dorkestra wrote:PierceFan4ever wrote:dorkestra wrote:
Hayward is a clearly worse player than George, Kawhi, Butler though, and unfortunately for all NBA fans, has now suffered a terrible injury. Just like the one Paul George, a superior player, has taken a long time to recover back to normal from. I think Hayward will return to similar level as before based on reports, but no telling how long that takes. Meanwhile he and Horford, another very good player, but not a star, are taking up half the cap. Seems to be consolidated financially around the wrong pieces in the sense that it makes it almost impossible to build on the current core without dismantling it.
I prefer’d Hayward over Jimmy Butler, who got outplayed by Avery Bradley in the playoffs, in 2017. Hayward’s fit seems a lot better than Butler in Steven’s system as he is the better shooter. And besides, I would rather have Hayward and Tatum/Brown than just Butler or George alone. Say for example the Celtics did trade the pick that ended up being Brown for Butler. Would a team of Kyrie/Butler/Horford beat the Warriors? No chance. And then it’s awful itself because Brown is so much younger than Butler that your window to compete knowing you have Butler and Horford as your clear cut 2nd and 3rd best players makes your window really short. With Tatum and Brown you have a 20 and 21 year old players who have shown tremendous improvement each year as basketball players as I’m sure you as a Sixers fan are well aware. It’s an easy choice to go and get Hayward in free agency without giving up anyone significant than trading Brown or Tatum who have ceilings higher than the older player being traded for that isn’t going to help you beat the warriors.
How does arbitrary and random opinion that Butler got outplayed by Bradley in a single playoff series means somehow that he isn't obviously more impactful than Hayward. Sample size is always important to consider. People citing something like one playoff series or one game make themselves sound ignorant to statistics and reality (no offense). It makes it difficult to have a discussion without some fundamentals in place like understanding sample size.
What has Butler accomplished? Clashed with Rose and Noah over wanting to be a leader. Finally became a leader in his last season after Rose left and all he did was throw the young players under the bus. Gets moved to Minnesota and promised to lead, only to once again throw Wiggins and Towns under the bus. Seems like a great guy in the locker room. It's no surprise that the Celts steered clear of him
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20501557/zach-lowe-celtics-cavaliers-kyrie-irving-isaiah-thomas-trade-nba
The "why not Butler and George?" questions are dicier. Timing played a part. Boston wanted two All-Star-level building blocks. They feared flipping their golden trade chip for the first one, whiffing on the second, and ending up having squandered their best asset to build a team that wasn't appreciably better than their previous iteration of LeBron roadkill.
They preferred signing the first one -- Hayward -- in free agency, and then jumping headlong into the trade market. They may well have Paul George now had the Pacers waited another 10 days, but Boston was concerned George would leave for the Lakers in a year. Irving's deal runs one season longer, and he has already relayed an enthusiasm for playing in Boston.
The Celtics had some concerns over how Hayward and Butler would mesh, both on the court and as personalities, sources say.
