No. Just no.
It's always better to try to make more talent work, than to trade talent for less talent, just because the pieces seemingly would fit better.
Besides, maybe its Hayward's fault that he isn't playing well with Irving, not Irving's? Hayward has never played with a player like Irving. Why is it Irving's fault?
Tatum plays well (sometimes) with Irving. Horford plays well with Irving. Smart is playing the best basketball of his career with Irving. Morris plays well with Irving.
Brown played well with Irving last year, but has struggled with his new role this year.
Honestly, I love Rozier, but if he isn't fitting in well with Irving, you side with the superstar, not the potentially solid starter.
So the three that seemingly aren't playing well are:
Rozier - Who cares?
Hayward - Injury and hasn't played with a guy like Irving before
Brown - still developing and adjusting
What's the problem? Why would anyone trade a superstar because the role players aren't playing well with him? Maybe we should get a guy who plays better with Irving, instead of the other way around. Keep upper talent (Irving, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, Williams) and get guys that fit around them.
-Horford has been invisble this season
True about the rest. And we dont know if Morris is playing his best due to Kyrie/contract year/offseason prep. Smart plays the same way regardless
Overall
Hayward, Brown, Rozier , Horford and to some extent Tatum all having down years
But suddenly last night most come alive??
Explain...
Hayward already had a 30 point game when Irving was playing this year. Hayward stepped up in a big way to fill the void left by Irving -- that's what he should do. That's not an indictment against Irving.
Tatum and Brown did not have a great game. In fact, Brown's best game this year was last game against the Spurs when Irving was playing. Tatum's best games this year have all come when Irving was playing, largely because Tatum is not good enough yet to have the offense all fall on him.
Rozier played pretty well last night and largely did what he should do given more opportunity and usage. But that isn't an indictment against Irving. That's praise for a system and a player that had the next-man-up mentality.
The frustration of mediocre performance against the backdrop of lofty expectations have clouded people's judgement to the point where they are misdiagnosing the problems, and creating false narratives that suit alternative facts.
Irving is not the problem. In fact, he is a dark horse candidate for MVP this year. The problem is that we are still a young developing team with more talent that we know what to do with. That's a good problem to have, especially when you have one of the best coaches and GMs in the league.
R-E-L-A-X