Thomas was the biggest steal in the NBA since..

[LarBrd33]

I still think people don't totally take him seriously as an allstar. It wasn't long ago that most of us thought he was a long-term backup.  I felt like he was a gimmicky player that you throw out there to mix it up. 

He's been really good, though and deserves a ton of credit for his play in the regular season.  More folks will take him seriously as an allstar if he makes noise in the playoffs.

I really hope (obviously we all do) he makes his mark on the playoffs. I think this team will only have credibility with some people if they can perform in the playoffs. As unfair as that is considering what they have done this season, playoff success is another level to regular season.

I think unless he makes a mark in the playoffs he will still be seen as a fringe star.  There's been a few flukey allstar selections in the past.

[celticsclay]

I still think people don't totally take him seriously as an allstar. It wasn't long ago that most of us thought he was a long-term backup.  I felt like he was a gimmicky player that you throw out there to mix it up. 

He's been really good, though and deserves a ton of credit for his play in the regular season.  More folks will take him seriously as an allstar if he makes noise in the playoffs.

I really hope (obviously we all do) he makes his mark on the playoffs. I think this team will only have credibility with some people if they can perform in the playoffs. As unfair as that is considering what they have done this season, playoff success is another level to regular season.

I think unless he makes a mark in the playoffs he will still be seen as a fringe star.  There's been a few flukey allstar selections in the past.

Could we have the list of flukey all stars that also averaged 22.5 points and 6 assist ?
Maybe I am forgetting someone, but I can't think of many players that put up stats like
that over the course of an entire year and were flukey... then you add into the fact that it is for a winning team that is going to the playoffs and the potential gets even smaller (eliminates people that have put up empty stats on a bad team)

[loco_91]

3rd team all nba? Why not??

Because Damian Lillard.

A couple of months ago I thought Thomas had a chance.  Back when I thought there was a chance Boston could surpass 50 wins and maybe even catch Toronto for the #2 seed.  I also thought Portland might fall off a little, they haven't.

You have Curry, Klay, CP3, Westbrook, and Harden.  Those guys are a given.  Kyrie's numbers are down across the board and he's missed 20+ games.  So you have Lillard, Thomas, Lowry, and DeRozen fighting for that last spot on the 3rd team (as well as Kemba and Reggie Jackson who'll get some votes too).

At this point, with the season pretty much done, I think it's got to be Lillard.

You think Klay is better than Lowry? I don't think he's that good. My guard ranking goes Curry, Westbrook, Harden, Lowry, CP3, Lillard, Thomas, Klay, Derozen.

[bdm860]

I still think people don't totally take him seriously as an allstar. It wasn't long ago that most of us thought he was a long-term backup.  I felt like he was a gimmicky player that you throw out there to mix it up. 

He's been really good, though and deserves a ton of credit for his play in the regular season.  More folks will take him seriously as an allstar if he makes noise in the playoffs.

I really hope (obviously we all do) he makes his mark on the playoffs. I think this team will only have credibility with some people if they can perform in the playoffs. As unfair as that is considering what they have done this season, playoff success is another level to regular season.

I think unless he makes a mark in the playoffs he will still be seen as a fringe star.  There's been a few flukey allstar selections in the past.

Could we have the list of flukey all stars that also averaged 22.5 points and 6 assist ?
Maybe I am forgetting someone, but I can't think of many players that put up stats like
that over the course of an entire year and were flukey... then you add into the fact that it is for a winning team that is going to the playoffs and the potential gets even smaller (eliminates people that have put up empty stats on a bad team)

Dana Barros was an All-Star in '95 averaging 21 and 7.5,

Goran Dragic just made 3rd team All-NBA in '14 averaging 20 and 6.

Devin Harris was an All-Star in '09 putting up 21 and 7.

John Starks, Kenny Anderson, Josh Howard, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Tyrone Hill, Chris Gatling, Wally Szczerbiak, Mo Williams, Jameer Nelson, BJ Armstrong, etc.  I think that's a long list of "flukey" All-Stars.

And then you have guys like Monta Ellis (25/5/4), Richard Jefferson (22/7/4), Kevin Martin (24/4/3), Jalen Rose (22/5/4), Corey Maggette (22/6/3), Jason Richardson (22/6/3). etc. who put up great numbers and still didn't make the All-Star team.

[celticsclay]

I still think people don't totally take him seriously as an allstar. It wasn't long ago that most of us thought he was a long-term backup.  I felt like he was a gimmicky player that you throw out there to mix it up. 

He's been really good, though and deserves a ton of credit for his play in the regular season.  More folks will take him seriously as an allstar if he makes noise in the playoffs.

I really hope (obviously we all do) he makes his mark on the playoffs. I think this team will only have credibility with some people if they can perform in the playoffs. As unfair as that is considering what they have done this season, playoff success is another level to regular season.

I think unless he makes a mark in the playoffs he will still be seen as a fringe star.  There's been a few flukey allstar selections in the past.

Could we have the list of flukey all stars that also averaged 22.5 points and 6 assist ?
Maybe I am forgetting someone, but I can't think of many players that put up stats like
that over the course of an entire year and were flukey... then you add into the fact that it is for a winning team that is going to the playoffs and the potential gets even smaller (eliminates people that have put up empty stats on a bad team)

Dana Barros was an All-Star in '95 averaging 21 and 7.5,

Goran Dragic just made 3rd team All-NBA in '14 averaging 20 and 6.

Devin Harris was an All-Star in '09 putting up 21 and 7.

John Starks, Kenny Anderson, Josh Howard, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Tyrone Hill, Chris Gatling, Wally Szczerbiak, Mo Williams, Jameer Nelson, BJ Armstrong, etc.  I think that's a long list of "flukey" All-Stars.

And then you have guys like Monta Ellis (25/5/4), Richard Jefferson (22/7/4), Kevin Martin (24/4/3), Jalen Rose (22/5/4), Corey Maggette (22/6/3), Jason Richardson (22/6/3). etc. who put up great numbers and still didn't make the All-Star team.

Your best example is Dana Barros in 95 which is over 20 years ago. Goran Dragic is a very good player and had a very good year the year he made it. He is playing next to a player that is a bad fit for him (Wade), but think he could make another all-star team before his career ends. I am not sure what the point was of some of the other players you listed. Kenny Anderson was a legit all-star point guard. Monta Ellis and Richard Jefferson have been stars at time. When Jefferson was on the Nets with Kidd he was a very good player. Maggette and Richardson were scorers on mostly bad teams. I don't think the fact that Gatling, Armstrong and Mo Williams made all star teams is relevant at all the conversation. There have obviously been bad all stars over the year..
My question was how many made the all star team from a good team averaging 22.5 points and 6 assists.

From the vomit style list of players you include, is the only one Barros that actually fit the criteria?

Edit: I see Devin Harris is a strong example of a fluke, but again he would be only one in last 20 years?Sometimes less is more when trying to make a point. By including all of the irrelevant people it makes your post harder to make sense of.

[#1P4P]

What a difference few months can make...

The narrative has changed from themes that surrounded how the C's lacked a star and the other IT slights to this. IT already had 2 20+ PER seasons under his belt and averaged 23+ PPG in half of a season last year. Whichever advanced statistic you use (PER, VOPR, Win Shares, etc.), IT's performing at least $7-10M above his pay grade.

McDonough must have been suffering from the UnderestimateWhatIHave+OverestimateWhatIDon'tHave diseases that runs rampant around here from time to time. For what was given up and taking into account the immediate return IT has provided, he is definitely the biggest steal since Harden (without considering the immediacy of the return Bargnani for the Knicks lottery pick this year is a steal and on a lesser note Knight+Middleton for Jennings ended up being a steal too).

[Chris22]

It's like Red getting McHale and Parrish in that great trade.
Well, not quite.

[Forza Juventus]

Biggest steal since Harden

[jambr380]

Yeah, I don't understand how McDonough didn't at least try to extract a younger player with potential like Young in the deal. Thornton and a super-late first reeks of a salary dump more than anything - there was very little upside to that deal.

Before IT came here, he already had comparable numbers to Kyrie Irving. Simply finding a team that wanted him made IT become a much hotter commodity. He has smoothed out any wrinkles in his game and had the Cs on track for home court. His stock is certainly on the rise.

[Denis998]

Biggest steal since the brooklyn trade

[mmmmm]

Biggest steal since the brooklyn trade

In a way, the Isaiah trade is a product of the Brooklyn trade.

The BKN trade left us with a 10M Traded Player Exception from Pierce' out-going salary.  We later used that TPE space to facilitate the Lebron-goes-to-CLE trade by absorbing the contracts of Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton for the price of a late first round pick (which conveyed as Cleveland's 2016).  (Taking Thornton from BKN helped CLE move Jarret Jack off their books so they could fit James).

We then later traded Thornton and that CLE 16 pick for Isaiah.

Basically both Tyler and Isaiah are here as just one and two-step consequences of the Pierce/KG to BKN trade, even though neither was in that original transaction.  We also have James Young and whatever we get from the BKN 16, BKN 18 & the BKN 17 swap rights.

[Monkhouse]

So my question is, do we feature a trade of IT/cap filler, picks for James Harden?

Bringing James Harden here might be the catalyst that would honestly bring Kevin Durant here. James Harden being one of his closest friends might be the right move to convince Durant to join our team.

Other than that, I apologize on behalf of myself, especially considering how special IT has been.

He truly has proved me wrong. I'm glad we got a player like IT that can consistently score, and drive inside even against the most immeasurable odds. No matter how small, IT will still explode, and charge inside to try to score. Amazing. And to think we got him for literally nothing.

I guess even Ryan McDonough is even surprised that IT ended up being this good. I would definitely take IT over Dragic. I wasn't convinced Dragic was that excellent of a PG. And even more surprised that they let IT and Dragic go at the same time.

Biggest steal since the brooklyn trade

In a way, the Isaiah trade is a product of the Brooklyn trade.

The BKN trade left us with a 10M Traded Player Exception from Pierce' out-going salary.  We later used that TPE space to facilitate the Lebron-goes-to-CLE trade by absorbing the contracts of Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton for the price of a late first round pick (which conveyed as Cleveland's 2016).  (Taking Thornton from BKN helped CLE move Jarret Jack off their books so they could fit James).

We then later traded Thornton and that CLE 16 pick for Isaiah.

Basically both Tyler and Isaiah are here as just one and two-step consequences of the Pierce/KG to BKN trade, even though neither was in that original transaction.  We also have James Young and whatever we get from the BKN 16, BKN 18 & the BKN 17 swap rights.

Agreed.

[LarBrd33]

I still think people don't totally take him seriously as an allstar. It wasn't long ago that most of us thought he was a long-term backup.  I felt like he was a gimmicky player that you throw out there to mix it up. 

He's been really good, though and deserves a ton of credit for his play in the regular season.  More folks will take him seriously as an allstar if he makes noise in the playoffs.

I really hope (obviously we all do) he makes his mark on the playoffs. I think this team will only have credibility with some people if they can perform in the playoffs. As unfair as that is considering what they have done this season, playoff success is another level to regular season.

I think unless he makes a mark in the playoffs he will still be seen as a fringe star.  There's been a few flukey allstar selections in the past.

Could we have the list of flukey all stars that also averaged 22.5 points and 6 assist ?
Maybe I am forgetting someone, but I can't think of many players that put up stats like
that over the course of an entire year and were flukey... then you add into the fact that it is for a winning team that is going to the playoffs and the potential gets even smaller (eliminates people that have put up empty stats on a bad team)

Dana Barros was an All-Star in '95 averaging 21 and 7.5,

Goran Dragic just made 3rd team All-NBA in '14 averaging 20 and 6.

Devin Harris was an All-Star in '09 putting up 21 and 7.

John Starks, Kenny Anderson, Josh Howard, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Tyrone Hill, Chris Gatling, Wally Szczerbiak, Mo Williams, Jameer Nelson, BJ Armstrong, etc.  I think that's a long list of "flukey" All-Stars.

And then you have guys like Monta Ellis (25/5/4), Richard Jefferson (22/7/4), Kevin Martin (24/4/3), Jalen Rose (22/5/4), Corey Maggette (22/6/3), Jason Richardson (22/6/3). etc. who put up great numbers and still didn't make the All-Star team.

nailed it.  Thunderous TP to you, sir. 

Thomas is playing great.  He's a fringe star at this point. If he shows up and helps us get to the 2nd round, it will be a big boost.  There's even guys like David Lee who made two allstar teams and were never taken seriously as stars. 

I'm thrilled we have him regardless.  KG and Pierce carried us to the playoffs their final year, but both were basically cooked as trade assets at that point.  The fact that the deal ultimately net us Thomas is already a massive win, but then you consider the top 6 pick this summer and additional assets and it's a pretty incredible haul.