This is sadly correct, except I am much closer to believing it was a bad choice.
We could have traded Kyrie for a superstar at any point in the last year, a year when at least four major superstars (Paul, Cousins, George, Butler) moved teams and more might have, but we never did. Now, unless some other team inexplicably rescues us from our hellish cap situation, the chance at those kind of players is gone.
You're right. We took the wrong side of the deal.
However I think the issue back then was quite hard to handle for our front office. Our second best player pushing for a trade, his trade value going down.
Maybe he forced us to work only with a contender.
It's the only reason I don't put the whole blame on our front office.
Beverly/Williams + 1 first pick + fillers is quite a lot for CP3, but he's still the most underrated game changer in the Nba at 32 years old. We should have called.
Oladipo + Sabonis for PG another package we could have matched.
2 picks (if I remember well) + Evans + filler for Boogie an asking price to match ASAP.
Maybe we had Butler within reach - right now the most obvious choice -, but JR "Mr Hyde" transformation was almost impossible to predict.
Aside for him, the other 3 were filling our holes at 1,4 and 5.
Instead of working on our weak spots against GS (inside offense and energy, defence on Durant and Curry) we opened other holes.
We weakened our inside defence and strenght moving Love to the 5 spot (a position he clearly can't hold on D), we thinned our perimetral defence and cover against PGs trading for IT. We bet on Crowder as a 3D forward forgetting we had already Green, who's showing he can do the same things in a better way. We went for D-Wade and Rose together, players sharing the same weaknesses (inconsistent 3) and incapable of sharing the backcourt for the same reasons. We put together James, Love and IT, all volume shooters, when we learned from last year (and this year is adamant) that Love excels on the offensive end when he's the second scoring option.
Jrue Holiday. Thaddeus Young. Marc Gasol. Just to name a few. Were they all out of hand? I don't think so. A right combos of skilled players with versatility and defensive upside to pair with James and a second fiddle.
