Roy, you seem pretty upset by this Kyrie-IT trade, which surprised me. I thought you were a big fan of Kyrie a couple of years ago, and would have expected you to be excited that the Celtics acquired him. What changed? Is it Kyrie's decision to ask out and away from Lebron that bothers you, or Ainge's decision to trade IT?
It's a bit of a stretch to compare Kyrie asking for a trade away from Lebron at the age of 25 to McHale hypothetically asking for a trade away from Bird. This is a totally different era, it is extremely rare for any player to stay on one team their whole career. The league is designed to generate player movement. Also, Kyrie was the #1 pick and the main guy on his team before Lebron decided to return to Cleveland. There is no other player in NBA history that comes close to any comparable level of influence that Lebron has on the organization from the front office all the way down. None. That has to be quite oppressive to a young guy looking to make his legacy in the league.
Also, the Cavs tried to trade Kyrie without asking him, and reports of Lebron leaving have been rampant before Kyrie asked out. It comes back to this being a totally different era. If you want to try to make a comparison, then we have to pretend Bird was running the whole organization, giving jobs to his friends, and then had already decided to bolt to join the Pacers and the Celtics had already tried to trade McHale several times without talking to him about it before McHale finally decided to ask out.