You don’t often get to see a franchise — make that a notoriously stingy franchise — pull the trigger on a deal compelling it to bid goodbye to an immediate past Most Valuable Player candidate, a two-way starter, a potential first overall pick, and a talented seven-foot prospect for an All-Star who doesn’t even crack the Top 15 in the National Basketball Association. Yet, that’s exactly what the Celtics did in spreading the welcome mat for Kyrie Irving; in the words of Danny Ainge, head of hoops operations, the move “fits a timeline.”
For longtime Celtics habitues, that timeline, of course, began four years ago, when the front office embarked on a massive rebuild that has, to date, seen players numbering in the high double digits pass through the revolving doors of the green and white. Just this offseason, Ainge and company saw fit to part ways with all but four of the warm bodies on the 2016-2017 roster that made the Eastern Conference finals. After having preached patience in the long game, the significant advances they just made spurred them to go all in, hence their decision to let go of such notables as Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, Gerald Green, and Jonas Jerebko before they likewise surrendered Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick.
Certainly, Ainge’s uncharacteristic boldness carries inherent risk. The biggest question mark is, to be sure, Irving’s capacity to walk the talk and lead the storied franchise to new heights. Can he truly emerge from the shadow of LeBron James and prove that his self-assurance bordering on cockiness is justified? The Celtics are betting he can and will, fast and for the foreseeable future, alongside holdovers Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, and Jaylen Brown, as well as erstwhile free agent Gordon Hayward and promising rookie Jayson Tatum.
In the NBA, the quick and dirty way to judge trades is to see who winds up with the best talent, which Irving unquestionably is. From Ainge’s vantage point, he’s “a fantastic offensive player, one of the best offensive players in the league” for whom “you have to pay a heavy price.” Indeed. It’s just too bad that, in presumably getting better, the Celtics had to negotiate with the Cavaliers, the very rivals they’re angling to overcome. Nonetheless, the die is cast, and the hope is that, on the 10th anniversary of their last championship, they get to claim one anew as a result.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
