Yeah, as someone who was (and still is) not a supporter of the trade, I can safely say I was in the minority from Day 1.
What needs to happen for you to change your mind? A ring? The pick to be in the 20's? Or is it a principled position?
I am actually surprised to see SL take this position.
I imagine he isn't this extreme, but for some people, it's not even about where the pick lands, but how the player taken with the pick (or within range of the pick) turns out. Regardless of how great (and young) Kyrie is and continues to be, it could be 5-7 years before those against the trade finally accept (or reject) it.
What they aren't taking into consideration is IT's age, health, and contract situation and the fact that we are now set to compete for the present and the future with Kyrie at the helm. As I recall, SL was also a huge fan of Crowder's contract (me, too, btw).
I can't speak for SL but I'm also still cautious about this trade (which is a couple of steps up from where I started).
The current situation far improves my opinion of the trade. After all, everything that could go right for the Celtics in this deal has gone right (or wrong from Cleveland's standpoint):
- IT is still hurt
- Crowder isn't playing particularly well
- Zizic isn't seeing the floor.
- The Nets have 10 wins before January
- Kyrie is playing defense (although that's slipped lately), has been relatively healthy and hasn't fallen off the (flat) Earth
- The Cs are winning
Much of that could not be reasonably predicted when this deal was done. As I've said before, it's all coming up Millhouse for Ainge. But there's a lot that could still reasonably happen to make this deal go south again.
- Irving could choose not to re-sign in two years
- Irving could go back to playing no defense (this is more of a concern lately) or get hurt and start playing 50 games again (as he's been prone to do)
- IT could get perfectly healthy and with that injury may resign for less than the max
- Brooklyn could go on a losing streak and the pick ends up being Bagley who looks more and more like a generational talent
Is any of that likely to happen? Probably not but any single one of those really colors the deal. Then there's the normal stuff - IT coming back and playing well, Crowder's shooting has been improving, Zizic will improve, etc.
So I'm not sure that there will be a verdict on this for a while yet. If the Cs win the title then that's the definitive answer. Let's hope for that outcome.