Kyrie Irving's being absurdly over-rated around here in my opinion. He's a pretty good scorer, but he doesn't have anywhere near the same game changing speed and athleticism of Rajon Rondo. He's also not a great distributor. To me, he's pretty much a rich man's Brandon Jennings. That's not bad, but it's nowhere near worth trading Rondo for.
Agreed
A "pretty good scorer"? He is the top scoring point guard in the NBA right now. And this is his second season in a row scoring a lot of points at a 46% fg clip which is awesome for a point guard, especially at that high of a volume.
A rich man's brandon jennings? Well first of all, jennings is a heck of a player. Second of all, Irving shoots at a much higher efficiency than Jennings. Don't just breeze past that, it is a big deal.
Irving has all the skills to run a CP-style pick and roll offense which is exactly what playoff basketball is all about.
I'd be 60-40 on trading Rondo for Irving straight up and it would be a tough choice. I don't think that Irving will be up to Rondo's level come this postseason, which is what leads me to think twice about that deal. But it won't take much longer for Irving to pass him and Varejao included in the trade idea make it absolutely worth it for the present and the future.
No way Cleveland does it though. Irving's ceiling is too high and he has so much all-star level basketball ahead of him. Rondo probably has 4 more elite level years left in him while Kyrie has at least 10. Kyrie's ability to shoot will extend his prime to a further age than Rondo's.