Irving for Thomas: Aftershocks continue
As the NBA surges back into the headlines:
People seem to think LeBron James and Kyrie Irving will be carrying out a vicious feud well into the future. Doubtful. Thanks to the 2016 title, climaxing on the Warriors’ home floor, there’s a great deal of mutual respect. And there’s too much to gain this season to get caught up in the past.
Irving will always have The Shot, the three-pointer over Stephen Curry to clinch that title. Wherever he goes, confidence soaring or on the wane, he’ll have that in his back pocket. With a side of nostalgia, most likely.
Irving is about to find out that if he really wants to run a team, as the unquestioned star, Boston isn’t the right place. Too much else happening with Gordon Hayward, promising rookie Jayson Tatum, emerging star Jaylen Brown, and coach Brad Stevens’ insistence on team-oriented play. Irving would do well to drop the sullen, childish moods and get into the flow.
The Warriors’ Kevon Looney can speak at length about hip surgery and its debilitating effects, perhaps dooming his career. Isaiah Thomas decided against the surgery, but the Celtics were worried that his hip condition (eventually removing him from last year’s playoffs) has staying power.
Interesting, but not surprising: The Warriors reportedly turned down an Irving trade offer for Klay Thompson. For the defending champs, that wouldn’t make sense on any level.
Not that the Warriors are terribly worried about anything, but on certain matchups, they’ll be up against Jae Crowder as a wing defender instead of Kevin Love, J.R. Smith or the ancient Richard Jefferson.
When the Cavaliers acquired Derrick Rose, it seemed a decent way to replace Irving. What happens now, with Thomas in town? Rose has lost some luster, but in his mind, he’s nobody’s backup.
As we learned from the deals involving Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins and Paul George — and really, the whole history of the league — it’s extremely hard to get proper value for a superstar. The Cavs were portrayed as a catastrophe after the awkward departure of GM David Griffin, but his emergency replacement, Koby Altman, pulled off a gem.
Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy: “I’m all in on this. I haven’t been this sold on a Boston sports transaction since the Red Sox signed Pablo Sandoval for five years and $95 million.”