How is anyone defending Thomas here?
By the numbers
Dec 21 - Assigned to G-League affiliate to practice fully vs them.
Dec 27 - Says he's good enough to play vs Sacramento, but the team doesn't allow him to.
Dec 29 - First full scrimmage with the Cavs (as an older team they don't scrimmage much).
Dec 30 - He doesn't play vs Sacramento, since it's the day after the scrimmage, but the team expects him to make his season debut in a few days.
This is where there are issues with Thomas. He can't play back-to-back games, so he decides to play on January 2nd and not play in Boston the following night. His reasoning being, "I don't want to play just to be out there, so, I don't know. That minute restriction, that would be tough to play in Boston on a minute restriction", clearly speaks as to his intentions. It's not about a tribute, since he would've had it on that night (January 3rd). It's not about not being able to get his family there, since all indications were that he was targeting that week for a while. No,it's all about sticking it to the C's. So why would we reward a person that has repeatedly criticized Ainge, dictated the terms of a video tribute, wanted to move it to a night we celebrate a true Celtics legend, all so he could stick it to us and make the night about him being honored and getting revenge?
Yeah, I don't think so. Good luck with the Brinks truck on that bad hip.