Yay for Cavs, Nay for Celtics

I've come out of my writing hibernation to talk about the latest blockbuster NBA deal. In an offseason where we've already seen Paul George, Gordon Hayward, Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler and others switch teams, two more just had their place of employment changed. The Cavaliers just sent Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and the 2018 Nets 1st round pick (a pick that will most likely land in the top 5). I knew (along with everyone else who has a TV) that Kyrie was sure to leave Cleveland. I wasn't expecting anything like this, though. I was hoping for the Spurs or some other Western Conference team to get him so that Conference would get even more interesting. Because of that, this deal seems somewhat disappointing. This feels like two opposing armies switching soldiers. 

For the Cavaliers, this is a very good deal. They unload Irving and get another All-Star point guard in Thomas along with a quality rotation piece in Jae Crowder. On top of that, they also are getting a top-5 pick in next year's NBA Draft. They got all that for a player which the whole league KNEW wanted a change of scenery. When that happens, usually the market for that player worsens. Regardless, the Cavaliers did a really good job in getting a reasonable value for their superstar.

For the Celtics, I don't see why this deal was made. Irving is a tremendous talent, but he's not that much better than Thomas. And he's certainly not worth Thomas plus Crowder plus a valuable pick. The Celtics overvalued Irving and paid the price for it. The Celtics were building a great thing with the addition of Gordon Hayward in free agency, but now they tore it all down by going for Kyrie. Remember that video of Isaiah Thomas dancing when the Celtics signed Hayward? That aged really well. I don't understand what Boston's motive was here. 

If I had to grade the trade on both ends, I'd give the Cavs an A+ and the Celtics a C-. I'm not giving the Celtics a worse grade purely because I still think Kyrie Irving is the best player in this deal. It's not like the Celtics gave all this up for Milos Teodosic or something. But I still don't think it was necessary for the Celtics.