There is a huge similarities with this IT/Kyrie swap. Stackhouse was the captain of the Pistons squad, averaged over 20 PPG as a Piston and lead his team to the playoffs as their primary scorer. He's also one of the few players who averaged more than 25 PPG in one season.
Ironically, Kyrie is only 24 and IT is 27. Rip was also 24 and Stackhouse was 27 during the time of the trade. I think many Pistons fans were also devestated by that trade because while Rip have shown some potential and younger, he have yet to make an All-Star appearance at that time nor helped his team go to the playoffs. Little that we all know, that Hamilton would become one of the key pieces on their championship roster.
Now we go with the Kyrie trade. I was never fan of his game and I think he's overrated. He never led his team to any playoff appearance before Lebron came. However, Carlisle made the best out of Stackhouse the same way Stevens made the best out of IT. IT got the benefit of being the primary scorer on the team, the same way Celtics benefited from his scoring. Celtics will feed Kyrie with much easier looks. It's only a matter of time if we can see Kyrie embrace the team concept and play within the offense or play his usual ballhog iso game.
The team's chemistry could take a hit. But with time and enough practice, Kyrie could develop chemistry with this current core and proceed with another successful Celtic season. We may have lost some few tough guys in Crowder and IT, but Smart, Rozier, Baynes and Morris is just as tough, if not tougher than them to make up for their loss.
Topic: Remember when the Pistons traded Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton? (Read 898 times)