One of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ most recent additions, Isaiah Thomas, was ranked No. 40 in Sports Illustrated top 100 NBA players.
Yesterday, we saw Cleveland Cavaliers’ Derrick Rose and J.R. Smith snubbed from the list of the top 100 for obvious reasons. We also saw Tristan Thompson, the fearless Cavs’ center, ranked No. 52. We even predicted where the Cavaliers new big three would land. Let’s just say we were a bit off with Thomas.
Sports Illustrated did have good reasoning behind their ranking for Thomas. They said this about the 5-foot-9 star.
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"If fully healthy, the 28-year-old Thomas (28.9 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 5.9 APG) would have placed in the top 30 of this list thanks to a potent offensive game that checks all the boxes. He’s a teacher’s pet when it comes to Synergy’s offensive scouting breakdowns, as he ranked “excellent” or “very good” in isolation, pick-and-rolls, transition, spot-ups, screens, and dribble hand-offs. In other words, put him on the court, give him the ball, and he will score it efficiently. Defense is a completely different story, of course, as Thomas’s diminutive stature made him the weakest link to play major minutes for a contender or pseudo-contender last year. He needs extra help, he needs to be hidden and he might get repeatedly picked on by the Warriors in a theoretical Finals match-up, but Thomas’s ability to generate quality team offense and his sheer entertainment value more than justify the trade-off."
We assumed that Thomas could break the top 20 if fully healthy, and SI said if fully capable, his offensive game, at least, is top 30. Thomas showed that he can play at a MVP-level last season.
Thomas averaged the third most points per game at 28.9. He was also top 5 in threes per game. But, Thomas’ most attractive stat might have been his fourth quarter scoring which should set him apart from the majority of NBA players. Westbrook barely edged out Thomas in fourth quarter points per game. At 9.8, Thomas might have been outscored by Westbrook by 0.2, but he did shoot more efficiently than him.
Thomas is going into a contract year, and he will be wanting a max contract following this season. Whether his request will be justified or not will be based on two things: if he can play over half the season and if he can continue to prove he’s an all-star caliber point guard.
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The skill is there for Thomas to be a top 20 player, but now he must stay healthy and prove it.