Farewell IT

Danny Ainge made the right move in trading Isaiah Thomas.

I loved watching Thomas as much as anyone in his two-plus seasons as a Celtic.  He pumped life back into the franchise sooner than I could have believed after Ainge traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn in 2013.  Thomas put up big numbers, led the team to a lot of wins, and built a relationship with the fans of Boston that was genuinely special.

The problem for Thomas was that as he was helping raise the expectations of the Celtics, Ainge decided he was not the player that could deliver the Celtics a title.

Thomas was not Ainge's only asset.  In several moves over the last few years, Ainge has added first round draft picks and has started to add promising young talent with those picks.  The Nets trade in 2013 landed the Celtics the #3 overall pick in the last two drafts and Ainge used those picks to select potential future franchise cornerstones Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Ainge, and head coach Brad Stevens, have also been able to attract premium free agents Al Horford and Gordon Hayward to sign maximum level contracts the last two summers.

With this mix of All-Stars and young talent, Ainge and Stevens had a team coming off of a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals that still needed an upgrade in talent to become true contenders for the championship.

That type of talent became available when Kyrie Irving, the 25-year-old point guard who helped lead the Cavaliers to three straight trips to the NBA Finals and who hit the clutch game winning three-point shot to give Cleveland the 2016 title, made public his demand for a trade.

Ainge swooped in and gave Cleveland Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the last of the Brooklyn first round picks.  After a week of uncertainty after the trade was announced due to the condition of Thomas' injured hip, Boston added in a 2020 second round pick to complete the deal.

Irving is the type of premiere talent that can elevate the Celtics from a likable team that could dream of one day contending into a legitimate title contender.  Irving and Hayward should form an outstanding offensive tandem on the perimeter and will lead a team that, on paper, should make a serious run at the Finals in 2018.

It will be sad to see Isaiah Thomas in a different uniform but at the end of the day, the move improves the Celtics and gets them closer to winning a championship.