IT4 was 'as-is' part of the deal .... that is why Zizic and the 2018 Nets pick were included
Given that he was still subject to a physical and the trade is contingent on said physical this is demonstrably untrue.
nope
Listen , he injured his hips.... its not like he can do backflips
Kyrie for IT4, Crowder, Zizic , 2018 nets pick is an ovepay..... why do you need to include Crowder or Zizic for example?..........BUT bc of IT4 injury situation, the slight overpay makes sense
1) Crowder, Zizic, 2018 nets pick alone prob trumps any deal the Cavs are able to obtain in the open market (outside for Jackson/Bledsoe , which the Cavs weren't able to net in the 1st place)
Bucks offering Middleton, Brogdon, future 1st for example is not better than offer 1)
Crowder and Zizic would have been required regardless to match salary, as Thomas is only making $6.2m this year and Kyrie I believe is on around $19m.
Crowder and Zizic added an additional $8.6m to the deal bringing the total up to the 14.6m required to pull the deal off.
So Boston really had no choice about including Crowder and Zizic. If they didn't include Crowder then it would have had to have been Brown or Tatum (the only other guys with sufficiently large contracts).
Regardless, my argument here would be that IF Thomas were healthy, then the base package of IT + Crowder + Zizic should have been enough to make this deal happen. Worst case if they still aren't completely satisfied, you throw in a couple of second rounders or maybe a Boston 1st (which would be a late first anyway).
It's the addition of the Brooklyn pick, as valuable as that pick is, that makes this deal clearly and strongly lopsided in Cleveland's favour IF Thomas were healthy. He isn't healthy though, and it seems obvious to me that this pick was included to compensate for that fact.
We've all seen how possessive Danny is of his picks. He wouldn't give up this year's Brooklyn pick for Jimmy Butler straight up. There is no way he would have just thrown in an UNPROTECTED Nets pick (which could easily end up #1) unless he felt it was justified - and the only way I can imagine he would feel that is if he knew Thomas' injury was a liability, and that he needed to compensate for it.
If you consider that Thomas may miss half a season AND that he is on the last year of his contract, now it makes total sense why Danny was willing to offer so much (including that pick) in order to make the deal happen. Seems clear to me, then, that this was all out in the open at the time. If Danny was trying to hide IT's injury, he never would have included the Brooklyn pick.