Don’t kid yourself, the Cavs did not win the Kyrie Irving trade

So, after all the midseason commotion, the trade can be summed up like this:

Frye played his second-lowest minutes per game of his career last season at 12.4. He quickly became a non-factor in the Cavaliers’ offense, scoring only 4.8 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting from deep.

Rose seemed intriguing at first but was quickly exposed as inefficient on a team with championship aspirations. After only 16 games with the club, he suffered an ankle injury in October that had him wondering if he should leave basketball behind completely.

Shumpert played just 14 games for Cleveland last season, averaging career-lows in points (4.4), rebounds (2.9), and assists (1.2) before undergoing knee surgery in December.

The No. 25 pick, Moritz Wagner, may turn into something. But there’s no way of knowing who Cleveland would’ve selected if they kept the pick.

The ideas from people like Felger and Swartz aren’t crazy. Still, they also don’t take into account the full context of Cleveland’s situation—and what it could’ve been had they held onto Kyrie.