Have these last 7 games changed your opinion on IT?

[BringToughnessBack]

He is our alpha superstar for sure..sky is the limit..imagine what he will do to Curry and the Queen! A penny under max is highway robbery.

[Ogaju]

Bringing the third-leading scorer in the NBA off the bench as a "scoring weapon". Only in Boston.

being the third-leading scorer in the NBA isn't necessarily what most people want in their starting PG. 

there's a difference between bringing him off the bench to primarily score vs not wanting him on the team at all.

Yes, "people" want a true PG. Someone like Rajon Rondo. Man, it would work just swell if we could have Rajon Rondo instead of Isaiah Thomas, right?

Rondo was actually winning this match-up pretty handily before he got hurt. People seem to be blanking on the negatives IT has displayed alongside the brilliant positives.

IT is great when he gets to run 50 high PNRs with 4 shooters against defenses with traditional, paint-oriented bigs. Incidentally, so is Lou Williams.

But he's still a bad defender even then and when you take away his optimum scoring environment, (as was the case in the 2015 and 2016 playoffs), he stays bad defensively while his offensive efficiency tanks.

That's why Rondo is watching IT play from his TV set. PLEASE stop the nonsense, Rondo was not winning ANYTHING.

[tarheelsxxiii]

And the guy did it on his sister's birthday.  Are you kidding me?  Absolute warrior. 

[action781]

Now's the time to trade him!  His value has never been higher!!







 

[Banner18now!]

I thought Isaiah wasn't worth the max because of his limitations on defense and how he could be schemed out by a defense. I'm happy to say I was wrong. He is such an elite scorer that it makes up for the defense. Now beyond being an elite scorer he is also clutch in the playoffs were the men separate from the boys. Wall was outstanding for much of the game but where did he go late in the 4th and OT?? He vanished while IT was making big play after big play. I.T. is on another level that Wall hasn't hit yet. I.T. is worth the max and they should continue to build around him.

[crimson_stallion]

This is a 2 part question:

1) Are there still people who believe he's better suited to be a 6th man?

and

2) Does this change your opinion if he should be 'the guy' going forward?

The 2 largest criticisms on this board have been that he can't lead a team in the playoffs, and he's too short, he'd be instant offense off the bench.


I would be totally comfortable going forward with IT as the leader of this team. It'd be nice if he didn't take the max to leave us some cap flexibility, but he's earned it.  I think it'd be franchise mal-practice if the Celtics just let IT walk for nothing.

Just curious as to what people think now.

I have never had any doubts that he should be starting for us, or that he is 'the guy'.  He's been a true leader (by example, and with his production) the instant he put on the first Celtics jersey. 

A lot of people judged him based on his struggles in some of those Hawks games in last year's playoffs, but that wasn't his fault.  The team was decimated by injuries - Bradley was out, and Olynyk/Crowder were both playing hurt and completely ineffective. 

The Hawks took advantage of that by smothering Thomas with traps and double / triple teams all night long, and we didn't have anybody on the roster who could score and make them pay for it.  As good as Thomas is, even he is going to struggle when he's seeing 3 defenders every time he touches the ball. 

This year has been different because (knock on wood) the Celtics have been healthy for what seems like the first time in history, and teams can't overload on Thomas otherwise they are getting killed by guys like Horford, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk and Rozier.  Having other scoring threats out there on the court means that teams cannot afford to focus all of their attention on Thomas, and that is allowing him to dominate and score pretty much at will.  I don't think any team in this league can defend Thomas with single coverage. 

This is a big part of the reason why I was pushing hard for us to bring in another offensive star (e.g. Melo, Cousins, etc).  If you have another big time offensive threat out there who can demand a ton of defensive attention and draw frequent double teams, then opponents will have no answer for Thomas.  It's hard enough for them to defend him now with the other scoring we have around him, with another dominant scorer on the court we'd be completely unstoppable. 

Best part is, when you think about a Boston/Cleveland matchup the biggest worry is scoring - can Boston score enough to keep up with Cleveland. 

Boston has just put up around 250 points in two nights against a very good Washington team that has one of the better defensive point guards in the NBA (Wall) and a very strong frontcourt (Morris, Gortat) - the worst possible type of matchup for this Boston team, and we are up 2-0.
 
Cleveland have Mo Williams and Deron Williams at PG. and their frontcourt (Love/Thompson) has got to be one of the smallest and worst defensive frontcourts in the NBA.  Boston match up very well against them - maybe better then any other team does.  We can throw a bunch of strong, physical wings at Lebron (Crowder, Brown, Jerebko, Smart) but I have no idea who on the Cleveland roster could have any hope of slowing down Thomas.

[Roy H.]

[crimson_stallion]

Bringing the third-leading scorer in the NBA off the bench as a "scoring weapon". Only in Boston.

being the third-leading scorer in the NBA isn't necessarily what most people want in their starting PG. 

there's a difference between bringing him off the bench to primarily score vs not wanting him on the team at all.

Yes, "people" want a true PG. Someone like Rajon Rondo. Man, it would work just swell if we could have Rajon Rondo instead of Isaiah Thomas, right?

Rondo was actually winning this match-up pretty handily before he got hurt. People seem to be blanking on the negatives IT has displayed alongside the brilliant positives.

IT is great when he gets to run 50 high PNRs with 4 shooters against defenses with traditional, paint-oriented bigs. Incidentally, so is Lou Williams.

But he's still a bad defender even then and when you take away his optimum scoring environment, (as was the case in the 2015 and 2016 playoffs), he stays bad defensively while his offensive efficiency tanks.

That's why Rondo is watching IT play from his TV set. PLEASE stop the nonsense, Rondo was not winning ANYTHING.

To be fair, he's actually right. 

As hard as it is to believe, Rondo was I think defending Thomas one-on-one better than I've ever seen anybody else defend him.  His quickness, IQ, toughness and length were giving Thomas a lot of trouble.

But those first two games were also very emotional for Thomas, and I have no doubts that affected him.  No way to see how the matchup would have gone if Rondo didn't get injured, but you can't take anything away from Rondo - he played Thomas as well as anybody has.

[JSD]

They have changed my opinion. He has catapulted to legitimacy in my eyes, in terms of an NBA Superstar.

[crimson_stallion]

TP!!

[SHAQATTACK]

he is playing the same caliber ball with the other past Celtic greats . We would have paid them . Red would have embraced his talent .

He has earned his due.

not much more to say.

[Hank Finkel]

It's amazing that we got IT for basically nothing.  I don't even remember who we traded.  DA was spot on with this move.  Now get us a big man to help with the boards and rim so we can get another title.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Bringing the third-leading scorer in the NBA off the bench as a "scoring weapon". Only in Boston.

being the third-leading scorer in the NBA isn't necessarily what most people want in their starting PG. 

there's a difference between bringing him off the bench to primarily score vs not wanting him on the team at all.

Yes, "people" want a true PG. Someone like Rajon Rondo. Man, it would work just swell if we could have Rajon Rondo instead of Isaiah Thomas, right?

Rondo was actually winning this match-up pretty handily before he got hurt. People seem to be blanking on the negatives IT has displayed alongside the brilliant positives.

IT is great when he gets to run 50 high PNRs with 4 shooters against defenses with traditional, paint-oriented bigs. Incidentally, so is Lou Williams.

But he's still a bad defender even then and when you take away his optimum scoring environment, (as was the case in the 2015 and 2016 playoffs), he stays bad defensively while his offensive efficiency tanks.

That's why Rondo is watching IT play from his TV set. PLEASE stop the nonsense, Rondo was not winning ANYTHING.

To be fair, he's actually right. 

As hard as it is to believe, Rondo was I think defending Thomas one-on-one better than I've ever seen anybody else defend him.  His quickness, IQ, toughness and length were giving Thomas a lot of trouble.

But those first two games were also very emotional for Thomas, and I have no doubts that affected him.  No way to see how the matchup would have gone if Rondo didn't get injured, but you can't take anything away from Rondo - he played Thomas as well as anybody has.

If the anti-Isaiah rhetoric continues, I'm going to get myself banned.  HIS ****ING SISTER DIED. And today was her birthday. How can that go so unappreciated?

[nickagneta]

TP

[saltlover]

It's amazing that we got IT for basically nothing.  I don't even remember who we traded.  DA was spot on with this move.  Now get us a big man to help with the boards and rim so we can get another title.

We got IT for the 1st round pick we got from Cleveland for helping them clear salary for LeBron.  We were able to help them clear salary using the trade exception we got from trading Pierce.

So essentially we got IT for Pierce's trade exception.  Trade exceptions often go unused, but once in awhile they can be franchise altering.  Keep that in mind next time someone shrugs about getting a trade exception.