It's just odd to me that Danny passed on guys like Cousins, George, and Butler. All of those guys were cheaper, and more well-rounded. The perception was that Danny passed because of a variety of flaws, whether they be character-related, due to financial issues, or just not being good enough to cash in our assets for.
Instead, we get Kyrie, who:
* Stopped talking with teammates in the playoffs, and has clashed with coaches and teammates throughout his career (most notably, Waiters);
* Is injury prone;
* Is terrible at defense and mediocre at passing;
* Has not been successful as "the man", both prior to Lebron and during games Lebron misses.
I'd rather have IT and Jimmy Butler than Kyrie, and it's not close. Same thing with IT and PG13, or IT and Boogie.
We traded IT for a bigger, more brittle IT 2.0. For that "upgrade", it cost us Crowder, Zizic, and a potentially generational talent (Bagley, Porter). It's a price that is pretty much unprecedented in recent NBA history. Chris Paul -- a 26 year old with three All-NBA teams and multiple All-Defense teams -- didn't bring that value. KG and Ray, combined, didn't have that value. Not Carmelo, not Howard, not Shaq, not Harden... I can't think of a trade in the past 25 years where a team gave up this much present day value, and we did it for a guy who isn't that much better (if at all) than the guy we already had on the roster.
From all accounts, Boogie was never an option because of his character concerns - and that seemed to be true for a lot of teams outside of the Celtics.
Could we have gotten Paul George? The further removed from that deal we get, the more I'm convinced Indy just didn't want to trade him within the Eastern Conference. They got a crappy deal in the end and walked away from a significantly better deal from Cleveland/Denver. And I genuinely think Ainge would've pulled the trigger after Hayward committed but it takes two to tango.
I don't know why we don't go harder after Jimmy Butler, I'm 100% with you there.
The story about him not talking with his teammates I take with a huge grain of salt. It's always suspect to me that these stories leak after a player requests a trade or is traded. I'm sure he's had his issues, you'd be hard pressed to find a player in this league who hasn't but that doesn't mean he's a cancer - reports can be blown out of proportion or falsified. Look no further than Broussard claiming IT wasn't liked by Boston teammates. When CP3 got traded to Houston, media rehashed his reported issues with Blake and DJ, and questioned his relationship with Doc. Let Chicago media tell it, Jimmy Butler was a diva. The whole point of "sources" is to control the narrative.
As far as the value of the deal compared to deals historically, hindsight is 20/20. At the time CP3 was traded to the Clippers, that deal looked good on paper: Eric Gordon (at the time, many considered a future All-Star), Chris Kaman (a starting caliber big), Al-Farouq Aminu (lottery selected player with upside on a rookie deal), and the Minnesota Timberwolves' unprotected first round pick in the 2012 draft. That's good value for a guy who wanted out and had the ability to opt out & leave in free agency... Ray Allen was 32 years old and still fetched a top 5 draft pick and Delonte West... Carmelo Anthony pretty much cost the Knicks most of their starting lineup save for Amar'e Stoudemire. Value is hard to quantify in these situations.
Look at it from the other perspective: IT can step in and play Kyrie's role, but what's health looking like coming off of a significant hip injury? Do you pony up $30m+ for him at his size going into his 30's? Does he even want to stay if Lebron bolts? Jae Crowder is a nice player, but
he is a role player (and for us, at a position where we just added a high priced free agent and have two high lottery selections vying for playing time). He's not sustaining them if Lebron leaves. For now, I'll file Zizic under "throw in" - he could develop into a nice player but he looked overmatched in summer league. The pick hurts, but it's the only sure thing Cleveland is getting in the deal that could be a real long term piece for them.