Wyc: Trade made for Banner 18
Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said yesterday the team’s blockbuster trade for Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was needed after the 53-win 2016-17 team fell short against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals.
“We got bounced pretty hard last year in the playoffs, and then those guys got bounced pretty hard after that,” Grousbeck, referencing the Cavs losing to the Warriors in the NBA Finals, told reporters at the topping-off ceremony for the Celtics’ new training facility, the Auerbach Center, at New Balance World Headquarters in Brighton.
“So we didn’t feel we were at the top, we didn’t feel we were where we wanted to be. So that’s what you do when you run a team. You do what you have to do to try to get better.”
The Celts sent Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 unprotected first-round pick to the Cavaliers in exchange for Irving, the 25-year-old fourtime All-Star.
“We are really excited about the trade, although it’s bittersweet to let somebody go like IT, let somebody go like Jae,” Grousbeck said. “Kyrie is a transcendent talent, and we are excited to put him together with Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Marcus Smart.
“We want this team to go for Banner 18, and we need to get the best possible players to do that, and that’s what we are trying to do.”
Grousbeck declined to speculate about whether the Celtics are in a position to challenge Cleveland for supremacy in the East, even after losing their top three players in scoring and minutes: Thomas, Avery Bradley and Crowder.
“I am not going to make any predictions about that. I think we are in a good position to present Celtics Pride well,” he said. “We have a good, up-and-coming team, a strong team, a young team, with more youth on the way. So we want to be good for a sustained period of time, and it starts now.”
Negotiations between the Celtics and Cavs went backand-forth, with each team turning down the other’s offers before getting together on a deal. Thomas is heading into unrestricted free agency after the 2017-18 season, and Grousbeck would not comment on whether the team had concerns regarding the prospect of paying the 28-year-old, 5-foot9 guard big money after his hip injury at the end of this past postseason.
“We don’t really talk about hypothetical contract discussions,” Grousbeck said, adding he has not yet spoken to Thomas but plans to soon.
The Celtics and Cavaliers are set to open the regular season Oct. 17 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
“Both teams are going to be trying to beat the other one into a pulp and win by 40 points,” Grousbeck said with a smile.
“I don’t even know what to think. It’s amazing we are playing them the first game.”