It isnt just volume stats though...these guys have given up what seems to be entire skill sets. Things that they do well, even at a level that only a hand full of other players can do, they have given up.
When you are on a title contender, you are going to give up your inefficient ISO post-ups in favor of team ball and playing within a system. Chris Paul has a great mid range game, and he's had to cut it back in favor of more efficient offense now that he's the not the best player on his team. Ray Allen became a spot-up shooter when he got to Boston because they had KG and Paul Peirce. Many 3rd and 2nd options on championship teams could be all-stars on their own, but it is better for the team for them to defer to better teammates.
Yes, that is true. I guess it just comes down to sometimes there is a Kyrie who "has had enough." Definitely ego involved there too.
Or is it backwards? When you don't have a solid championship team with multiple good players...you end up doing too much yourself. Then you get used to that scoring/being the man that you can't go back to a lesser role. Chris bosh was the man in Toronto. Paul pierce in boston Garnett in minnesota Allen in seattle
LOL nobody is gonna be dumb enough to play through pain for the Celts now after what they did to Isiah. As for the trade I think both teams lost out, sure Irving is an upgrade and younger than Thomas but Irving has proven to NOT be an A tier superstar. Compare him to Paul George and Butler he is clearly a tier below, not to mention the top superstars like Lebron, KD, Curry and Harden.Boston will resign him and now they are paying max for Irving, Horford and Hayward. How far will 3 B level stars take them? Nowhere LMAO. For Cleveland the trade that should have happened was Cp3+pick for Irving. That being said the haul they got was not bad, Nance jr, #7 lotto pick, Clarkson, Hood and Hill that's not so bad esp. since they still have a 2ndary star in Love in case Lebron leaves. They are starting to click and I'm sure we are gonna see them in another NBA finals this year.
I agree with you on Irving being overrated etc, but i'd wait to laugh at Ainge, he has still a ton of assets, if/once a player like Kawhi or Davis will be available he can easily go and get him.
Well yeah but what I'm saying is the Irving trade made them worse, not better. If they kept Thomas then Celts would have been a lotto team and they would have both the Nets, LA/Philly, Sacramento and their own pick as lottos next year. Yes they can still trade for Davis but thats just a testament to the Celts having so many assets, that doesn't have anything to do with Irving. In fact, it made trading for Davis harder because they probably could have offered the Nets pick, Philly/LA pick and Horford for Davis if Davis said he wanted out next year. Next year Irving is redundant on their team Horford, Hayward, Brown and Tatum are all capable scorers so Irving's iso and ball dominant mid-range Js aren't that necessary. And the worst part is he may end up being the worst star on that team Horford, Hayward, Brown and Tatum are all 2 way players Irving is the only bad on defense and his offense was so overrated thanks to Lebron.
You aren’t really owning your statements when you include such a caveat. Isiah Thomas wasn’t better than Kyrie, even when fully healthy. Oh well. There’s a reason you’re on so many “clueless about basketball,” lists.