Cavs trade away Thomas.

[Patsfanin Philly]

When is Cleveland going to show his tribute video?

Somewhere Paul Pierce is smiling....

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

How are Ball and IT going to play together when they both need the ball in their hands? The Lakers draft pick is now back in play.

Did they get LAvar's approval for this trade?? I don't think he is going to be happy.. Not that I care but I enjoy the drama from afar...

 

[Kontradiction]

I hate to say it but I have to agree with the 'toxic' part. Maybe that is a bit of an overstatement but still. He was only with Cleveland briefly and had already caused discord in that locker room with the Kevin Love stuff.

The rumors that IT wasn't easy to play with have gained at least some credibility.

As far as winning the deal? It's quite clear Ainge won and I think many of us were confident when it happened that it would be the case.

Ainge definitely won the deal. It's not even close. In football terms, that deal was a 52-7 blowout victory.

 

[HailHydra]

And upgraded their team across the board...

Hill for Thomas: huge upgrade defensively, healthy, works better off the ball
Clarkson for Shumpert: just a straight upgrade in every way
Nance for Frye: significant upgrade defensively
Hood for Wade: straight upgrade, far more efficient

Dumped dead weight in Crowder and Rose
Relegates JR Smith to the bench where he might get back to form

I'm a bit sad since Crowder had been playing well recently

 

[Kdo5]

Ainge definitely won the deal. It's not even close. In football terms, that deal was a 52-7 blowout victory.

Irving is the younger and better player than IT. Jae Crowder was very overrated and we had guessed that BKN is bad but there are a lot of teams vying for the bottom record. They could well pick outside the top 5.

It was a slam dunk I thought.

 

[Jackson 2]

He's toxic and butthurt because he won't get a max deal.

Danny Ainge won the trade.

He sure did

 

[Deus Irae]

"He's worked too hard to get back, and he's a ball dominant player," said Thomas' agent, Aaron Goodwin. "It's LeBron's ball, and this clearly wasn't working. Koby (Altman) and I have had enough conversations where it was clear, with the way the system was going, it wasn't beneficial for either party. This is a good opportunity for Isaiah."

Cavaliers trade Isaiah Thomas to Lakers for Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance

 

[Lansdowne]

People were so angry at Ainge for trading away IT for Kyrie. Same with trading down for Tatum. Not looking so bad now. Fair to say Ainge nailed it with both those deals.

 

[Urgent]

Somewhere Paul Pierce is smiling....

Right.
LA has already played in Boston this year. They probably wouldn't do an IT tribute video when Cleveland comes anymore, would they? That would just be spiteful...

 

[jimnance]

Ainge definitely won the deal. It's not even close. In football terms, that deal was a 52-7 blowout victory.

Ainge Red Aeurbached em.

 

[mosey threetupu]

Then the Lakers should buy him out. Would it technically be possible for Celtics to sign him if he is bought out considering they traded him away within the past year? He could be a great second unit scorer for them.

Yes to all of the above. Not sure if he's too proud to back up Kyrie after everything that went down or if he burned bridges with Danny though.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Glad Ainge sat tight today at the trade deadline.
Possibility he can get Joe Johnson in a buyout later.
Definitely looking forward to seeing what Monroe adds starting tonight.
Teams with a dominant big give us trouble ... now we can make a bigger unit when we need to.

 

[fnordcircle]

Wasn't there a huge bunch of people ****ting on the IT trade?

Is it still controversial or do most people think it worked out for the Celtics?

 

[Kontradiction]

Wasn't there a huge bunch of people ****ting on the IT trade?

Is it still controversial or do most people think it worked out for the Celtics?

I wasn’t wild about it for you guys at first, but it’s worked out much better.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

I hope someday IT's hip comes around well enough for him to play up to his previous standards.

 

[fnordcircle]

I wasn’t wild about it for you guys at first, but it’s worked out much better.

I don't think I qualify as enough of a fan to be a 'you guys'.

The last time I was stoked about the Celtics was the opening night win against the Bulls with Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer under Pitino. I was stoked.

Then I haven't watched a full NBA game since. Mostly I remember the IT trade drawing some heated *****ing and I'm trying to figure out if people are walking back the goal posts rather than admit they might have been wrong.

 

[Bill Lee]

Yes to all of the above. Not sure if he's too proud to back up Kyrie after everything that went down or if he burned bridges with Danny though.

This year's IT isn't anything like last year's IT, and he's been toxic in the locker room too. Pass.

 

[Deus Irae]

People were so angry at Ainge for trading away IT for Kyrie. Same with trading down for Tatum. Not looking so bad now. Fair to say Ainge nailed it with both those deals.

The arguments were:

1. Regardless of the players, they didn't get enough return in the Tatum trade
2. They gave away too much in the Irving trade, because that Nets pick was a potential top pick

Neither of those has really changed, regardless of how the players have played since. That Nets pick looking lower and lower has, doubtless, eased the pain, though.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I hope someday IT's hip comes around well enough for him to play up to his previous standards.

It's a weird balancing act, hoping that IT plays well but the Lakers lose every game anyway.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The arguments were:

1. Regardless of the players, they didn't get enough return in the Tatum trade
2. They gave away too much in the Irving trade, because that Nets pick was a potential top pick

Neither of those has really changed, regardless of how the players have played since. That Nets looking lower and lower has, doubtless, eased the pain, though.

I disagree on both. In both cases, I think it's becoming increasingly clear that the public overvalued what Ainge was holding and undervalued what he was trying to get. It was reported shortly before the trade that Ainge preferred Tatum to Fultz, largely because he had a much higher opinion of Tatum than the draftniks did. Most people thought it was just posturing and PR **** at the time, but given what we've seen from Tatum I think it's a reasonable opinion that Ainge very well could have had. And if so, that position has been vindicated. If he was going to take Tatum either way and the offer he took is the best offer he got, then I dunno how anyone could reasonably claim he didn't get enough. If you're choosing between getting Tatum at #1, Tatum at #3 with a premium pick this year or next, or some third offer that's worse than the second, then the second offer is the one you take every time.

Re: the Kyrie trade, I was worried before the trade that the Nets pick might end up being closer to 10 than 1, and I recall that being a pretty common opinion. Again, I think it's clear that Ainge had a higher opinion of Kyrie and a lower opinion of both IT and Crowder than the public did, and I think he's been vindicated on all three fronts there. I think the trade looks fine now, and will look even better two years from now when you compare where the Celts are to where they would have been if they had to choose between letting IT walk or having him in the second year of a max deal at 31 years old.