Poll: If Kyrie walks, was the trade worth it

[Donoghus]

It's gonna be interesting to see some of the convoluted alternate timelines people come up with if the Celtics hadn't made the trade.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

If he leaves, I'm assuming it is because Boston loses in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs, and thus I voted no because in that scenario I would have rather had the lottery pick for most likely 8 years than the 2 seasons of Irving.

and there is almost no way Ainge takes Sexton.  He is not an Ainge type of player.

Interesting point. I disagree that Sexton isn't an Ainge type of player, but I don't think the Cs would have taken him. SGA might have been a possibility. I could also see Ainge swinging for the fences with Michael Porter Jr. Miles Bridges is an ideal small-ball 4 in today's NBA. He is a versatile defender and reasonably efficient low-usage scorer. I liked Smith before the draft, but I'm curious how high his ceiling really is. I could see Ainge liking Divencenzo, but that would have been a bit early to take him.

There's obviously a chance that those players have potential, but I see their upside more in the solid starter-bench player range. That's really not worth much on a team as deep as the Cs.

Jae Crowder staying would have taken minutes from Tatum and Brown, who are both already better players than Crowder. I think Morris is a reasonably similar player. I wonder if Thomas would have had fan support to get a contract from Ainge. Trading him saved that possibility. On top of all of this, it was a 3 for 1 trade, meaning there's not room for Wanamaker on the team, and maybe the Cs feel the need to cut Yabu or draft a stash player instead of Williams.

[cltc5]

What was the option?  Zizic, another mid level player IT hogging the ball and being a liability, crowder getting in Hayward’s way? You could say Hayward maybe did t get injured but with kyrie hurt anyway last year, we’re right where we should be.

[jambr380]

As a gamble, it was absolutely the right one to take, but I would say 'no' if he walks, and we don't win a championship this year.

Hayward would still be here, and likely an all-star (although that's not really fair to say), we would have had a good draft pick, Crowder, and I very much doubt IT would be here - nevermind being paid $15M/yr. We had the option to sign him this past off-season for the minimum and we passed - why would it be any different if he were an expiring with us?

Anyway, you make deals for star players so they can grow with your team and help you win championships - Kyrie wasn't even on our playoff roster last year. I definitely hope we re-sign him and he is a big part of our future, but I see no reason to say 'yes' to this question.

[celticsclay]

I say this as someone that loves IT, but we dodged a huge bullet with that trade. Kind of shocked people see if any differently regardless of what happens from here on out. If the Nets had actually been awful last year and the pick turned into Doncic or Ayton, I could see sweating it. But a mid tier guy like Sexton or Bridges? Not exactly amazing spilled milk there. Everything came up danny.

[Rosco917]

Absolutely. IT knew he needed surgery, he tried to conn the Celtic organization into signing him BEFORE he went under the knife. While being a fun player and a great one on one scoring threat, IT was a useless defender. We all had fun watching him that special year, but that's history.

Even in his prime, he was made to be the 6th man.

[RJ87]

Absolutely. IT knew he needed surgery, he tried to conn the Celtic organization into signing him BEFORE he went under the knife. While being a fun player and a great one on one scoring threat, IT was a useless defender. We all had fun watching him that special year, but that's history.

Even in his prime, he was made to be the 6th man.

Oh boy. The IT fans are gonna come for your head.

[Roy H.]

Absolutely. IT knew he needed surgery, he tried to conn the Celtic organization into signing him BEFORE he went under the knife. While being a fun player and a great one on one scoring threat, IT was a useless defender. We all had fun watching him that special year, but that's history.

Even in his prime, he was made to be the 6th man.

Oh boy. The IT fans are gonna come for your head.

As they should. Prime IT was a legit All-Star and MVP candidate.

[MattyIce]

Yes it was.

The other alternative would've been NOT trading for Kyrie....keeping IT4.....shutting him down due to his injury until NOW....trying to THEN convince Gordon Hayward to come to BOS...

So many If/ands/buts....

If we had shut IT4 down once he initially got hurt (March 2017, against MIN) then I doubt we would've went as far in the playoffs as we did....which would've/could've lead to BOS being a Less-than-idea landing spot for FAs.........

Would GH have come to a 1st round exit BOS team?

With IT4's desire to win perhaps outshining his desire to get healthy I wonder if he would've even listened or been accepting of being shut down? His desire/will is SO STRONG...True Celtic.....

If no trade, then what about Jae Crowder? If GH would've STILL came to BOS could he and Jae co-existed?

Just an unfortunate set of circumstances with the whole thing. But Danny is not a bad guy, here. He won't be a bad guy IF Kyrie leaves, and neither will Kyrie.

I cannot remember the sequence of events, but I have a feeling Gordon Hayward signed with Boston and later in the summer, IT was traded for Kyrie. 

For the record, I believe that the trade was definitely worthwhile, but for the sake of argument let's take this down a different path:

1. IT would be signed for approximately $15mm per year.
2. If GH would not have signed with us, we would have not locked up $30mm per year on him, which looks like it is a tremendous overpayment.
3. We likely would have kept signing role players.

Would the team have been better or worse than it is now?  Potentially, Tatum and Brown could be 17-23 ppg scorers now and have the ball in their hands during crunch time.  Alternatively, we would have been allowed to trade for AD, who may be more willing to sign long term with us.

The possibilities are endless, but my takeaway is that Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge have built a system that puts us in perpetual contention, if we don't mess it up.  It seems like the players can be rotated in and out and regardless of what path the team takes, they will still be competitive for a long time.  I am very thankful to be a Celtic fan.

actually GH would have never been hurt if the trade didn’t happen so he would be an all star

IT would have been on a year to year contract from what i know (not think)

So Gordon catches a pass from Smart , dunks ,  and becomes an All star.  You nowmhave a entirely NEW set of events and time line which there is no answer , just as there was no KNOWLEDGE ahead of time Kyrie would make a difficult pass to Gordon.  Gordon is estatic over his accomplishments, drinks too much and slides his car off the road and kills himself  or he is killed in hunting accident with Baynes .  The future with a new time line could have had infinite outcomes .  Kyrie IS not t blame for this .  No more than if Gordon was killed walking across a street .

to be honest i wasn’t even thinking about the pass being from kyrie, i was actually referring to it being caused mainly by Crowder wouldn’t have been there.

btw I agree it was worth it

[NKY fan]

I can see doncic in green if we didn’t trade for Kyrie ... Danny would have given the hawks a better deal than dallas

[gouki88]

I can see doncic in green if we didn’t trade for Kyrie ... Danny would have given the hawks a better deal than dallas

Literally this is the only reason why I would regret the move, but unsure if we could've swindled Atlanta

[Moranis]

I can see doncic in green if we didn’t trade for Kyrie ... Danny would have given the hawks a better deal than dallas

don't think they could have as Atlanta wanted Trae Young and I can't see him falling to 8.

[NKY fan]

I can see doncic in green if we didn’t trade for Kyrie ... Danny would have given the hawks a better deal than dallas

don't think they could have as Atlanta wanted Trae Young and I can't see him falling to 8.

I think the 8th pick plus the Sacramento pick plus our pick does it at the time.. Atlanta’s FO aren’t as stupid as MJ

[Moranis]

I can see doncic in green if we didn’t trade for Kyrie ... Danny would have given the hawks a better deal than dallas

don't think they could have as Atlanta wanted Trae Young and I can't see him falling to 8.

I think the 8th pick plus the Sacramento pick plus our pick does it at the time.. Atlanta’s FO aren’t as stupid as MJ

They wanted Trae Young.  They wouldn't have traded with Dallas if they didn't believe Young was going to be there.  They would have just taken Young at 3. 

[slamtheking]

Absolutely. IT knew he needed surgery, he tried to conn the Celtic organization into signing him BEFORE he went under the knife. While being a fun player and a great one on one scoring threat, IT was a useless defender. We all had fun watching him that special year, but that's history.

Even in his prime, he was made to be the 6th man.

Oh boy. The IT fans are gonna come for your head.

As they should. Prime IT was a legit All-Star and MVP candidate.

you're just still ticked they traded IT.

trade was worth it at the time and still worth it even if Kyrie walks, especially considering IT is a shell of himself and Crowder is hardly missed.