Despite giving up a wagon's load of assets for his services, the Boston Celtics have been enamored with the promise that a star like Kyrie Irving brings to the table.

Co-owner Steve Pagliuca, for one, has many an adjective to describe the All-Star point guard's game, one that made unloading a valuable first-round pick for.

“He is a very smart, cerebral person. He is very mature, even for 25, he is very mature,” Pagliuca told Christopher L. Gasper of The Boston Globe, following Irving’s introductory news conference Sept. 1. “He really wants to maximize his abilities. He is a hard worker in basketball. He is a hard worker in life. I would say he is kind of a renaissance man. It’s going to be very exciting to have him around here.”

Renaissance man is quite the adjective, and one that surely doesn't get tossed around often in this league that constantly manages to produce talent more impressive than the last. But Irving has polished his game from a rough diamond to a brilliant gem, boasting his best season in 2016-17, where he combined a showcase of his best scoring version of himself with impeccable efficacy.

“Really, there are very few players that can shoot like he can, that can handle the ball like he can, that have the speed that he has, that are ambidextrous, and can finish with both hands,” said Pagliuca. “There are not many transcendent players. He is right in that list.”

Yet the move was an unforeseen one for a team that was coming off being a No. 1 seed in the East and wasn't expected to shake a roster with the recent acquisition of Gordon Hayward and after drafting Jayson Tatum.

“When we got the franchise 15 years ago the No. 1 objective was to win championships,” Pagliuca added. “Some people are happy to go to the Eastern Conference finals and be a competitive team. That’s not really acceptable in Boston, so I think [majority owner] Wyc [Grousbeck] and the whole ownership group pride themselves on the directive is to win a championship.”

Irving is bound to provide a change of pace to this team and it's only a matter of time before Pagliuca and the rest of this Celtics ownership see if their roll of the dice is indeed one worth the shot.