Amid speculation that all-star point guard Kyrie Irving will leave the Celtics in free agency this summer, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said he believes his franchise won the blockbuster trade that shipped Irving to Boston in 2017. “I don’t know, but I think Kyrie will leave Boston,” Gilbert said, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto. “We could have ended up with nothing. Looking back after all the moves Koby made, we killed it in that trade.” The Cavaliers were one of the worst teams in the league this year, so it’s odd to see Gilbert flexing like this. Yet there’s actually merit to his point. The Cavaliers are only two summers removed from one of the worst moments in their franchise’s history: the day Irving’s trade request from a championship contender became public, sending rival executives, news outlets, basketball pundits, and fans alike into a frenzy. Irving, if you remember, requested to be traded because he wanted to forge a legacy of his own and no longer be tethered to LeBron James in Cleveland. The Cavaliers obliged — even though they didn’t have to given Irving’s contract situation — sending him to Boston as part of a massive trade package that brought Cleveland several new pieces to put around James. But the Cavaliers imploded midway through that season, and Altman bulldozed the team at the trade deadline. Cleveland clawed through the Eastern Conference playoffs and eventually made it back to the NBA Finals, but the Warriors pulled off just the ninth sweep in Finals history, spurred by J.R. Smith’s immortal Game 1 blunder. James — victim to now two of those nine sweeps — left Cleveland in free agency for Los Angeles, and the Cavaliers sunk to the bottom of the league. Gilbert’s point is that Altman did a good job recouping young players and assets in the Irving deal, despite the team’s issues. “Killed it” were his exact words. But what exactly are the assets that Altman landed? Actually, there are so many, we need an investigation. The original trade Boston receives: Kyrie Irving Cleveland receives: Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, Brooklyn’s 2018 first-round pick, Miami’s 2020 second-round pick On paper, the Cavaliers flipped one all-star point guard for another, plus a 3-and-D wing, a promising young center, and a future second-rounder. But Thomas took months to get healthy, and when he returned, he never meshed well with James on the court. Crowder, who was a 40 percent shooter in Boston, regressed from the perimeter in Cleveland. Those two were moved at the trade deadline. The Nets also improved and were not a bottom-five team that season, either. Instead the draft lottery placed them at pick No. 8. With that pick, the Cavaliers selected Alabama point guard Collin Sexton, who recovered from a slow start to morph into a Second-Team All-Rookie selection. Zizic, the lone player remaining from the original trade, played sparingly in his first season with the Cavaliers, but improved to eight points and 5.5 rebounds in 18 minutes per game last year. Zizic and Sexton can be considered useful acquisitions from the Irving trade. Thomas and Crowder? Not so much. But Altman flipped Thomas and Crowder at the deadline He blew the entire roster up, in fact, dealing Thomas, Crowder, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, and their own 2018 first-round pick. These players were traded in packages, except for Wade, who was dealt back to Miami as a favor, in exchange for a protected second-round pick Cleveland will never see. Here’s how those trades panned out: Trade 1 Jazz receive: Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder Cavs receive: George Hill, Rodney Hood, Utah’s 2024 second-round pick, draft rights to Arturas Gudaitis Kings receive: Joe Johnson, Iman Shumpert, 2020 second-round pick (via Miami) Gudaitis — a 6’10 Lithuanian player rated as one of the top-rated big men in the Euroleague — had dinner with Altman four months ago to express an interest in making the leap to the NBA. But he broke his kneecap shortly after that dinner, so it’s unclear if or when he will ever make the leap stateside. That’s a pretty nice card for Altman to have up his sleeve nonetheless. We’re not here to assess how Hill and Hood competed in the 2018 Finals. Cleveland lost, badly. But we are here to assess what Altman did with Hill and Hood, because neither remain on the Cavaliers’ roster. Hill was traded to Milwaukee this December. In exchange, Cleveland absorbed both Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson’s contracts, and they received Milwaukee’s 2021 first- and second-round picks. Both Dellavedova and Henson will become free agents in 2021. Bucks receive: George Hill, Sam Dekker, Washington’s 2021 second-rounder Cavs receive: Matthew Dellavedova, John Henson, Milwaukee’s 2021 first- and second-round picks Hood was traded to the Trail Blazers at the February deadline. In exchange, the Cavaliers received Portland’s 2021 and 2023 second-round picks, and both Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin IV. Trail Blazers receive: Rodney Hood, Cavaliers receive: Portland’s 2021 and 2023 second-rounders, Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin IV Stauskas and Baldwin were then flipped in a three-team trade to Houston. (They were actually traded together three times in five days before finally getting waived by the Pacers, but that’s neither here nor there.) Rockets receive: Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin IV, Milwaukee’s 2021 second-round pick Cavaliers receive: Marquese Chriss, Brandon Knight, Houston’s 2019 first-round pick, Kings receive: Alec Burks (via Cleveland) So, to recap. Altman turned George Hill and Rodney Hood into: Houston’s 2019 first-round pick Milwaukee’s 2021 first-round pick Portland’s second-round picks in 2021 and 2023 Utah’s 2024 second-round pick Brandon Knight, John Henson, and Matthew Dellavedova, whose combined $35.6 million in salary comes off the books in 2021. Marquese Chriss, who enters free agency this summer after the Rockets declined the fourth-year team option on his contract. The draft rights to Arturas Gudaitis, who could potentially make a leap to the NBA if he returns from his broken kneecap All that from trading Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose. Trade 2 Lakers receive: Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, Cleveland’s 2018 first-round pick (No. 25: Moritz Wagner) Cavaliers receive: Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Cleveland inked Nance, the son of former Cleveland all-star forward Larry Nance Sr., to a four-year, $44.8 million contract extension that kicks in next season. Nance is a superior, high-flying athlete, but he also worked himself into a 33 percent three-point shooter. If the Cavaliers decide to trade Kevin Love (for example: in a deal with Portland for draft picks and young players), Nance could become the full-time starter. Clarkson is coming off the best scoring season in his career, and he also becomes a free agent in 2021. The Cavaliers don't have much incentive to bring him back after his current contract is up, but he becomes an expiring contract, which is a valuable trade chip if they’re in asset acquisition mode. Smaller Trade 3 Kyle Korver wasn’t acquired as part of the Kyrie Irving trade, nor was he dealt in any packages including players received in the Irving deal. But he was traded to Utah for Alec Burks and a pair of Jazz second-rounders, and Burks, as you read earlier, was dealt to Sacramento in that three-team trade that landed Chriss, Knight and Houston’s first-rounder. So, to recap Koby Altman took a disgruntled Kyrie Irving, who was on track to leave Cleveland for nothing in return on July 1 of this year, and dealt him to Boston for players and assets that have become: Ante Zizic Collin Sexton Marquese Chriss (free agent) John Henson Matthew Dellavedova Brandon Knight Jordan Clarkson Larry Nance Jr. draft rights to Arturas Gudaitis Houston’s 2019 first-round pick Utah’s 2020 second-round pick Milwaukee’s 2021 first-round pick Portland’s 2021 second-round pick Portland’s 2023 second-round pick Utah’s 2024 second-round pick Bags on bags of cap space in the summer of 2021 — which could become either one or multiple max free agents (unlikely), or be exchanged for unfavorable contracts attached with attractive draft assets/young players (more likely). As for the Celtics, they received Irving — who looks likely to leave this summer — one East Finals appearance, a second season of dysfunction and broken chemistry at every level, zero NBA Finals berths, and (likely) zero cap space to sign a max free agent in the most loaded free agency class we’ve seen in a long time. Guess what? Gilbert is right. By his criteria, Altman really “killed it” in the Irving trade. https://www.sbnation.com/2019/5/23/...ade-cavaliers-celtics-free-agents-dan-gilbert
It's interesting looking at real trades and then comparing them to some that the internet experts come up with.
They are leaving out that they gave up their #1 pick in 2018 plus cap space. They still got a handful of meh for a second team all NBA PG.
I'd say a double handful of "meh", a small order of "hmmmm...", and a side of "eh, why not, What's the down side?" Significantly more than nothing FWIW...
