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.
I share ur concern. I to, did not agree with the price we gave up to get Kyrie Irvin. We lost out on a Brooklyn pick who would of sealed a chance at another Tatum type prospect. We lost our defensive big bodied rebounder Crowder and a young promising 7 footer Zizic who i was high on. All these are valid arguments.
But the more i look at it from 3000 feet up, the more it makes sense. 29 year old IT wanted a max deal, when he had already played his best year and that hip is gonna slow him down to where all hes going to do is pass and facilitate the ball this year to Gordon and Brown. IT will not be the scorer he was last year because of the talent around him will be more of the focal point of the offense rather then him. So basically IT will be expecting a brinks truck full of millions for what he did last year and have the excuse of his hip injury to lean on for why he doesnt replicate last years success.
Kyrie will be set into Brads system, he will not be given the keys to the offense like most think he will especially when Brads guy Gordon Hayward will be the central focus on offense. We will see alot of Kyrie bringing the ball up n looking for an open Gordon or Brown to drive the basket with Al Horford being the clean up guy. Kyrie will be a big part of the offense but he will be working with ina system that actually includes drawn up plays by Brad Stevens, he wont be given the ball n told to save the day by creating his own shot.
Another thing to consider is that LA will not be good at all this year. When Ball and Lopez is their two best players and their big #2 pick Ingram hasnt had a meaningful nba basket yet, dont expect them to be a dead last lottery threat but they will have a good chance to fall within the 2-5 range. So Luka Doncic, DeAndre Ayton, Miles Bridges or Mohammad Bamba is still a strong possibility.
What u have to look at in the end is this
We traded
Pierce, Garnet and Terry (all past their prime)
And got in return
Marcus Smart
Jaylen Brown
Jayson Tatum
Kyrie Irvin (2 years)
And still another 2-5 pick
Thats 5 really good assets for 3 aging over the hill players. Im not complaining...