On August 23, 2017, a trade news caused another disturbance in the already calm league. A month ago, it was reported that Kyrie Irving, who had submitted a trade application to the Cavaliers, was sent to the Boston Celtics by the team.
In exchange for All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Nets' first-round draft pick next year.
This deal shocked the league!
The Cavaliers dominate the Eastern Conference and are unrivaled. This deal directly changed the structure of the Eastern Conference.
The timing of Irving's trade request happens to be when LeBron James has one year left on his contract (he has a player option for the 2018-19 season), which puts rookie general manager Koby Altman into an awkward position. What exactly is the Cavaliers doing?
Should they rely on James' strong dominance to strive for another championship, or should they start thinking about the future of the Cavaliers without James?
Teams with James have always had this kind of confusion. There is no way to let someone call him Paopao Zhan...
This deal is definitely not cost-effective for the Cavaliers, but they have to do it, after all, Irving's heart is not here anymore.
In comparison, their gains look impressive.
Thomas was the boss of the Celtics before and has a strong scoring ability. He should be able to make up for Irving's firepower.
Thomas was indeed better than Irving in the 2016-17 regular season. He scored more efficiently and was selected to the All-NBA second team, while Irving was not even selected to the All-NBA third team.
Of course, Irving is obviously better than Thomas in the playoffs. This is a fact.
Crowder's role is similar to Richard Jefferson on the Cavaliers who completed a 1-3 comeback to win the championship in 2016. He can partner with James at the forward position and defend Kevin Durant or Drummond.
-While Green can also switch positions to defend the Warriors' guards.
Crowder's three-point shooting percentage of 39.8% last season was a career high, and his threat from the outside was enough to attract defenders' attention. He seemed to be more valuable than veteran Jefferson on both offense and defense.
What the Cavaliers most want to see is Thomas staying healthy during the 2017-18 season.
In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers last season, Thomas suffered a torn hip labrum, which also caused him to sit on the sidelines for the rest of the series. After observations during the offseason, doctors believed that Thomas'
The injury does not require surgery, but in a recent interview with the media, head coach Stevenson said that before undergoing a scan in early September, it was not certain whether Thomas could complete his comeback before the start of training camp.
Of course, another reason why the Cavaliers agreed to this deal was that they received the 2018 Nets first-round pick.
Although the Nets have improved during the offseason, they had the worst record in the NBA last season. ESPN's ranking of the Nets for next season based on real plus-minus is still in the bottom five. It is expected that they will be in the draft lottery.
Ranked fifth, there is about a 9% chance of getting the No. 1 pick.
If LeBron James chooses to leave for the second time next summer, then the Cavaliers can choose to let Thomas go at the same time and use the draft picks in their hands to start rebuilding. If this scene really happens, then Crowder will also have huge power by then.
The transaction value is because there are still two years left on his contract of approximately US$15 million. At the same time, the Cavaliers also obtained potential center Ante Zizic in this transaction. The No. 23 pick in 2016 has average physical conditions.
But still able to get considerable data.
Although the Cavaliers and Celtics are both powerful players in the Eastern Conference, for fans of the two teams, this deal is not inconsistent with their competition.
Because for the Cavaliers, who are primarily focused on next season, Thomas' expiring contract couldn't be better. But from Boston's perspective, Thomas' impending free agency will be a thorny issue.
Thomas hopes to sign a max-salary contract next summer. Although some teams may make offers for him, it also means that you have to use a max-salary and five-year contract to retain someone.
A 5-foot-9 guard who is about to turn 30.
Re-signing Thomas may cause the Celtics to pay a high luxury tax, which also means that they have almost locked up the team's salary space with only two players (Thomas and Horford), and they are both entering the second half of their careers.
.Boston may be able to succeed by relying on the improvement of its young players, but this will require extremely sophisticated management and operation.
From an age point of view, the 25-year-old Irving is completely suitable for the Celtics' young players and the 27-year-old Gordon Hayward, who has recently joined the Green Army. His playoff experience has already brought improvement to the Green Army.
This is also crucial for a team that hopes to reach the Eastern Conference Finals in the next two seasons. So overall, his arrival is definitely an improvement compared to Thomas.
Generally speaking, when the transaction occurs, it is a good deal for both parties. It is a win-win transaction.
However, it later turned out that this was a lose-lose deal.
During the transaction process, the Celtics hid part of the seriousness of Thomas' injury. Thomas was basically disabled. The Cavaliers did not have the patience and confidence to wait for him to come back, and finally traded him.
Facts have proved that the trade for Thomas had no effect, and the Cavaliers lost Irving in vain.
But the Cavaliers had no choice. After the news that they wanted to trade Irving for George was exposed, Irving publicly wanted to leave, and the value of the transaction was greatly reduced. They had no choice but to do this.
Irving applied for a trade quite late. Paul and George were both traded, which made the Cavaliers very passive and could only choose to trade.
For the Celtics, Irving's arrival did not go as they expected. Irving is not a qualified leader and he does not have that ability.
Because of Irving's arrival, the Celtics lost high-quality role players like Crowder, which also caused discord in the locker room and reduced team cohesion a lot.
All in all, this is a lose-lose deal!
…
The trading market has slowly calmed down, and most of the offseason has passed.
Soon, training camp will begin, followed by preseason games.
Most teams in the league have not changed much in the new season, except for the Rockets, Thunder and Timberwolves.
The Rockets mainly brought in Paul to form a dual-core lineup, while the Thunder traded for Paul George, giving Westbrook a strong assistant. The Timberwolves brought in Butler, adding a powerful and tough Mesozoic star.
The main reason why the teams in the league have not changed much is that the Warriors are too strong.
The Warriors’ lineup hasn’t changed much in the new season: Curry, Clay, Durant, Green, and Pachulia. These five are the solid starters, and the substitutes are Livingston, Ying Guodala, and David Weis.
Special, McGee, Looney, McCaw, Cook, Looney, the only new players are Nick Young, Casspi and Jordan Bell.
As long as Curry, Clay, Durant, Green and Ying Guodala are on the Warriors, there won't be much difference among the rest.
The Warriors have a very strong lineup. They have been working together for another year and have a better understanding of each other. There is no hope for their opponents to upset them.
In this case, if there is no good opportunity, the best way is to lie dormant and wait for the opportunity.
So most teams in the league haven't made much change.
…
The new season started soon, and although the competition was lively, the final pattern did not change much.
The expected strong teams basically all entered the playoffs, and the bad teams also showed amazing perseverance, and various low-limit operations allowed them to get the lottery picks as they wished.
Of course, there are no changes at all, and the final ranking still surprises people.
First of all, here in the West, the number one ranking is not the Warriors, but the newly formed Rockets!
The Rockets have a record of 65 wins and 17 losses, ranking first in the Western Conference, 7 more wins than the second-place Warriors!
The Rockets played extremely fiercely in the new season. The newly formed light bulb team worked well together, and it didn't take much time for the team to take off.
The Rockets' style of play is very clear, which is to lower their height and throw three-pointers like crazy!
Many people say that the Warriors are a three-point team, but what this Rockets does is crazier than the Warriors!
It's either a three-pointer or a breakthrough. If you don't come out, I'll shoot a three-pointer. If you come out, I'll break in!
Obviously, the Rockets want to take the magic ball theory to the extreme. To put it bluntly, it is: take the Warriors' path and leave the Warriors with nowhere to go!
In fact, the Warriors are not as extreme as the Rockets. They pass and cut a lot and move without the ball. They focus on teamwork and few singles. The Rockets rely more on personal ability to attract double teams, and then pass the ball to assist teammates.
Score.
Simple and crude, but very effective!
The Rockets' goal is the Warriors, there is no doubt about it.
This style of play made everyone on the Rockets very clear about their role positioning, the light bulb combination and the role players had a clear division of labor, and everyone got very impressive statistics.
After the regular season, 6 Rockets players scored in double figures, Harden averaged 30 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists per game, Paul 18 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists, Gordon 18 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Capela 14 points, 10 rebounds, Jayla
De Green had 12 points and 3 rebounds, Ariza had 12 points and 4 rebounds, Ryan Anderson had 9 points, Mbah a Moute had 7 points and 3 rebounds, Nene had 6 points and 3 rebounds, PJ Tucker had 6 points and 6 rebounds, and Zhou Qi also played.
18 games, averaging 1.2 points per game.
The important thing is that the Rockets have a great record against Western Conference teams. They are 3:1 against the Warriors, swept the Trail Blazers, swept the Jazz, and were also 3:1 against the Spurs.
Such a record gave Rockets players a lot of confidence and also allowed Harden to win a precious MVP trophy.
There is not much controversy about Harden's MVP trophy: the Rockets have the best record in the league, still far ahead, and Harden's statistics are also the best in the Rockets, much better than Paul, and he is the undisputed leader of the Rockets.
