After discussing the intriguing but highly improbable possibility of trading Lebron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers elected to trade Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for a package including Isiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and Brooklyn’s 2018 unprotected first-round pick*. Remember that the Cavaliers really didn’t have to do anything. Kyrie Irving’s contract has another two years and thus the speculation was that it would take a king’s ransom to pry Kyrie Irving loose. Though the Cavaliers bargaining position was somewhat undermined by the leaks and reports of his desire to leave, Kyrie Irving is still one of the youngest and brightest talents in the league whose contract is relatively cheap in the new NBA salary cap. So in the context of what Cleveland got for the trade, how did Cleveland go into the NBA offseason completely rudderless after the firing of their GM, to trading away their most promising future asset? Wouldn’t the future of Cleveland be Kyrie Irving?

The general consensus from several sports analysts (here is one of the better ones) is that this trade is a hedge against the uncertainty provided by Lebron. Lebron James has been rather noncommittal about his future, and given he has a history of leaving Cleveland, you almost must move forward with the assumption that he may not be there to anchor the team in the 2018 to 2019 campaign. It doesn’t mean he will leave. It’s just that to this stage, Cleveland has made very few moves that make themselves a better team than they were last year, not even mentioning where they are relative to the Warriors. The trade Cleveland made was to go from uncertainty to possibility and flexibility as an organization. Isiah Thomas and his 28.9 points per game last season theoretically replaces the production you lose by giving up Kyrie Irving. Thomas is a dynamic scorer who like Kyrie Irving struggles on defense. But ultimately the Irving-Thomas swap gives the Cavaliers flexibility from the standpoint that he is still much cheaper than Irving’s contract and if he doesn’t work out his contract is expiring. Additionally, if things don’t work out between the Cavaliers and Thomas, my guess is they also aren’t going to work out with the Cavaliers and Lebron. In this scenario both players leave and the Cavaliers now need to rebuild. That is where the 2018 Nets pick comes in.

Regardless of whether the Cavaliers need to enter a rebuild, the pick in 2018 will be crucial to ensuring a more sustainable team-building plan. The Cavaliers website is already speculating on who the Cavaliers will select in the draft next year, but there is a high chance that will be a top 3 pick as the Nets have won 41 games…in the last two years. This comes after a year where the Cavaliers had not one selection in the draft and thus nothing to develop.

While the pick was crucial, what is perhaps just as important is the Cavaliers secured a proven player in Jae Crowder to bolster a team in need of a do-it-all, gritty perimeter defender. As a Mavs fan, I’ve watched Crowder play and I wish he was still in Dallas. While maybe not known as a dynamic scorer, Crowder can contribute to any team in any number of ways whether it is scoring, rebounding, and flexibility on the defensive end which is crucial in the league of pick and rolls. While Crowder won’t solve all of Cleveland’s defensive issues, his ability to switch on defenders and guard at a high level will help take some pressure off Lebron as Cleveland’s best all-around defender. As far as Ante Zizic, he provides the possibility of development as he is a 7-footer that David Blatt (his former coach) called “Baby Shack”. While he is still raw and unproven, it’s just one extra chance that Cleveland can tap for a potential role if his skills can translate to the NBA.

Now all of this is pretty straight forward and it does not stray far from the bulk of the analysis that has been made available. The issue is that it is a bit neat for my taste. Much of the logic behind the trade revolves around Isiah Thomas keeping up his production that was fully realized in Boston. Setting aside his hip surgery, Isiah Thomas may be at the height of his statistical powers as of last season. He also existed in a system that was designed to take advantage of what he does best. As stated by FiveThirtyEight in one of their articles on the trade, Thomas existed in a handoff heavy offense that allowed him to get defenders on his hip with his quickness and ball handling. Meanwhile Kyrie Iriving scored many of his points by well…just being Uncle Drew. If the Cavaliers don’t alter their offense, will they get that same production from Isiah Thomas?

Additionally, when large cogs leave or when new key contributors come together, teams often take time to “gel”. The Miami super team with Lebron, Bosh, and Wade didn’t win the championship their first season together. The Cavaliers super team didn’t win their first season together. And while this is a less significant change than bringing three major talents together all at once, it will take time nonetheless for Thomas to incorporate himself into the squad, find his role and his teammates, and then potentially contribute at the level the Cavaliers assume he will. The question is will the Cavaliers get to that point by the postseason.

Which thus brings the focus to Boston. Danny Ainge and Boston’s management has always seemed to favor picks and the belief that Brad Stevens can make a decent team with whatever you give him. Since the acquisition of a one Isiah Thomas, the Celtics have operated with patience. That is until now when they dealt Thomas and several assets that have been of high value to the Celtics organization. Numerous times the Celtics could have turned their treasure trove of picks and young players into proven commodities. Yet they have remained rather inactive until this offseason when they were linked with names like Paul George and Gordon Hayward (which they of course added but without giving up anything as he came as a free agent). While it remains to be seen how it will work out, a 25-year-old all-NBA player is a solid pickup with the uncertainty of the draft. While the Brooklyn pick will be a high pick, you don’t know for sure that it will be a number one pick. And after that, you don’t know that you will be guaranteed a star the same caliber as Irving.

But if you question whether the Cavaliers will get the same production from Thomas in the future, you must also question what production you will get from Irving. Both players are going to be playing in different offensive systems then they have in previous seasons. In Boston, a much higher percentage of their offense comes from assists. Irving is known for creating his own shots or if not creating them, simply making shots with a high degree of difficulty. That doesn’t make them good shots. They might go in a higher percentage of the time for Irving than they might for other players, but that is not the offense that any team in the NBA is actively searching for. While Irving and Thomas are both premier scorers with similar skills, Irving may also experience a period of growing pains as he adjusts to a new game plan and teammates.

As far as the future prospects of both teams, many players have stated that the Cavaliers are still the team to beat in the East. While the Celtics had the better regular season record, it was clear that the Cavaliers were the better team once the two matched up in the postseason (though Isiah Thomas did go down with injury). However the addition of Gordon Hayward minus the loss of Crowder needs to be factored here. To my eye, the Celtics remain the deeper team but the Cavaliers starting lineup is still perhaps more talented, simply due to Lebron James. But one thing is for sure, it is a much more difficult question to answer now then it was at the start of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. What I am looking forward to is the Kyrie Irving vs Cleveland Cavaliers grudge matches during the regular season and the hopeful rematch of these two teams in the postseason. For what the NBA lacks in competitive parity it makes up for with intriguing storylines.

*Update 9/1/2017: Due to injury concerns with Isiah Thomas, the Celtics sweetened this package to include a 2020 second round pick.