Inside The Numbers
By Joshua Riddell
The Celtics ushered in a new point
guard era last year, moving forward
from the disgruntled Rajon Rondo
to Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas;
locking up the position for the near
future with the promising Smart on
his rookie deal and Thomas affordably
signed through 2017-18.
Thomas was second on the team
with a 7.3 net rating among players
who played at least 20 minutes,
behind only Jonas Jerebko. In 21
games, Thomas led the Celtics in
scoring with 16.7 points per game and
was second in assists (5.3) coming off
the bench.
He’s the offensive sparkplug the
Celtics needed last season and his
insertion into the rotation was a key
component of the Celtics’ playoff
push. There aren’t many shot creators
on this roster, so Thomas will
continue to shoulder a large part
of that role by generating looks
for himself within the flow of
the offense and setting up his
teammates. During his time
in Boston, he put up career-
highs in many of his per-36 statistics,
including points, assists, and usage
rate (32.1 percent).
In his first full season with the
Celtics, Thomas will have to prove
whether that was a small sample
size fluke or if he is a point guard
who thrives in a high-usage role.
His shooting did take a slight hit,
down 49.5 percent from his career
51 percent. How his percentages
look over a full season with the team
will tell us more about whether he is
capable of taking on a greater
role in an offense.
Thomas will always be
able to score in the NBA
with his shooting
and ability to
attack off the
dribble, but he’s probably better suited
off the bench. Top defenders can
lock him down due to his struggles
with length and he shot just 7-for-24
in end of game situations with the
margin within five points. This might
be the difference between being an
offensive player to build around, and a
secondary threat.
With limited physical tools,
Thomas will always struggle on that
end. Playing alongside Smart or
Avery Bradley will help hide him on
weaker threats, and so long as he stays
within Stevens’ schemes, he won’t
actively hurt them enough to
overshadow his offensive
contributions.
The amount of possessions
Thomas uses, percentages, and
Defensive Box Plus/Minus (-3.9 per
Basketball-Reference) fit the profile
of a microwave scorer off the bench
for a good team. The challenge for the
Celtics will be to find good enough
players to keep him comfortably in
that lane.
BBALLBREAKDOWN.COM | 10