Since the Celtics have acquired Isaiah Thomas there has been a lot of chatter about how he fits. The main concern among fans is that Thomas, who has been known to be a bit of ball-dominant player, will take away valuable minutes that rookie Marcus Smart could be getting to develop his game. There’s also the concern about how well the 3 guard rotation of Smart/Bradley/Thomas actually will work considering how a similar plan of attack didn’t work great for the Suns. Here are five reasons we won’t have to worry about anything.
1. Isaiah Thomas CAN play off-ball
I know it seems crazy having someone 5’9″ off the ball, but here’s why it works: Isaiah Thomas is an effective ‘Catch and Shoot’ player. Thomas hits 43.1% of his threes, 50% of his 2 point field goals, and sports an impressive 63.2% effective Field Goal percentage when it comes to catch and shoot situations. By comparison, Avery Bradley is also an effective Catch and Shoot player who hits 38.3% from three, 47.9% from inside the arc, and has 53.9% effective field goal percentage. Marcus Smart shoots 41.3% from three, 33.3% from inside the arc, and a 61.2% effective field goal percentage. What this means is not only can Thomas play off-ball, but none of the three need to dominate the ball to score.
2. Thomas defensive woes a tad bit overrated
Because of his size, Thomas isn’t an ideal defender against a team’s best scorer. However, if you take a deeper look at this numbers you’ll see he’s actually a pretty solid defender. In 46 games Thomas’ opponents came in with an average field goal percentage of 42.4%, but against him they shot an average of 40.7%, a differential of -1.7. Those numbers are actually better than Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley’s. Though, to be fair, they both defend multiple positions and are asked to do a lot more defensively than Thomas is. Where Isaiah Thomas really struggles defensively is when he’s defending someone who’s less than 6 feet from the basket, players score an 11.8% higher against him than they normally would. Because of his height this trend is something that has no solution, but we can take comfort in the fact that Thomas is barely ever in those positions. Players only average 1.3 attempts against him from that range. Though he sports an ugly 105.7 defensive rating, he was also a member of the Suns who rank in the bottom half of the league defensively. In Boston Thomas will be playing with much better wing defenders, and he’ll be able to defend the weakest backcourt player for the majority of the game.
3. This Backcourt is nothing like the Suns
I’ve seen a lot of people compare this backcourt to what the Suns tried to do with their 3 guard lineup in order to justify their criticism of this trade. Hoever, it’s a flawed logic. They enjoyed immense success last year with the Bledsoe/Dragic combo because for the most part Bledsoe only played in 43 games last season. Dragic was able to be a ball-dominant player and be the man of the team which lead to his MIP season. When Bledsoe came back, Dragic was going to have to play off-ball a little more, but when they signed Isaiah Thomas he was basically moved exclusively off-ball which led to his frustration. In Boston, Bradley only plays off-ball and Smart is a combo guard. Also, as stated earlier, all three are effective scorers off the ball, and with Smart being able to defend some forwards, they can all effectively be on the court at once for stretches. Because Dragic and Thomas weren’t versatile defenders, and both Bledsoe and Dragic were ball-dominant players the same chemistry that can be achieved in Boston wasn’t possible in Phoenix.
4. Isaiah Thomas fits perfectly in Brad Stevens system
By now we all know what Steve wants on offense. Fast-paced, lots of ball movement, plenty of shots, and versatile players. Thomas fits all of those criteria and he offers a dimension that only one other guard can do consistently: running the pick and roll and getting to the free throw line.
5. All three will get their minutes.
No matter how well they will all work together, let’s be real, guys want to get their minutes too. This especially holds true for young guys who are still itching to make a name for themselves. In Boston all three of these guys will deserve big minutes and they’ll all be able to get it. With 144 minutes between the Point guard, Shooting Guard, and Small Forward position, here’s a projected breakdown assuming that Evan Turner is no longer going to get minutes at the one.
PG: Smart (24 minutes), Thomas (24 minutes)
SG: Bradley (29 minutes),Young (10 minutes), Thomas (7 minutes)
SF: Turner (20 minutes), Crowder (15 minutes), Young (8 minutes), Smart (7 minutes)
In this projection Smart would get 31 minutes, Thomas would get 31 minutes, and Bradley would 29 minutes. Yeah Bradley takes a minor cut in playing time, but not noticeable enough for him to really feel the effects. And of course if any of them are having a big game or a certain lineup works then they’ll be given extended time.
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