windhorst says IT should be in d-league

[Sophomore]

I wish people would stop this notion that IT was Better than KI because of last year...  IT had a great offense year... 1 special offensive year (which he seemingly sold his soul to have)  But 1 year does not make him better than the Career KI is putting together... If that was the Case then Russ and The Beard are the 2 best players in the NBA..  Forget a Kevin Durant, a Lebron James or a Steph Curry...  Forget great Finals Performances... Noone is better than Noone because of just 1 year..

I just don't understand this logic...

#rantover

Totally agree.

But also understand the attachment to IT, given what he did. There was at least an argument that IT hadn't been given a chance before to really maximize his skills. That said, I don't buy it. I think people were mostly showing their love for his heart and the year he had. It's true he was better, statistically, last year, but mostly people wanted to root for him and we were used to rooting against KI. The hard truth is what you said: KI is just better.

[IDreamCeltics]

IT is not the same player. It is pretty clear. Whether or not he gets back to last year's production is everyone's guess. I think Danny Ainge knew that a drop-off was very likely.

The fans on this blog who thought that IT was close to Kyrie are pretty quiet right now.

See, but here's the thing: IT and Kyrie WERE close prior to IT's hip injury. You can't just conveniently leave that out. I don't think anyone was saying that a hobbled Isaiah Thomas was as good as a healthy Kyrie Irving.

IT was arguably better than Kyrie... when the entire team was tailored to maximize his strength and minimize his weakness. This isn't happening in Cleveland (and hasn't really happened anywhere else he's played, either), hence expect a lot of buyer's remorse.

This notion is so overblown.  Isaiah played a ton of minutes with Kelly "Hot potato" Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Jay Crowder, and Marcus Smart last year (IE NBA backups).  Nobody is ever worried about those guys beating them offensively.  The team NEEDED IT to score 30 a game to be competitive and that's what he did.  You saw the results when his offense was removed from the Court in the 1-4 Cleveland Series.   

The guy's played 12 games with his teammates this season.  Judging IT's overall value from this stretch of games makes about as much sense as claiming Marcus Smart is going to be a career 40% three point shooter after he has his yearly 10 game hot streak. 

[chiken Green]

IT is not the same player. It is pretty clear. Whether or not he gets back to last year's production is everyone's guess. I think Danny Ainge knew that a drop-off was very likely.

The fans on this blog who thought that IT was close to Kyrie are pretty quiet right now.

See, but here's the thing: IT and Kyrie WERE close prior to IT's hip injury. You can't just conveniently leave that out. I don't think anyone was saying that a hobbled Isaiah Thomas was as good as a healthy Kyrie Irving.

IT was arguably better than Kyrie... when the entire team was tailored to maximize his strength and minimize his weakness. This isn't happening in Cleveland (and hasn't really happened anywhere else he's played, either), hence expect a lot of buyer's remorse.

This notion is so overblown.  Isaiah played a ton of minutes with Kelly "Hot potato" Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Jay Crowder, and Marcus Smart last year (IE NBA backups).  Nobody is ever worried about those guys beating them offensively.  The team NEEDED IT to score 30 a game to be competitive and that's what he did.  You saw the results when his offense was removed from the Court in the 1-4 Cleveland Series.   

The guy's played 12 games with his teammates this season.  Judging IT's overall value from this stretch of games makes about as much sense as claiming Marcus Smart is going to be a career 40% three point shooter after he has his yearly 10 game hot streak.

Another way to look at it is - You had to have Elite Defense talent to cover for The lack of Defense... Yes, he had to score 30 because he was giving up 35...  So yes... The Team was built around him. Similar to those teams built around Allen Iverson. 
Kely and Amir had a Decent Defensive rating... Smart, Crowder, and Bradly were all better Defensive players than offensive players.

[kozlodoev]

This notion is so overblown.  Isaiah played a ton of minutes with Kelly "Hot potato" Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Jay Crowder, and Marcus Smart last year (IE NBA backups).  Nobody is ever worried about those guys beating them offensively.  The team NEEDED IT to score 30 a game to be competitive and that's what he did.  You saw the results when his offense was removed from the Court in the 1-4 Cleveland Series.

Facts say that you are, in fact, wrong. This particular lineup wasn't even one of the top 20 Celtics lineups last year. In fact, Thomas spent a large majority of his minutes in lineups with Bradley and Horford.

http://www.82games.com/1617/1617BOS2.HTM

[KGs Knee]

Well, it's the 'G-League' these days, not the 'D-League', but I'm not sure he's even good enough to play there.

IT probably just needs to go play in China. Let him team up with Sullinger.

[cman88]

I wish people would stop this notion that IT was Better than KI because of last year...  IT had a great offense year... 1 special offensive year (which he seemingly sold his soul to have)  But 1 year does not make him better than the Career KI is putting together... If that was the Case then Russ and The Beard are the 2 best players in the NBA..  Forget a Kevin Durant, a Lebron James or a Steph Curry...  Forget great Finals Performances... Noone is better than Noone because of just 1 year..

I just don't understand this logic...

#rantover

pretty much THIS. Isaiah had one historical year, whereas Kyrie is showing he can pretty much average 25ppg regularly (2nd year doing it but hes been a 20ppg guy his whole career)

dont get me wrong, I loved IT4 here. but watching Crowder/Thomas in cleveland regress makes you wonder if Brad stevens system played a role in the players they were here.

I think its also fair to question if IT will get back to the same player he was prior to the injury. I mean he's been playing for a month now. How long does it take to get "rust" off.

Right now that trade is looking pretty good for ainge.

[LilRip]

How productive is playing in the G League? I’ve never watched a game, admittedly, but my notion of it is that it’s a lot of hero basketball with guys trying to get numbers for a chance to get called up to the NBA.

Wouldn’t IT be better served getting rehab first or going through 5 on 5 drills in practice?

[Chief]

Watch the highlights of the Cavs/Rockets game. LeBron does not rotate on defense to stop layups.

He is the problem!

[LilRip]

Watch the highlights of the Cavs/Rockets game. LeBron does not rotate on defense to stop layups.

He is the problem!

Yeah this is true. Lebron has stopped playing D. And O too, actually. He’s become a ball stopper this year. I saw somewhere that his post ups were down too. Maybe he’s conserving energy? Whatever the reason, the outcome is losses.

[Chief]

Watch the highlights of the Cavs/Rockets game. LeBron does not rotate on defense to stop layups.

He is the problem!

Yeah this is true. Lebron has stopped playing D. And O too, actually. He’s become a ball stopper this year. I saw somewhere that his post ups were down too. Maybe he’s conserving energy? Whatever the reason, the outcome is losses.

Tp!

[RockinRyA]

Windhorst basically works for LeBron, so yeah.

With that said, I think it's not an unfair suggestion -- IT really is obviously not himself and he should probably spend a few weeks at least rehabbing in the D-League instead of starting games for a team that supposedly wants to compete for home court in the 1st round. 

IT really doesn't help a team very much unless his scoring is efficient, given how bad he is on defense.

I think it's a fair point that players returning from injury should probably be able to make use of the G-League for that purpose.

Pretty much this.

But, hey, if they want to keep playing him and have him continue to significantly contribute to losses, that’s fine by me.

Do you think they will send him down?

No. The G-League doesn’t have the reputation of being a league where big-time NBA players can go to rehab and work out kinks, which is a shame.

I really hope Hayward plays in the G-League before coming back. It’d be a great opportunity for him to ease back into things, and I think it’d ultimately be best for the Cavs and IT, too.

I wish the G-League was like the Minors for Baseball, where you can send your young players and rehabbing players to work out kinks and conditioning without anyone batting an eye.

[SHAQATTACK]

Watch the highlights of the Cavs/Rockets game. LeBron does not rotate on defense to stop layups.

He is the problem!

Bingo...some Cavs fans see it .....a good many or most are blind to his poor effort on defense , ball hogging ,  general lack of team enthusiasm.

LeFlopper is killing them ....they would be better off getting 2-3 younger good prospect , hungry for a chance to play and wins.   

[Ogaju]

Is d-league where you go learn how to play defense?

[green_bballers13]

Windhorst should be on Jenny Craig.

Do we need to pile on IT?

[Celtics4ever]

Windhorst is media voice for LeBron.   He will say whatever his master (LeBron) tells him.