Kyrie Irving was not exactly phased when he was asked about the additions made across the Eastern Conference in the aftermath of a 129-128 heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
"I'm going to be honest with you, you probably have to tell me who got traded,” said Irving after playing his worst offensive game in months (6-of-20 from the field). "I haven't been on a lot of the wire about who got traded so I'll probably go home and look at it. I think Marc Gasol, right?”
Yes, Kyrie. Gasol went to Toronto for next to nothing. Nikola Mirotic landed in Milwaukee for four second round picks. The 76ers overpaid for Tobias Harris to further bolster what looks like a fantasy basketball team as reporters filled Irving in on the moves.
"Those are great pickups,” said Irving. "I’m looking forward to going against those guys. Obviously, those are top contenders in the East so we'll see them down the line. We have Philly coming up in the next week, in Philly, so that will be a great game. Just looking forward to the challenge of dialing in after the All-Star break and really focusing on the things that we want to do as a team and just get better at.”
The Celtics front office has been confident in this team for months after essentially electing to run it back with all the talent that got on the cusp of the NBA Finals all year. They've resisted urges to shakes anything up after a 10-10 start as the C's have slowly but surely found their footing.
"For us, we were pretty set,” Irving said of Boston's quiet trade deadline day. “They made that very clear, our management. So I’m just happy that now we can just focus on the rest of the season and have some fun doing so. I’m just glad (the deadline is) past.”
While drama circled around Anthony Davis and Irving's future in the past two weeks, there weren't any deals to be had for Boston and that's been known for a while. The front office has managed a very disciplined salary cap sheet where there are no bad contracts the team is willing to give up on (Gordon Hayward doesn't fall in that category yet). The buyers throughout the East had disposable parts making big money that they could maneuver with, opening the door to bring in high-salaried players like Gasol, Harris and Mirotic. The Celtics didn't have that luxury without disrupting key pieces of core.
So they stood pat, outside of dumping Jabari Bird's contract to open up a roster spot. Ainge remains confident in what he has and he has a right to be. Gasol and Mirotic are useful players but flawed at this stage of their careers, with defensive warts that can be taken advantage of in head-to-head matches. Harris presents a bigger problem with Philadelphia, but he also does not solve that team's major issue: No one reliable to guard Irving and Horford. Collectively, no one is fazed about the challenge that awaits in the Celtics locker room.
“Nah, I don’t do no worrying,” Morris said of the moves. "It is what it is. We’re still loaded, too, ourselves. So, shit, it’s going to definitely be a dogfight. It’s going to be fun. The competition is going to be fun. And I’m excited to see it.”
While the second and third rounds of the East playoffs are expected to be an all-out battle, the importance of the final 28 games to secure home-court advantage in those rounds did rise in importance yet again on Thursday. There's less of a margin of error now for Boston as depth gets bolstered in other destinations. Thursday night was not a great start in that department after Boston blew an 18-point home lead to an undermanned Lakers squad at the TD Garden. The Celtics had seemingly managed to turn the corner in recent weeks, avoiding letdown losses against bad teams with their only blemish coming against a streaking Warriors team. Thursday's loss was a step backward on that front as the team reverted into bad defensive habits, questionable shot selection at times, while opportunities to second guess Brad Stevens emerged as he went away from a bench unit late that was clearly far better than the majority of the starters all game long.
With bad losses at home already piled up this season (Magic, Suns, Knicks), the road to even the No. 2 seed in the East is an imposing hill to climb. Five head-to-head battles await for Boston against the Bucks, Sixers and Raptors and none of them are coming at the Garden. If the Celtics do inch their way towards the top of the East standings with this group, they will have earned it.
It's possible they have a chance to do it as well. Other teams will be trying to mix and match their new pieces and build chemistry, while Stevens won't have that burden. The C's bench pieces are playing more consistently in recent weeks and the young guys will no longer have to be distracted more trade rumors that will die down, at least until the summer approaches.
“Everyone in here wants to be here,” Jayson Tatum said. "We enjoy being around each other, playing with each other. Hopefully, we just stay healthy and give ourselves a shot.
“I’m glad to still be on the team. I know everyone else was probably watching, so I’m glad it’s over with.”
For now, Ainge's bet lies with Stevens trying to maximize the return with this talented group. The pieces haven't always fit together but bumps in the road like we saw Thursday night has not popped up as often in the last two months. All of those pieces will get to make a case for their future as the Davis decision looms this summer. Until July comes, it's up to them to prove Ainge should keep them together.
"We have to progress with who we are," Stevens explained. "We like our group, we have the whole time, we weren’t perfect early, we aren’t now, but we are progressing, so that’s really encouraging."
