mattg wrote:FrieAaron wrote:I'm a Hayward fan, but man that Kyrie trade is awful for Boston. Am I the only one who would question how much better they'd be even swapping Kyrie for IT straight up? I mean IT did almost everything better (or equal) last season and wasn't playing next to Lebron.
Ever considered that Thomas efficiency is going to dive when he doesn't have the same amount of possessions to accrue massive FT attempts since he'll be sharing the ball a lot more? Have you considered that Thomas might have an unhealed hip injury that no one knows about til next month? Have you considered that maybe Brad Stevens, one of the best X and O coaches in the league will be able to better use Kyrie than bumbling Tyronn Lue? (especially after you just saw what Stevens did for IT after he bounced around Sac/Phoenix with the reputation as a PPGZ no wins player) This isn't even mentioning the defense which is being downplayed super hard. Kyrie may be bad on that end, but he can still compete and you can put him on guys. There's literally nothing you can do about Thomas on defense. The gap between Kyrie and IT on defense is substantially larger than the gap in their offense.
Then there's the whole, seeking a max contract for IT while being 5'9 and approaching 30. Every other player sub 6ft in league history has already been out of their prime by that age.
Otherwise people need to realize that you can't just hoard assets. Ask Portland or Chicago of the late 2000s about that. You can sit on your hands and end up with nothing to show for it like they did, or you can consolidate for a 25 year old all star. Take your pick.
Teams were already making him bid against himself when he went after Butler or George, demanding 2 players and both picks. Obviously you don't even consider that for the PG13 rental, and hard to justify it for Butler when you know you've got Hayward coming as FA and have 2 top 3 picks on the wing who need to develop. The IT situation needed to be resolved because you don't roll with him going forward given the rest of the roster in terms of age and contract status.
The injury thing would be a valid concern, but is there any reason to think this is actually the case?
Even as the guy IT's usage wasn't that much higher than Kyrie's last year, so I don't think that's a huge thing. Stevens is a much better coach, though.
I'm not saying it's impossible that Kyrie will end up being an upgrade, just that I do think it's a valid question of how much of an upgrade even if he is. And is that worth a top 10 pick and Crowder on top of it? I have serious doubts.
