Ainge doesn't care, though he probably doesn't think Melo's a great fit in CLE (because he's not).
He sees a window opening for the Cs in the next 2-3 seasons, while Clevelands will be beginning to shut.
He's also smart enough to know that the Cavs, even with Melo, are not beating GSW or SAS -- and are capped out.
But if we are building around Love and IT, how is our window any different? IT and Love (two all stars) do not put us in the top tier or do you think they do? I don't think Carmelo and IT do either. Love and LeBron or Carmelo and LeBron is a very different animal and they can throw in Kyrie too who probably is equal and may well be better than IT.
As far as CLE, I think everyone is a little quick to assume they can't beat SAS or GSW, especially if they have Carmelo. Sure, GSW were way better than a CLE team with no Kyrie and no Love but CLE will likely be a very different team this year.
I think when you surround them with guys like Crowder and Smart it does.
Exactly. This wouldn't be the final team too. Plus you have Stevens as a coach who has one All Star and a bunch of borderline Starters and Very good bench players and has they playing in beast mode for the better part of the season. Doc even said if you come to Boston, you have to bring your best game or they will beat you and beat.
Say we get Love on the cheap. And they take Cleveland 5 to 6 games in the ECF. That may turn the head of a guys like Durant,Barnes,Batum,Drummond,Horford,Pua, etc. Or they make a move on an other guy, pay him like they did Amir, and build his stock up for a trade next season.
Add some other players, they may not be your top choice of guys, but work in the system. I mean if you can get a Barnes or Batum which would be a offensive upgrade over Crowder, and upgrade at the 2 spot, but keep AB. You could have AB,Smart,Crowder heading your second unit butting pressure on the posing teams first unit to do all the scoring.