Irving will hear it from Cavs fans on Oct. 17

Jeff Schudel expects Cavaliers fans to boo Kyrie Irving when he makes his first appearance with the Cetlics at The Q on Oct. 17. Plus, thoughts on Trevor Bauer and the Browns’ roster after cut-down day.

The question of the day is, who is more of a villain — LeBron James for taking his talents to South Beach after the 2010 season or Kyrie Irving for demanding a trade and getting his wish?

It doesn’t get any juicier than Irving being a visitor when the Boston Celtics and Cavaliers open the 2017-18 NBA season on Oct. 17 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The visiting team is always introduced first. It is safe to predict Irving will be lustily booed in pregame warmups, but many fans have yet to take their seats while that is going on. The seats seem to magically fill before introductions are made. Just ask Steph Curry or anyone else on the Golden State Warriors.

The Cavaliers received a trade exception and draft picks in a sign-and-trade with the Heat when James used free agency to flee to Miami. In the Irving trade, by all accounts they made out well, at least in the short term, by getting All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, center Ante Zizic, small forward Jae Crowder and the 2018 first-round draft pick of the Brooklyn Nets, which is owned by the Celtics. This is pending the outcome of the physicals with all players involved, and it’s possible the Cavs will receive more.

The bounty in the deal won’t matter to Cavaliers fans, who have a right to feel betrayed — again. James, at least, said nothing bad about his Cavalier teammates when he skipped town.

• Sports Illustrated gave the Celtics a “B” for getting Irving.

“Irving is a great scorer who is also young with a better contract status than Thomas moving forward,” S.I. wrote in its analysis. “But he has serious deficiencies as a defender, and he was never able to lift Cleveland to respectable heights without James.”

The Cavaliers are 4-23 without James since his return in 2014.

A “B” is good, but an “Aplus” is better, and that’s what Sports Illustrated gave the Cavaliers.

“Thomas is a downgrade from Irving, but he’s still a tough scorer coming off a borderline MVP campaign who should be able to fill up the bucket alongside LeBron,” S.I. wrote. “Crowder is a great pickup for Cleveland. The Cavs desperately needed a dependable 3-point shooter who could also defend in the Finals, and Crowder fits that description perfectly… The real coup here is the Nets pick.

“Now, Cleveland owns what should be a very valuable lottery selection in next year’s draft. If LeBron leaves, the Cavs can kickstart their rebuild right away with a good pick. If LeBron stays, Cleveland has an asset that can be flipped for another star, or add some much-needed youth to the roster.”

Two caution signs: Thomas missed the last three games of the Eastern Conference finals last year because of a hip injury. That injury is still bothering him. The trade could be voided if the Cavaliers fail Thomas on his physical. Thomas wants a max contract when his current deal expires in June. That doesn’t mean anyone is going to give him one, but the Cavaliers will have difficulty contending in 201819 if James, Irving and Thomas are all playing elsewhere.

Bauer keeps rolling

Here’s another question: Which Indians pitcher has the most victories with less than a week remaining in August?

Hint: It isn’t Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar.

Trevor Bauer is 13-8. Kluber and Carrasco have each won 12 times. Bauer. Bauer is 6-0 since July 16 with two no decisions mixed in with the winning streak. He wasn’t at his best on Aug. 24 and still managed to get the win against the Red Sox.

Manager Terry Francona has a decision to make when he starts shaping his rotation for the playoffs. Kluber and Carrasco are the obvious choices for the top two spots. A strong argument can be made for selecting Bauer over Salazar for the third spot.

I know Bauer lost twice to the Cubs in the World Series. He’s a better pitcher now, and I’m not confident Salazar can handle the pressure of pitching in the postseason. Things can change in the next six weeks, but my belief in Bauer grows stronger every time he pitches.

• There was nothing fluky about the way the Indians pounded Red Sox starter Chris Sale on Aug. 24. Sale gave up six earned runs over three innings in his worst outing of the season. His second worst effort was in an Aug. 1 game at Fenway Park when he gave up seven runs to the Indians in five innings.

Sale has allowed six runs or more only 12 times in his career. Five of those, however, have come against the Indians. The other three times he was with the White Sox.

Boston manager John Farrell, anticipating an Indians-Red Sox matchup in the postseason, after the recent game told reporters the Red Sox have to do a better job scouting the Indians.

“Well that’s where we have to go back and look at not only the two starts this year, but maybe over the course of a bigger time period where there might be other starts where we really comb through some video and to see if there’s any common thread throughout,” he said. “We know that there are certain guys in that lineup that have had success against him and we may have to look a little bit more explicitly at how we devise a game plan against them.”

If the season ends with the standings the same as they are now, Houston would host the wildcard playoff winner in one ALDS and the Indians would play Boston in the other, most likely with Indians ace Corey Kluber facing off with Sale in Game 1 on Oct. 5.

NFL cuts coming

Unlike years past, the NFL has only one cutdown day this summer. Some teams have a less than capacity roster now. But for the most part teams are going to trim their roster from 90 to 53 players at 4 p.m. Sept. 2 – eight days before the regular season begins.

That means players at the bottom of the roster the Browns announce next weekend better not sign long-term apartment leases, because the booby prize for finishing 1-15 last season is the Browns get first crack at every player waived.

This is where Vice President Of Player Personnel Andrew Berry and Senior Personnel Executive Ryan Grigson, the former general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, really earn their money.

The Browns need wide receivers that can get open, backups in the secondary, an inside linebacker behind Joe Schobert (if not a starter) and a backup offensive tackle.

The phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” will definitely apply to the Browns when rosters are whacked by more than a third.

There are many reasons the Browns are at their roster in the second half of the season, and one of them is attrition. The bench players are inferior to those on other teams. All teams lose starters to injury, but the better teams have better support players. This is the Browns’ chance to strengthen their bench.

I didn’t know that

… Until I read my Snapple bottle cap.

Among North Atlantic lobsters, about one in 5,000 is born bright blue. ... There are three requirements to be a United States president; the person must be at least 35 years old, be a naturalborn U.S. citizen and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years . ... China has only one time zone . ... The pupils in goats’ eyes are rectangular . ... In one day, a full-grown oak tree expels seven tons of water through its leaves . ... When creating a mummy, Egyptians removed the brain by inserting a hook through the nostrils.

JAE C. HONG — ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyrie Irving might get a cold reception when he visits with the Celtics on Oct. 17. But the booing won’t be as passionate as it was for LeBron James when he played at Quicken Loans Arena with the Heat in 2010.