder? Its hard to say, Marcus Morris (in the trade for Bradley) is a nice addition and they probably are better than they were last year. But you have to remember Cleveland absolutely demolished Boston in the East playoffs this year, if memory serves there was a game where Cleveland were up by 50 at halftime ON THE ROAD and lost in 5! This trade doesn't make up to much ground to me! Instead of an uncompetitive five game series, you might be looking at a five-six game series with score lines a little closer. But Cleveland still make the finals.

For the Cavs, I believe this deal helps them in the short term, but also gives them a little bit of security in the scenario that LeBron leaves after this season! Nothing can obviously make up for the hole left by a player like LeBron if he does leave. But I think this deal leaves them in a position where it's not 100% doom and gloom if he does.


First of all, Kyrie wanted out. If they didn't move him Cleveland's locker room this season would have been reality TV show worthy! Getting a player like Thomas in return is massive and I think will probably match Irving's production, or at least be thereabouts. Jae Crowder is a great fit next to LeBron being a "3 and D" wing player who can spread the floor and can guard the KD's, PG13s, Kawhi's and Haywards of the world. LeBron was pretty much the only viable match up for those taller, wing scorers the Cavs had last season and with Crowder they now have someone who can match up with them and allow LeBron to conserve a little energy. I don't know much about Ante Zizic, except he's Croatian and last season played in Turkey, funnily enough for a team coached by former Cavs coach David Blatt, not sure if he will stay in Europe or come to Cleveland, will just have to see. On top of that they also get the Nets first round pick of Boston which will most likely be a top 5 pick because let's face it, Brooklyn will probably be pretty ordinary. So in the short term the deal gives them a shorter version of Kyrie, a very solid and under rated 3 and D guy on the wing and an almost definite top 5 pick. In the scenario that Lebron leaves they would almost definitely be in rebuild mode and probably wont pay Isaiah Thomas the max deal he will looking for, Kyrie, Lebrons and Thomas' salaries will be off the books so they will have a tonne of cap space to work with and a high draft pick to build around. Obviously doesn't make up for the loss of LeBron but it doesn't leave them in a terrible position if he does.

So for those reasons if you had to pick a 'winner' of the trade I would pick Cleveland. However Boston didn't really 'lose'. They are still easily the second best team in the East and if Lebron leaves, will easily be elevated to the top spot.

As I said i'm not an expert on the business side of the NBA and hopefully there isn't some sort of rule or other little detail somewhere which makes all of the above irrelevant haha. But based on what I know, this is how I see it.

AP

NBA awards

Heyyyyy I'm back...people have been asking me why I stopped posting on here and that I should get back into it (and by 'people' I mean Mike Lacey)

I started this website, well my Girlfriend did, (I don't know how to internet) about two years ago because I was injured and had nothing else to do! Im in a little off season break at the moment and have a lot of stuff I wanna chat about! Bailee (my aforementioned girlfriend) hates basketball so I'm gonna chuck a few thoughts here...LUCKY YOU lol

First things first, the NBA awards. Well not the awards, but the show! I actually like the idea of having a night to celebrate all the NBAs award winners in one place! Had a bit of an academy award feeling to it, like people outside doing 'best dressed' type stuff which I wasn't a fan of (very E channel) but the idea of having it all in one big night rather than periodically giving out awards during various times throughout the playoffs! However I did find the timing of it weird! For example the league MVP award, everyone knew Westbrook was going to win it. But he lost in the opening round of the playoffs, almost two months ago! Since the second round of the playoffs how many of you have thought about Russell Westbrook? I know I havent (well not much) ...I think the little gap after the regular season but before the playoffs would be better! They are the regular season awards after all! Makes sense doesn't it? It does to me at least haha

But now for the actual awards!

MVP - Russell Westbrook

There was no doubt really with this one! The second player ever to average a triple double, not only that but a 30 point triple double! He carried a team that isn't overly talented to the sixth seed in the West, Cleveland for example only won 4 less games in the much weaker East just to show what an impressive accomplishment that is! Perhaps saying they aren't overly talented is a bit harsh, but they definitely aren't built for the modern 'space the floor, 3 point heavy' game the NBA has become! Westbrook himself is an average to slightly above average deep shooter, Victor Oladipo is an average 3 point shooter (S/O) to him for dunk of the year though) Andre Roberson is the there pretty much exclusively for defence (Second team All-Defence) Domantas Sabonis had his moments from the outside as a rookie but they spent most of the time with some combo of Steve Adams, Enes Kanter and Taj Gibson out there together, neither of whom shoot the three and on the roster there isn't a person I would consider a 'sniper'. Imagine what Westbrook would have done if he was surrounded by gunners like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon! Keeping him out of the lane is already impossible! Scary to think how much more damage he could have done with the floor spacing James Harden had to work with! A very deserving winner.

Defensive player of the year - Draymond Green

Another easy choice in my opinion! Green does a little bit of everything for the Warriors, while he definitely isn't there best player, to me he is there most important. He brings a physicality and presence that no one else does, does all the dirty work, defends every position, scores, rebounds, is probably there best passer and they just function better when he is out there despite some of his antics that annoy some people. Adding KD to the Warriors made them better at what they were already the best team ever at, shooting the deep ball, but giving up all of there big men and a lot of there bench most people (me included) thought they would fall off defensively. But they had the number one rated defence in the league! Green is the leader of that defence and despite stiff competition from The Klaw (Kawhi Leonard) and The Stiffel Tower (Rudy Gobert) was a bit of a no brainer for me.

Ill leave it here for now! Ill continue tomorrow with most improved and coach of the year tomorrow! Don't want your brains to explode with my first post in a while haha

AP