Kyrie Irving Traded to Boston Celtics in Blockbuster Trade, Does This Make Them Favorites to Win the Eastern Conference?

By Djack

Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Boston Celtics in quite possibly the biggest trade since the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen back in 2007. This deal came as a shock to many, one moment the rumors hit, and then minutes later the deal was finalized. It was done so quickly no one even had a second to even process it before a deal was made. Cavaliers trading their star point guard to their biggest foe was quite the shock to NBA fans, I mean how could it not be. This kinda stuff never happens. Did the Cavaliers just give their biggest threat the ammunition they need to finally slay the beast of the east that is Lebron James? Well, I don't know about all that.

The Cavaliers are clearly preparing for life after Lebron James. The Cavs acquired star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is one of the NBA's most prolific scorers, they also received Jae Crowder, a solid all around player, and the Nets 2018 draft pick. This gives them the opportunity to rebuild on the fly after Lebron James takes his talents elsewhere this offseason. They'll have Isaiah Thomas to lean on while in this transition period and they'll end up with a top 5 pick since the Nets are going to be god awful once again this season. They're hoping that pick will turn into the franchise player of the future and at least this time when Lebron leaves the franchise won't completely be in shambles. As for this season the Cavaliers will still be the team to beat in the east. They replaced their scoring point guard with another scoring point guard, they added a top notch defender in Crowder, and they really shouldn't be all that much worse without Kyrie this year. Yes, they have no shot at beating Golden State, although they didn't really have a shot with him, but they'll still be either the 1 or 2 seed in the east. Eventually, they'll meet the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, which is when we'll really see if the Celtics are ready to take that next step.

I'm still ruling the Cavs as favorites to win the East. Until the greatest player since Michael Jordan is dethroned of his ability to make the NBA Finals, he'll favorite be the favorite to win the East. The Celtics added Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving this offseason, however they gave up a lot of players that contributed to the core values of the team that made them so good. Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder were easily the two best defenders on the team, so there's no chance the Celtics are as good defensively this season, which is what made them so great last year. Yes, the offense will be more prolific when it comes to scoring, but let's not forget it's going to take some time for this new group of Celtics player to learn how to play together and really gel. Kyrie is an isolation player, so will he really be able to elevate the play of the guys around him. He wanted to be the head honcho, now he gets that opportunity, let's see what he can do with it. Can the student become the master, or will Lebron show Kyrie that he's not ready to leave the throne. I cannot wait for the NBA season to start, at least one conference finals will be competitive this season.