If he was all that, he wouldn't be Isaiah Thomas then. He'd be Kyrie Irving. Smarter teams know where 5'9 chuckers belong. On the bench playing about 25 minutes a game where their defensive SHORTcomings wouldn't be exposed and where they wouldn't freeze out their franchise center of touches because they wanna prove people wrong and show heart and that they can deliver pizzas and all that other crap that people with napolean complexes like to do.
IT = Rumor of 3/24 offer from Pistons
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If he was all that, he wouldn't be Isaiah Thomas then. He'd be Kyrie Irving. Smarter teams know where 5'9 chuckers belong. On the bench playing about 25 minutes a game where their defensive SHORTcomings wouldn't be exposed and where they wouldn't freeze out their franchise center of touches because they wanna prove people wrong and show heart and that they can deliver pizzas and all that other crap that people with napolean complexes like to do.
if we replaced him with nobody, maybe. That's generally not how it works though. To the degree IT has an impact last year a major part of it was that he was basically the ONLY PG on the roster for the last 3/4 of the season. If I hadn't thought we were half tanking I would have been more upset than amused. But after the early trade not only did we have no true PGs other than IT, we didn't even have any SGs or SFs who could handle/help. So obviously everything was going to grind to a halt when he wasn't around.
No, just an observation I have made from viewing this board and viewing the Sactownroyalty comments, I actually prefer here because its more intimate with more defined personalities/posters. This particular topic just seems to divide many on here, where on Sactownroyalty the majority like what IT brings and want him back, with the minority bringing the "5'9 chucker, no defense" arguement.
They actually have a write up right now on that page talking about his height and poor defense being his weakness. That's all we say here. The arguments come when people say his height and defense is not a weakness. The word for that is ignorance. It's there staring you right in the face game in game out. He will always be very weak in those areas
See this is what I am talking about in terms of "hate" from some fans about IT. The above post is pretty ridiculous and not sure what IT has done to elicit this kind of negativity.
First of all IT had a FG% last year of .453%. That's hardly a percentage befitting of a "chucker". In fact Thomas ranked 8th among PG's in FG%. He would have ranked 9th against SG's in FG%. I think most would agree that in order to be a "chucker" you need to have a low FG% along with a high volume of shots. Thomas actually makes a pretty damn good percentage of his shots and at 5' 9" the fact that he shoots 45% from the field is actually extremely impressive.
It's also extremely tiring seeing Isaiah constantly insulted for doing Pizza Guys commercials. He's one of hundreds of NBA players and numerous Kings over the years to do commercials for local companies that help sponsor the teams. I seem to recall Peja doing 'Good Feet Store' commercials and Vlade and Bibby both doing commercials for Folsom Lake Ford and they didn't take any crap for it. Perhaps more importantly Peja, Vlade, and Bibby were all making millions of dollars and still doing those commercials.
Have people forgotten that IT is still making 2nd Round Rookie wages while most of his teammates are making millions? Granted $800k is damn good money for playing basketball but how the hell can you fault a guy for doing some pizza commercials to make a little extra money on the side while almost all of his teammates are multi-millionaires? Besides if Isaiah wasn't doing the Pizza Guys commercials somebody else on the team would be so I fail to see how that gives him a "Napolean Complex".
First of all IT had a FG% last year of .453%. That's hardly a percentage befitting of a "chucker". In fact Thomas ranked 8th among PG's in FG%. He would have ranked 9th against SG's in FG%. I think most would agree that in order to be a "chucker" you need to have a low FG% along with a high volume of shots. Thomas actually makes a pretty damn good percentage of his shots and at 5' 9" the fact that he shoots 45% from the field is actually extremely impressive.
It's also extremely tiring seeing Isaiah constantly insulted for doing Pizza Guys commercials. He's one of hundreds of NBA players and numerous Kings over the years to do commercials for local companies that help sponsor the teams. I seem to recall Peja doing 'Good Feet Store' commercials and Vlade and Bibby both doing commercials for Folsom Lake Ford and they didn't take any crap for it. Perhaps more importantly Peja, Vlade, and Bibby were all making millions of dollars and still doing those commercials.
Have people forgotten that IT is still making 2nd Round Rookie wages while most of his teammates are making millions? Granted $800k is damn good money for playing basketball but how the hell can you fault a guy for doing some pizza commercials to make a little extra money on the side while almost all of his teammates are multi-millionaires? Besides if Isaiah wasn't doing the Pizza Guys commercials somebody else on the team would be so I fail to see how that gives him a "Napolean Complex".
I saw all I needed to see when we didn't win ONE single game without DeMarcus. Mentioning that there was no ball movement after IT was hurt is ludicrous. McCallum and Ben and DeMarcus are willing passers and everybody touches the ball more when IT was out of the line up, regardless with him in the line up or without him we weren't winning games. What dribble penetration do you speak of? what I got from the games I saw was IT buying in from time to time, but more often than not he just played like the same ol' Isaiah and that's playing 'sticky' ball.
What I saw when Isaiah was out of the lineup was a more balanced offense and a bigger emphasis on ball movement. It's ironic to me that you're bemoaning static offense while saying we can't succeed without a PG who took 15 shots per game this season. Yes there were a lot of isolation plays called for Rudy and DeMarcus. But we're going to want to throw the ball into Cousins in the post regardless of who the PG is, that's just smart offense. When you have a dominant post scorer who's capable of beating double teams and finding the open man you'd be foolish not to lean on that. I wasn't happy with the amount of possessions Rudy used up last year but that's whole different discussion. He may or may not be back in a year. If it were up to me we would let him go too.
What guys like Isaiah and Rudy can do individually is a rare talent but I'm not so sure that it's irreplaceable. Do we really need four players standing around at the end of a quarter every game while IT or Rudy decide to play hero ball? Is that the best way to maximize our talent? I don't think so. If Lebron and Kobe can't win that way, we're sure as hell not going to do it with IT and Rudy. It's possible we can match or exceed their production not with individual players but with team offense. Maybe instead of two players averaging 30 shots we can spread those shots out between 4 different players. Williams and McLemore are both very good off the ball scorers. Stauskas looks like he can be an opportunistic scorer if he continues to shoot a high percentage from the floor. Doesn't that result in more ball movement and less offensive stagnation? Doesn't upgrading our defense at PG mean overall improvement regardless of what happens in the frontcourt? It'd be great to get a shotblocker too, but why make excuses for Thomas' poor defense? If he's only good at playing one side of the ball that absolutely impacts his value to the team.
This is a pretty simple equation for me... If you look at team rankings on ESPN we were 17th in ppg this season and 9th in rebounds. We were 30th in assists per game and 24th in points allowed. The easiest way to improve this team right now is to swap out personnel which will result in a greater percentage of assisted baskets (improved offensive efficiency) and improved defense wherever we can get it. Both point to finding a replacement for IT. And I don't think he's a bad player or anything. He's played well above his draft spot the entire time he's been in the league and deserves whatever he gets paid this off-season. He could thrive somewhere else -- a team with a strong defensive presence that struggles scoring the ball should be an excellent fit for him. It's a shame that he's likely to leave without the team turning him into a future asset of some kind, but it's not the end of the world. I don't think it makes sense to live in fear as if we have to pay guys no matter what just so we don't lose their talent for nothing. He's a poor fit for us as a starter and he doesn't want to be a bench guy at this point in his career. And he's going to get paid starter money. Let him go. We might not find his replacement in the next 3 months, but there are plenty of other options out there down the line.
What guys like Isaiah and Rudy can do individually is a rare talent but I'm not so sure that it's irreplaceable. Do we really need four players standing around at the end of a quarter every game while IT or Rudy decide to play hero ball? Is that the best way to maximize our talent? I don't think so. If Lebron and Kobe can't win that way, we're sure as hell not going to do it with IT and Rudy. It's possible we can match or exceed their production not with individual players but with team offense. Maybe instead of two players averaging 30 shots we can spread those shots out between 4 different players. Williams and McLemore are both very good off the ball scorers. Stauskas looks like he can be an opportunistic scorer if he continues to shoot a high percentage from the floor. Doesn't that result in more ball movement and less offensive stagnation? Doesn't upgrading our defense at PG mean overall improvement regardless of what happens in the frontcourt? It'd be great to get a shotblocker too, but why make excuses for Thomas' poor defense? If he's only good at playing one side of the ball that absolutely impacts his value to the team.
This is a pretty simple equation for me... If you look at team rankings on ESPN we were 17th in ppg this season and 9th in rebounds. We were 30th in assists per game and 24th in points allowed. The easiest way to improve this team right now is to swap out personnel which will result in a greater percentage of assisted baskets (improved offensive efficiency) and improved defense wherever we can get it. Both point to finding a replacement for IT. And I don't think he's a bad player or anything. He's played well above his draft spot the entire time he's been in the league and deserves whatever he gets paid this off-season. He could thrive somewhere else -- a team with a strong defensive presence that struggles scoring the ball should be an excellent fit for him. It's a shame that he's likely to leave without the team turning him into a future asset of some kind, but it's not the end of the world. I don't think it makes sense to live in fear as if we have to pay guys no matter what just so we don't lose their talent for nothing. He's a poor fit for us as a starter and he doesn't want to be a bench guy at this point in his career. And he's going to get paid starter money. Let him go. We might not find his replacement in the next 3 months, but there are plenty of other options out there down the line.
A much less sophisticated sample size too. Appealing to the unwashed horde is hardly going to sway people who think they know more than the GM. 
I'll say this there is no question you know your defensive numbers and how to construct a defensive team. I'd feel safe as an owner that you could build me a hard-nosed Top-10 defensive team.
However I'd also be pretty sure that whatever team you put together would be boring and ugly to watch on the offensive end. Would they win? Maybe but they wouldn't exactly be the greatest show on hardwood.
No at least offensively. Hence reason they drafted Stauskas and the reason the same GM let Tyreke go. I think it's safe to say that PDA is not exactly a fan of selfish ISO ball. Of course his solution to fixing that also makes it more difficult to fix the defense but at least he's making an effort to fix one of the two.
The last regime is the one who put together a roster that sucked at both.
The last regime is the one who put together a roster that sucked at both.
This is such bunk. You're assuming that your preference for offense is shared by the majority of basketball fans. Is it though? I'd rather watch a team shut down the opponent and allow less than 70ppg than a team that scores 110 plus points. Lots of teams score points, very few successfully defend for the full 48 minutes. Maybe that puts me in the minority but I'll tell you what, winning always brings fans however you do it. If you think you can put together a team that consistently wins 70% of their games every year (the full year not just the regular season) without a top 10 defense go for it. I think you'd find that task to be very difficult.
A chucker is someone who throws up a bunch of shots, especially at the expense of others. I don't think that FG% plays into it, at least in my book. I'd call him a chucker.
Not going to get into the commercial things. Don't care either way. The commercials do get old after a while though. That isn't his fault they play them so darn often.
Not going to get into the commercial things. Don't care either way. The commercials do get old after a while though. That isn't his fault they play them so darn often.
Somewhat agree but everybody knows reality is bad shots are only bad shots when they don't go in. Fact is a pretty good percentage of IT's do go in. Although teammates do tend to play better on both ends when they are more involved in the offense and that's what he doesn't do enough. If he's a chucker he's one of the more efficient chuckers going.
As for the commercials, the low production quality and lame jokes aren't his fault either. However Pizza Guys does have pretty good pizza.
As for the commercials, the low production quality and lame jokes aren't his fault either. However Pizza Guys does have pretty good pizza.
No one's making fun of IT for doing the Pizza Guys commercials. Rather we're making fun of Pizza Guys for having their commercials air four times in a single 3 minute commercial break.
Plus nothing we could ever say about IT's commercials can match the amount of vitriol I had for Peja and Kevin Martin's Good Feet abominations.
Everyone needs good feet.
Plus nothing we could ever say about IT's commercials can match the amount of vitriol I had for Peja and Kevin Martin's Good Feet abominations.
Everyone needs good feet.
YES it is. It's not my preference it's reality and indeed the preference of the majority of American sports fans. How do I know this? The fact that the NFL, NBA, and NHL have all softened their rules over the past decade to encourage scoring. The NFL has exploded in popularity while the offensive numbers have increased this past decade. Scoring is up in the NBA the last few years and the NBA seems to be in a better place financially because of it. Hell the Spurs averaged 106 PPG this year. MLB was even increasing their scoring with their popularity increasing dramatically until we all found out that it was only because the players were juicing out of their minds......lol
Ultimately winning puts butts in the seats more than anything else but of next most importance is entertainment and quite frankly offense is more entertaining than defense. All things being equal the average NBA or Sports fan would rather watch their team win a game 110 to 108 than 80-78. Like you said though winning is the easiest way to draw fans.
Ultimately winning puts butts in the seats more than anything else but of next most importance is entertainment and quite frankly offense is more entertaining than defense. All things being equal the average NBA or Sports fan would rather watch their team win a game 110 to 108 than 80-78. Like you said though winning is the easiest way to draw fans.
Oh, I do believe his height is an issue in pick and rolls, as well as defensively. But I believe his playing height of 5'10"-5'11" to be an issue. Saying you have misgivings about his 5'9" height is just ludicrous and a pretty lame potshot.
...He had all those measurements taken, and you're going to come at me with a quarter of an inch? Come on. In NBA terms, he's 5'9" barefoot and 5'10" with shoes. In some player's views, that .25" translates to the next inch (Tyreke Evans, for example).
He's short. He has problems because of that in areas of his game. But you can argue without trying to imply that he's some sort of Spud/Mugsy masquerading as a 5'11" player. His given height is his real height. That's all I'm saying.
...He had all those measurements taken, and you're going to come at me with a quarter of an inch? Come on. In NBA terms, he's 5'9" barefoot and 5'10" with shoes. In some player's views, that .25" translates to the next inch (Tyreke Evans, for example).
He's short. He has problems because of that in areas of his game. But you can argue without trying to imply that he's some sort of Spud/Mugsy masquerading as a 5'11" player. His given height is his real height. That's all I'm saying.
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