Cavs have improved a lot since the trade, in part because it has re-energized Lebron, and who can blame him.
I really like their second unit. Always liked Clarkson and Nance. Hood was a steal. GM of the year just on this trade alone.
GM of the year?! This might have re-energized Lebron (for who knows how long - don't forget the Cavs had a 13 game win streak earlier in the year), but that award usually goes to a GM who has a noticeably better team than the previous year. I think we can all objectively say that is not the case.
Koby Altman may have moved up from [literally] last place on the list, but look no further than our own Danny Ainge if you are looking for front runners for the award.
Yeah, the Kyrie trade counts in his annual evaluation. The Cavs are worse now than they were last year.
Are you really so sure of that? Yes, they don't have as much top end talent, and top end talent often is the most important thing, but it doesn't always work that way. Irving and James weren't a great fit offensively as they are both incredibly ball dominant offensive players and their offense would often just be a your turn/my turn type of offense, which generally didn't yield the best results, especially for the other players on the team. Obviously, there will be times when not having Irving's ability to create a shot out of nothing will be a problem for the Cavs, but I wouldn't be so sure the team this year won't end up being better than the Cavs team from last year. They have a much more cohesive unit, have a much younger and more athletic bench that not only has better shooters, but also much better defenders. Remember the Cavs bench in the playoffs last year was Kyle Korver, Richard Jefferson, Deron Williams, and Iman Shumpert with guys like Derrick Williams, Dahntay Jones, Channing Frye, and James Jones playing here and there. You don't necessarily win playoff series with your bench, but you can certainly lose them. And for as great as Irving is, he was -32 against the Warriors in the 5 games, while James was -7. The Cavs will only be as good as James, and I wouldn't bet against the current group being a better fit with James and thus making James even better.