Isaiah Thomas watch

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
1. He really wants to start. In his mind he's a starter. But he's a liability for us as a starter. The league is filled with high quality PGs who can just back him down and shoot over him. And on offense IT shoots too much to be our starter.

...

3. IT wants to be the go-to guy. Umm...NO. We need someone who always commands double/triple teams to be our go-to scorer, not some 5'8" chucker who is a huge liability on defense.
And the THIRD set of fans has the same read on IT. At some point, as hrdboild has said, you have to consider that three different fanbases might not all be crazy.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I dunno guys, maybe team #4 will finally be the team where IT catches on and becomes the All-Star MVP candidate he believes himself to be.
 
That Celtic board is pretty hilarious. Deja vu.

But but, only kfs.com is negative toward him!

Ha!

Ainge on IT. Now his gm is flat out saying he's not a starter for the celtics and why. This may sound familiar.

“Right now for our team, I think Isaiah is more suited for a bench role,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday. “But ultimately, that’s (head coach) Brad (Stevens’ decision). Isaiah expends a ton of energy to score. At his size, I’m not sure the average fan can recognize how hard it is for him to create offense and how hard he has to work. Anybody who watched the Cleveland (Cavaliers playoff) series could see that. You need guys to play offense and defense, and at his size, defense is sometimes a challenge and puts our team where we have to cover up for some of his mistakes.”

He goes on to say, "“His job is to play,” Ainge said. “His job is to help the Celtics win. He can choose to be happy, or he can choose not to, but I’m confident that Isaiah is with us. I like the fact that he likes to be a starter. I don’t know a player that doesn’t want to be a starter. “… Sometimes you’ve got to play the role that’s best to win and do what’s best for the team. I’m confident that Isaiah is a winner, and I don’t think it’s as big a deal as you and I are talking about it right now.”

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/04/danny-ainge-isaiah-thomas-best-suited-for-bench-role-with-celtics/
 
Last edited:

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
That Celtic board is pretty hilarious. Deja vu.

But but, only kfs.com is negative toward him!

Ha!

Ainge on IT. Now his gm is flat out saying he's not a starter for the celtics and why. This may sound familiar.

“Right now for our team, I think Isaiah is more suited for a bench role,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday. “But ultimately, that’s (head coach) Brad (Stevens’ decision). Isaiah expends a ton of energy to score. At his size, I’m not sure the average fan can recognize how hard it is for him to create offense and how hard he has to work. Anybody who watched the Cleveland (Cavaliers playoff) series could see that. You need guys to play offense and defense, and at his size, defense is sometimes a challenge and puts our team where we have to cover up for some of his mistakes.”

He goes on to say, "“His job is to play,” Ainge said. “His job is to help the Celtics win. He can choose to be happy, or he can choose not to, but I’m confident that Isaiah is with us. I like the fact that he likes to be a starter. I don’t know a player that doesn’t want to be a starter. “… Sometimes you’ve got to play the role that’s best to win and do what’s best for the team. I’m confident that Isaiah is a winner, and I don’t think it’s as big a deal as you and I are talking about it right now.”

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/04/danny-ainge-isaiah-thomas-best-suited-for-bench-role-with-celtics/
I've always thought Ainge was a very good GM. He doesn't always make the right draft pick and not every move works out like he wants but most importantly he flat out gets it. He knows that the name of the game is acquiring stars and the best way to do that other than sign them as free agents is to accumulate young talent and picks. He understands team building. And his comments on IT are spot on. Very talented player that can be a major positive for his team IN THE RIGHT ROLE.

Thomas can put up points against anyone at any time. He's not a distributor, or a tempo setter or a defender though he can do those things to a point. But what he can do is be the designated scorer of the second unit. Especially when he's not taking shots from the stars that Ainge knows he needs to get for the Celtics to be relevant again.
 
That Celtic board is pretty hilarious. Deja vu.

But but, only kfs.com is negative toward him!

Ha!

Ainge on IT. Now his gm is flat out saying he's not a starter for the celtics and why. This may sound familiar.

“Right now for our team, I think Isaiah is more suited for a bench role,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday. “But ultimately, that’s (head coach) Brad (Stevens’ decision). Isaiah expends a ton of energy to score. At his size, I’m not sure the average fan can recognize how hard it is for him to create offense and how hard he has to work. Anybody who watched the Cleveland (Cavaliers playoff) series could see that. You need guys to play offense and defense, and at his size, defense is sometimes a challenge and puts our team where we have to cover up for some of his mistakes.”

He goes on to say, "“His job is to play,” Ainge said. “His job is to help the Celtics win. He can choose to be happy, or he can choose not to, but I’m confident that Isaiah is with us. I like the fact that he likes to be a starter. I don’t know a player that doesn’t want to be a starter. “… Sometimes you’ve got to play the role that’s best to win and do what’s best for the team. I’m confident that Isaiah is a winner, and I don’t think it’s as big a deal as you and I are talking about it right now.”

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/04/danny-ainge-isaiah-thomas-best-suited-for-bench-role-with-celtics/
it's nice to see a gm as smart and well-regarded as danny ainge corroborate certain sentiments around these parts. if isaiah thomas is your sixth man, you're better off than just about every team in the nba when it comes time to call that first guy off the bench. but as a starter, isaiah thomas remains problematic. ainge clearly wants to set the precedent early that thomas should come off the celtics' bench; if you give him the starting PG job, he's going to expect that job to remain in his sole possession, and you can fracture team chemistry by promoting a less-developed PG like marcus smart when he's ready. but if you start smart anyway, and confine thomas to a sixth man's role, you're better able to control IT's ego and his less desirable qualities...
 
One fans take=representative of the whole fanbase? If you all would actually read the thread, people don't really agree with the OP.

The IT narrative continues to amuse here.