Isaiah Thomas revisited...

#4
Boogie loved playing with IT, despite what many tried to say otherwise. Just another massive failure of this franchise by letting him go in the first place
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#8
Let's be honest, IT would never have been an All-Star here and when we let him go he wasn't an "All-Star level" player.
Yeah and Toronto would not be a elite team in the East if they didn't trade Rudy Gay it makes no difference if he was/was not a All Star player at the time the move is horrible looking back at it now, we picked the wrong guy to build around (Gay) along with Cousins.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#9
I never like IT as the Kings' starting PG.

I loved the idea of IT as the Kings' 6th man.

Thomas coming in for Rondo would be a fantastic change of pace.

Thankfully DC is playing very well off the bench or the decision to let Isaiah walk would look even worse right now.
Yeah, I agree with you. I think as the sixth man he would have been perfect for this team. What I didn't like, was that we didn't get any value for him. You'd think we would have least gotten a first round pick. Sad!
 
#12
I agree about the BS in regards to "Cousins not liking IT" when he was here, and I'll go further - that lie is a huge indictment of ALL the media members reporting on the Kings.

All it would have taken was ONE of them *cough Carmichael Dave is not immune here cough* to blow that narrative out of the water, negating the agenda of whoever wanted IT gone.

What I've never been able to put together is - who in the Kings org benefits from falsehoods like this?
Who in this franchise benefits from causing internal friction and forcing players away after they've been marginalized and devalued?

It's like the Kings still have a Maloof in control of the franchise, where the worse things go for the team, the better off they are because it will let them move the team to where they want (a la Major League).
 
#13
There is literally no point in discussing this. This horse was beaten dead more than once. And you know what? Those of you making the argument of the fan base wanting to run the only All-Star player Cuz ever played with out of town... that's a laughable argument. When IT left, he was not an All-Star player and thus that argument has no merit. A significant amount of time has passed since that happened (and a lot has changed), but IT never fit in here because he wanted to be top dog. It would have never worked with him and Cuz, and you pick Cuz 10/10 because he is the far more gifted player. IT couldn't handle it. It's no one's fault IT couldn't see past himself. He's the top dog in Boston right now, but if Boston got a real marquee/superstar player, I can almost predict what will happen (IT shooting all the most important shots, fan base wondering why the heck the best player didn't get the ball at the end of the game...).

However, it is OUR fault for getting absolutely nothing in return. That I very much agree with. It's not like he was a bad player here, just a bad fit. Can't let players like that just walk away. Oh well, it happened and nothing we can do about it now. Just move on....
 
#14
I agree about the BS in regards to "Cousins not liking IT" when he was here, and I'll go further - that lie is a huge indictment of ALL the media members reporting on the Kings.

All it would have taken was ONE of them *cough Carmichael Dave is not immune here cough* to blow that narrative out of the water, negating the agenda of whoever wanted IT gone.

What I've never been able to put together is - who in the Kings org benefits from falsehoods like this?
Who in this franchise benefits from causing internal friction and forcing players away after they've been marginalized and devalued?

It's like the Kings still have a Maloof in control of the franchise, where the worse things go for the team, the better off they are because it will let them move the team to where they want (a la Major League).
Funny thing is, the Maloofs never had a problem on the basketball side of things. When things did go wrong, it was usually related to the Maloofs wanting to move, or be more high profile. Now we got the business side shored up, and the basketball operations is a mess.
 
#15
There is literally no point in discussing this. This horse was beaten dead more than once. And you know what? Those of you making the argument of the fan base wanting to run the only All-Star player Cuz ever played with out of town... that's a laughable argument. When IT left, he was not an All-Star player and thus that argument has no merit. A significant amount of time has passed since that happened (and a lot has changed), but IT never fit in here because he wanted to be top dog. It would have never worked with him and Cuz, and you pick Cuz 10/10 because he is the far more gifted player. IT couldn't handle it. It's no one's fault IT couldn't see past himself. He's the top dog in Boston right now, but if Boston got a real marquee/superstar player, I can almost predict what will happen (IT shooting all the most important shots, fan base wondering why the heck the best player didn't get the ball at the end of the game...).

However, it is OUR fault for getting absolutely nothing in return. That I very much agree with. It's not like he was a bad player here, just a bad fit. Can't let players like that just walk away. Oh well, it happened and nothing we can do about it now. Just move on....
IT was just beginning to blossom during the end of his tenure here. It wasn't a Whiteside situation where he needed to go overseas for a couple of years to realize his potential.

IT never said he wanted to be the top dog over Cousins. It's funny people say that IT wanted to be THE man when he signed with Phoenix to be their super sixth man.
 
#16
The way Isaiah was exiled from here was despicable. In every stop in his NBA career he's willingly both come off the bench and started. People made up crap about him not getting along or fitting in with Boogie even though DeMarcus' stats actually were better when Isaiah was on the court and they had a bit of a bromance going on here. Complained about his defense but now he's the starting point guard on the #3 ranked defense in the NBA. And its not like Isaiah became a completely different player in Boston. He was a 20/6 on .574 TS% guy here, and is now a 21/6 on .560 TS% guy in Boston.

Now the fans have to deal with the fallout of chasing a 26 year old All-Star out of town, an All-Star who is now the best player on the third best team in the East and sixth in the entire league in net rating. All because D'Alessandro didn't want to pay him his asking price of $7million per year, refusing to budge at $6.5 million. Easily the worst personnel decision the Kings have made in the last five years. Now with the same idiots starting to churn the narrative around Cousins, the Kings may be in a position to top this blunder with an even more catastrophic one. Great times in Kingsland.
 
#17
IT was just beginning to blossom during the end of his tenure here. It wasn't a Whiteside situation where he needed to go overseas for a couple of years to realize his potential.

IT never said he wanted to be the top dog over Cousins. It's funny people say that IT wanted to be THE man when he signed with Phoenix to be their super sixth man.
Funny you should mention Phoenix, since they kind of exploded when he arrived. Actually, there were several issues with him on that team, and several times he was quoted saying that he "wants to start." They ended up trading Dragic, and fell apart after that. Maybe IT learned from his mistakes, but I doubt it.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#20
The way Isaiah was exiled from here was despicable. In every stop in his NBA career he's willingly both come off the bench and started. .
That's a ridiculous take.

I would have loved for him to be a willing 6th man. But fact is he's been a borderline cancer whenever asked to come off the bench. To the degree he's happy in Boston its precisely because he is being allowed to start, dominate the ball, and take whatever shot he wants. On a lesser scale he's got similar compatability problems with talented players that A.I. did. As long as they are alone and allowed to do their thing they can get you to a certain point.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#21
To think about all the scrubs Cousins has played with, yet most of the fan base wanted to run the only All Star player to play alongside him out of town.



As an aside I was rather more upset to see Zach LaVine, who we should have had, win the dunk contest, Andre Drummond, who we should have had, banging against Cousins, and Cuz passing to Kawhi Leonard, who we also should have had.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#22
To think about all the scrubs Cousins has played with, yet most of the fan base wanted to run the only All Star player to play alongside him out of town.
And this illustrates the original problem with IT proponents.

Most of us did not want to run IT out of town. What we did want was to find a quality PG to start, with IT coming off the bench in a role similar to that played to great success by Bobby Jackson.

But, IT didn't want to come off the bench. Period. He wanted to start and I'm glad he's found his niche.
 
#23
That's a ridiculous take.

I would have loved for him to be a willing 6th man. But fact is he's been a borderline cancer whenever asked to come off the bench. To the degree he's happy in Boston its precisely because he is being allowed to start, dominate the ball, and take whatever shot he wants. On a lesser scale he's got similar compatability problems with talented players that A.I. did. As long as they are alone and allowed to do their thing they can get you to a certain point.


Richie Schueler ‏@RichieSchueler

“How good can we expect to be if our best player is not our best teammate?” – Coach Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics


7:06 AM - 24 Apr 2015
 
#25
That's a ridiculous take.

I would have loved for him to be a willing 6th man. But fact is he's been a borderline cancer whenever asked to come off the bench. To the degree he's happy in Boston its precisely because he is being allowed to start, dominate the ball, and take whatever shot he wants. On a lesser scale he's got similar compatability problems with talented players that A.I. did. As long as they are alone and allowed to do their thing they can get you to a certain point.
The real ridiculous take is the one that accepts that Isaiah Thomas was a "borderline cancer" from the same sources that are now piling on Cousins for his conditioning/personality/etc. Amazing how people only hear what they want to hear and tune out everything else.

Not to mention its laughable that you think the current iteration of the Celtics are anything similar to Iverson's teams. Brad Stevens is basically a young Popovich with the way his teams play in a system and move the ball. They are third in the league in assist percentage, fifth in the league in assists per game, and eighth in the league in total passes made and received. Isaiah averages less than 4.5 seconds per touch, which is less than 23 guards in the league (controlling for mpg and games played of course), including guys like Mike Conley and Jeff Teague who people around these parts have lusted over in the past. He's ball-dominant only to the uneducated eye. Isaiah is a perfect system player on offense; he can spot shot, he can shoot coming off screens, he can attack closeouts off the dribble, he finishes in the paint, he can pass, he can run pick-and-roll. He's basically Tony Parker with a better jumper.

Oh, but he's not 6'3, so forget everything I said. He's not worthy to be on this team :rolleyes:
 
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#27
That's a ridiculous take.

I would have loved for him to be a willing 6th man. But fact is he's been a borderline cancer whenever asked to come off the bench. To the degree he's happy in Boston its precisely because he is being allowed to start, dominate the ball, and take whatever shot he wants. On a lesser scale he's got similar compatability problems with talented players that A.I. did. As long as they are alone and allowed to do their thing they can get you to a certain point.
Same old stuff. He shared the ball with Cousins and Gay when he was here and the stats showed that. He doesn't dominate the ball or take whatever shot he likes. He's the first option most of the time, but that well coached Boston team shares the ball beautifully, and IT coexist with two other guards on the floor for long stretches every night.

This site is the best for uninformed nonsense about other teams. It's like the Carlilse or Anthony Davis thread, people talking crap about teams and players they don't watch.
 
#28
Funny you should mention Phoenix, since they kind of exploded when he arrived. Actually, there were several issues with him on that team, and several times he was quoted saying that he "wants to start." They ended up trading Dragic, and fell apart after that. Maybe IT learned from his mistakes, but I doubt it.
What do you mean exploded? They were playing pretty well until the trade deadline where they hit a snag and ended up traded IT and Dragic. Funny how Boston went 14-7 with troublemaker IT.

So he said he wanted to start. Many players in this league want to start, but that doesn't mean they won't accept a bench role.