The timing of the article is questionable at best. The Washington game was one of IT's best, one in which I thought he did find a lot of balance. Without him, they get blown out by 30+ points. Easy. It wasn't a bad performance to keep the Kings in the game with no-shows by Gay and Cousins. Also, the stats provided by the Bee are misleading. Cause and Effect? Or effect and cause? Are the shots over 20 really *causing* the win-loss ratio, or are they simply the effect of others not making shots, and primary scorers (Gay & Cousins) being injured or not showing up to play? It's simplistic and lazy analysis. Typical of the Bee, I might add. If it were that simple, then an easy solution is for Malone is just to prohibit IT from shooting at all. Voila! More wins!

How about the fact that there is no bench, which in turn puts added pressure on Malone to play him more minutes? Not mentioned either. No wonder I cancelled the Bee a long time ago. They don't have much in brains over there.
i have to admit, it's kinda fun to watch you squirm over every
legitimate criticism leveled at isaiah thomas. i'll grant that, as one of the pizza guys, you have every right to gnash your teeth at the hyperbole. however, it is in no way dubious to criticize the team's starting PG after a
loss in which the team's #1 and #2 options were struggling to get easy baskets. now, don't get it twisted; i'm not
blaming thomas for the kings' loss to the wizards. demarcus cousins and rudy gay played very poorly that night. they have to own it. their lack of success in one-on-one situations and against double teams was startling, given that they're both fairly reliable isolation options. but, when a team's top 2 talents are struggling, what does a good PG do, particularly on a team dreadfully lacking in secondary ballhandlers and additional playmakers? does he look out for himself? does he abandon his high profile teammates to isolation basketball? or does he attempt to get
easier shots for his teammates, knowing full well that the team needs its best players at their best in order to get a win?
some of this may fall at malone's feet. he's given IT an incredibly long leash, and such a gameplan can easily backfire. thomas consistently looks for his shot
first, and, in my opinion, it is a problem given the make-up of this team, just as it was a problem when tyreke evans was the starting PG of the sacramento kings, the major differences of course being that evans was a full-sized SG attempting to learn how to play the point, an elite-level rim attacker, and a reliable two-way presence. regardless, the kings couldn't make it work with evans. demarcus cousins was still in the middle of massive growing pains. ownership was packing their bags to seattle. management was in a state of malaise. coaching was nothing more than a bad joke. and there was simply a dearth of talent available on the roster to compensate for those conditions...
however, isaiah thomas is playing with a version of DMC that is arguably the best center in the entire nba, as well as a top-5 SF in the revitalized rudy gay. new ownership is on board and cares very much about properly constructing this team. new management is on board and is attempting to improve the roster. the new coach appears to have at least some idea of what he's doing. thomas simply can't be out for himself as often as he is. the
team concept has never been more important to the rebuilding of this franchise. the developing of chemistry has never been more important. and i seriously question the integrity of shrugged-off statements like "without [thomas], they get blown out by 30+ points."
there is no way to prove such a claim. but, as the bee lazily points out (just as a great many kf.com members have repeatedly, and i guess, lazily pointed out), the kings are, indeed, 0-9 when thomas takes 20 or more shots, and 4-1 when he has 10 or more assists. it's not a large sample size, but the correlation is certainly worth noting, and it's more useful than assuming that "without [thomas'
scoring (which is what you're really getting at)], they get blown out by 30+ points." one could just as easily argue "with a role player at PG who's more interested in helping to make his high profile teammates even better, cousins and gay don't struggle so mightily to score, and the kings blowout the wizards by 30+ points."