I am on board with much of what you say. IT has become the "it." As in the scapegoat. Every frustrated fanbase seems to need one. With the Maloofs and GP gone, there was a scapegoat vacuum. IT is now it.
isaiah thomas is not a scapegoat; he's an odd man out, and there are
major distinctions between those two classifications. you'll notice that complaints about IT were far fewer when he was coming off the bench. the roster was still a mess, but it was more evenly balanced than it is now. unless thomas is returned to that sixth man's role next season, he is the most likely of the kings' so-called "big three" to be traded. demarcus cousins isn't going anywhere. rudy gay could certainly be traded next season, provided he doesn't opt out, but unless the kings acquired a legitimate top tier talent in return, they'd be right back where they started, without a robin to DMC's batman. hence thomas as "odd man out"...
here's the deal, as i've repeated ad nauseum for the past couple of months: in no version of the contemporary nba has a starting lineup that featured three 20 ppg scorers, none of whom are elite-level defenders, achieved
sustainable success. there are examples of teams that tried to make it work, but none of them won much of anything (the no-defense nuggets of the early 80's springs to mind), and most were exceedingly mediocre. it's a strategy that just doesn't yield results in the long term because there's exactly one ball to shoot between three hungry scorers, and there is significant defensive neglect that naturally occurs as the struggle for shots plays out on the offensive end. with a core of cousins/gay/thomas, conditions elsewhere on the roster have to be
so ideal as to be nearly unattainable...
after all, this isn't boston, where both ray allen and kevin garnett were aging and ringless veterans who accepted reduced roles in the offense to play together with paul pierce. this isn't miami, where chris bosh has accepted a reduced role in the offense to play with lebron james and dwyane wade. these
veteran talents won titles through personal sacrifice and a commitment to
defense...
on this kings team, demarcus cousins and rudy gay are options #1 and #2, respectively, and while cousins is proving to be a capable man defender, he is unlikely to become a towering presence on that side of the ball. likewise, gay has the length and athleticism to be a capable man defender, but he's unlikely to become a lockdown type on the wing. unfortunately, thomas lacks the physical gifts altogether to become anything more than a simple liability on the defensive end, and i have serious doubts about his ability to quiet his perpetually itchy trigger-finger long enough for the kings to build chemistry as a
team, rather than a top-heavy collection of individuals...
but that does not make thomas a scapegoat. once again, he is merely an odd man out. and he needn't be traded, truth be told. if he can be re-signed to a reasonable contract, he can eventually be returned to a sixth man's role once the kings acquire a long-term solution at the starting PG position. ya know, for the good of the
team, and all that...
[/end ass kissing mode]
