Jason Ross: Why I Love This Trade For The Cavs
This NBA off-season has given us a little of everything.
On Tuesday we got a "whopper" of an NBA trade.
The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to a star swap (Lo-Down TM). The Cavaliers have granted Kyrie Irving his wish and moved him out of Cleveland. He will go to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the 2018 1st round pick from Brooklyn. In all reality this trade is good for both teams but I really like it for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The first reason is because Kyrie expressed a desire to leave. That quest to leave LeBron was made public and that is really a tough thing to recover from. Could Kyrie have gone back to Cleveland and played with King James? I believe they could have made that work, but that is not an easy situation. I also love it because of what the Cavs got back. Look at the other star players that have been moved since the All-Star break and all of them have been all-stars (Cousins, Butler, George, Lopez, Paul, Millsap) you could make a strong argument that the Cavs got the most in return.
Lets look at what came back for the Cavs. Isaiah Thomas in the final year of his deal. IT is coming off an injury but is also coming off his best season as a professional. I like that he is in the final year. The Cavs can take one more run at a title and clean house completely after this season and say goodbye to LeBron, IT and others if they want. They also added a tough perimeter defender in Jae Crowder. Crowder is signed for a couple more seasons at a team friendly contract. Ante Zizic is a young and inexpensive project that could be a guy in time. Lastly the Cavs also were fortunate enough to get that coveted Brooklyn Nets 1st round pick in 2018. All of that adds up to a big win for the Cavs to me. They have many ways this team can go after this season. They can continue to go for it, they can do a complete reboot or a combo of both. I like their roster, their flexibility and their chances to stay the best team in the East. No matter how this goes, those Celtics vs. Cavs games next season have become must see tv. Thank you NBA for an AMAZING off-season.