I had him as a grade, and in briefer fashion what I saw was this:
-- before half IT tried to play PG, but as has been the case for weeks now, that had erratic results. Some very nice PG plays, and then a number of plays where he just didn't look comfortable and stumbled around, grew tentative, threw bad passes etc. And that's what I've been seeing for weeks. I think when he has to play PG, he has to think about it too much, and his whole game grows erratic.
-- in the third quarter he increasingly quit trying to play PG, and slipped back toward his natural comfort zone as miniature gunner guard. But thing is, that's what he's best at, that's what his instincts are geared toward, and so he personally was very effective, but selfishness crept in as usual. That's the tradeoff.
-- then down the stretch...that was a disaster. And at times it looked like we had the worst of first half Isaiah -- the having to think about it, tentative, mistake prone guy trying to force himself to play a certain way, mixed with a toxic amount of the 3rd quarter little selfish undisciplined gunner gone cold.
I do BTW think he is trying. Malone seems to have made it clear what he's looking for. But when he is playing it the way Malone wants it played, the dynamic Isaiah is missing and we get sort of an erratic on and off lower tier PG instead. He has been making a handful of really good PG plays every game, and then matching them with more than a handful of jittery inexperienced stuff every time out as well. And every game his best stretches are normally when he drops the pretense and goes back to his natural gunning nature. How this all plays out I'm not sure. But there are two things I am convinced of: 1) if you are looking for a real PG, there are dozens of better and more experienced options around the league than Isaiah Thomas faking it; 2) if you are looking for a little gunning 6th man change of pace type guy, there are only a handful of options around the league in Isaiah Thomas's class. We are making the right attempt to convert him, and frankly despite Isaiah's erratic play I don't think its a complete coincidence that especially since that meeting IT has spent stretches trying to have some discipline, and we are suddenly winning games. I think its the right idea for this team, I just think it might be the wrong player for that idea, and regardless I don't think its how you get the most out IT on a personal level.
