Author Archives: George Daus

About George Daus

There used to be a soap commercial that said something like "men think about women every 3.5 seconds." That is me with the Celtics. I could talk NBA with you all day, but if you want to hear about the Celtics, you might need to clear your schedule for the foreseeable future. I'm also a big Louisville Cardinals fan, as that is where I reside. This city is about pride, and UL plays a big part in that. I have always felt that if I ever left Louisville, I would move to Boston. Give me a shout if you're ever in The Ville and we can talk sports!

Quest for Banner 18: Fresh Start

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BANNER 18 IN ’18?

Fittingly, the quest for Banner 18 begins on October 17th against none other than the Cavaliers. Recently, I predicted the Cavs would beat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games this season. Hopefully I didn’t upset too many people, but listen, this team isn’t quite in win-now mode yet. They have put together a team that is in a unique situation to compete now while hopefully continuing to get better every year for a very long time. So while this season might not be banner material, it should only be a matter of time before they crash the championship stage.

Losing to Cleveland this year won’t be all bad. We will get to see our old friends Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder go after a championship.  They both deserve a chance at that. The way things are shaping up, this might very well be their best chance of getting there. It is only going to get harder to get out of the East for them, as teams like the Celtics continue to develop their young talent. More importantly, the Celtics will get some much needed experience for the future. A painful exit out of the playoffs should push the Celtics to work even harder for the next season.

NOT THERE YET

In my opinion, this is a three-year plan to winning the championship. I’m not saying it can’t happen earlier, but if it does it will be ahead of schedule to me. I’ve already discussed that this team has the mindset and work ethic to defy the odds. Winning it all earlier isn’t out of the question, but 2019-2020 seems like the next banner year to me.

There are a lot of asterisks here. First, the core needs to stay together. I’m not concerned with Ainge continuing to trade key pieces; I think he is ready to get some continuity with the squad he has built and see what they can do. We saw in trade talks for various stars this summer he wasn’t willing to part with young players. Guys like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart will allow this team to be good for a very long time, and Ainge has priced them in the trade market accordingly. The previous core was given enough time to maximize what they could do together, and there’s no reason he wouldn’t give this group the same chance.

LOYALTY IN THE NBA?

A more concerning fear that could compromise the Celtics’ championship aspirations would be players leaving in free agency. This off season has been a testament to the lack of loyalty from all sides in the NBA. That being said, the Celtics are a historic franchise. With 17 championships, they are one of the few organizations in sports for whom it’s truly an honor to play. As long as these players spark some chemistry and enjoy playing alongside each other, free agency shouldn’t be a big threat to this team. We are now at a point where we have players that other guys want to come play with, not leave.

SALARY SITUATION

There will be decisions to be made in the coming years about the salary cap. Marcus Smart’s deal is up after this year and he will be looking for a substantial raise. Can the Celtics afford to keep him? They will surely have to dip into the luxury tax to do so. It would be shocking if they didn’t re-sign him. Keeping him through all the turnover made it clear he is in the long-term plans. As long as he is happy with his modified role, he will probably stay.

The next contracts up hold a little more weight. Irving and Horford both have deals that expire after the 2018-2019 season, with a player option for 2019-2020. Al will most likely pick up his option, as his value will be on the decline in terms of contracts by that time.

Kyrie will definitely opt out to sign a much more lucrative deal. Again, the Celtics will have to take a luxury tax hit. They won’t think twice about this one. The question mark here is whether or not Kyrie will want to stay. There is no reason to suggest he will want to start over again, especially before the job is done. Kyrie strives for perfection, and won’t want to leave this job incomplete.

GROWING TOGETHER

If the team successfully re-signs Smart and Irving in the next two off seasons, they will have enough continuity and growth to be a real force in 2019-2020. Kyrie will be 28, fully in his prime. Marcus Smart will only be 26. Hayward and Horford will still be key pieces, but a 23-year-old Brown and 22-year old Tatum might be more important to the teams success by then. These two must make some big leaps forward in order for this team to win a title. This is the six-man core that I think needs to stick around and improve together to take this team to the top.

Waltham-06/30/2017- The Boston Celtics held a summer league at their practice facility. Jayson Tatum(left) and Jaylen Brown chat during a drill. John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe(sports)

This season will be fun. More importantly, the future of the league is looking very exciting. The Celtics are a big part of that future, so when I say I don’t think they’ll win it all this year, don’t fret. This season is the start of something special. Our only job now is to sit back, watch the progression, and enjoy. It’s about to be ONE HELL OF A RIDE, CELTICS NATION!!!

Realistic Expectations for 2017-2018 Season

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BASKETBALL SEASON IS UPON US

Training camp is less than a week away and the basketball junkies are coming out of hibernation. Soon enough, a clearer picture of what we can expect the Celtics to look like will start to show itself. So, you’re probably expecting a post about how the Celtics are going to go all the way this year, right?!?

Well, this is the part where I tell you to temper expectations just a little bit. It’s an exciting time to be a Celtics fan, but moreover a fan of the NBA in general. A lot of teams have a similar buzz around them. The Celtics might have a tough time shining the brightest in the 2018 Playoffs. Even if they eclipse their previous high-water mark for the fourth consecutive year and reach the NBA Finals, a juggernaut will await. It won’t be a cake walk.

I wrote an article about how this team shouldn’t have any problems hitting the ground running, and I stick to that. We should see some amazing basketball out of the Celtics this year. Furthermore, I don’t think they’ll have many problems with team chemistry. This group of guys just seem to mesh together already; it’s the perfect mixture of skill sets ready to complement one another. Add in some colorful personalities to taste, and it smells like a recipe for success. The things I think will hold this team back initially all share a common thread – inexperience.

ON YOUR MARK…

Most of the players we had that gained playoff experience in the past few years are gone. Sure, Kyrie won a championship and should be a leader of the Celtics in time. Can we really expect a 25-year-old to lead even younger guys to the top of the NBA in less than a year, though? Stevens and Hayward have been to the championship stage before together in college but didn’t win. Horford won in college and should step further into a leadership role. All things considered, the reality is this team needs more experience before being catapulted into the history books.

Even further, they simply lack experience in terms of player age. Let’s face it: this is one of the youngest teams in the NBA. They will be relying on first- and second-year players making a big impact if they want to make a deep playoff run. Jaylen Brown did get meaningful PT last year in the playoffs. He was on the floor frequently in the ECF and was even tasked with guarding Lebron James at times. Jayson Tatum very well might be the best rookie in his class.   And fellow rook “The Terminator” Semi Ojeleye might just contribute immediately on defense as Brad Stevens indicates. Regardless, this is a team with five rookies on guaranteed deals and 10 players 25 years of age or younger.

PLANT THE SEEDS AND WATCH THEM GROW

This team to me is complete. When I say that, I mean I don’t think they really need to add anything major to compete for championships. The biggest thing that is going to help them reach another level is organic growth in the coming years. The young stars, Jaylen and Jayson, need to continue to improve. Hopefully one or both will be ready for crucial starting roles within a couple years. The other rookies need to find ways to contribute as well, and the younger guards that have been here (Smart and Rozier) need to start showing leadership and growth.

Even the players at the top of the lineup are still getting better in Irving and Hayward. The only player that seems to have reached his peak playing level is Horford, and he still has some great years ahead of him. The dynamic of this team is exciting, but there are a lot of moving parts here. Only time will tell if they are all moving in the same direction.

BUELLER… BUELLER…..

So where will this team get its leadership? Kyrie will be expected to take on that role, and he seems ready for the challenge. Al Horford will be another guy the Celtics will lean on heavily this season to keep everybody focused on the goal of winning a championship, something he did twice in college at Florida. He is the oldest and most experienced player on the team at 31 with 10 years of NBA experience. Together these two have 144 playoff games good for 143 starts. But when you take them out of the equation, the situation is pretty grim; the rest of the team has a combined total of 114 playoff games under their belt, good for just 27 starts.

PLAYOFFS? WE TALKIN’ BOUT PLAYOFFS??

Getting down to brass tacks, I see this team finishing as the number-one seed in the East again, with a slightly better record than last year. I’ll peg them for 55-60 wins which should easily get them the top spot. The Cavs will be without Isaiah to start the season, trying to figure it out. When he does come back, they’ll have to reconfigure again.

The second round will be the first real test for the new look C’s, but don’t expect it to be a drawn out battle. The number-one seeded Celtics move on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year. Following the same narrative as last year, they run in to a team they have yet to see all season – the Playoff Cavaliers.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

There is no way to sugarcoat it. The Cavaliers are going to be in the Eastern Conference Finals, and they will be ready. Not only ready to play, but ready specifically to beat the Boston Celtics. There will be a guy by the name of Isaiah Thomas in the ECF, playing with a chip on his shoulder. Oh, and he’s going to have his friend Jae Crowder with him as well, ready to lock down Lebron James all game. Wait.. this is getting confusing. We can’t put Jae on Lebron?

Seriously, that’s going to be an issue. As if that weren’t enough, lining him up with Lebron on defense is going to be scary for any team. And then there’s the fact that, well, Lebron does a lot more than just play defense. Not to mention he’s going to be out to show Kyrie he made the wrong choice leaving Cleveland. When the best player in the world has your number, it’s never a good thing.

JUST BEING REAL, FOLKS

This series is going to be a classic, point blank period. The last time I was waiting for a particular series before the season started, it was the Celtics-Lakers in the Finals. It is simply the fate of these two teams to go the distance in the Conference Finals after all that has transpired. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my prediction is the Celtics will lose to the Cavaliers in seven. The inexperience of the young C’s will show itself, and the Cavs will be more hungry for it this season. They will be out for revenge; the Celtics are just going to be taking it all in. The Cavs also don’t have the luxury of youth and (take a seat, Danny, your job is done) stability, and thus have more of a sense of urgency to win now.

All things considered, if the Celtics get this far, it’s not that far-fetched to see them advancing to the Finals. Anything can happen in a game seven, but I don’t think that scenario favors the Celtics. In the wise words of former Celtics coach Doc Rivers, “you never want the series to get to a game seven when the best player is on the other team.” He was talking about Lebron James, right after his Celtics team lost to the Heat in game seven of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Lebron had 45pts-15rbs-5ast in that game. Fast forward six years and I think the narrative proves to be eerily similar. The Celtics crawl a tad further into uncharted waters in their quest for Banner 18, but fall just shy of the NBA Finals this year.

Stay tuned for my upcoming article on when the Celtics will win their next championship!!

 

 

Identifying Greatness – The Heart of a Champion

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CHAMPIONSHIP ATTITUDE

“Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”  -Muhammad Ali

This is echoed by other great champions; you have to put in some serious work, even when the lights are off.

“The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.”

Elite athletes all relay the same message; you have to fall in love with the hustle. Then when it’s time to perform, there are no nerves because you’ve already done the hardest part; now it’s time to show everybody else what you’ve been doing.

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”      -Michael Jordan

Jordan takes it a step further and dives into the mental fortitude one must have to become a champion. You will fail, but what defines you is what happens after that. The greats have all come back from defeat better in their pursuit to reach the top.

“The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat.” -Sam Snead

LAYMEN’S TERMS

The underlying themes of becoming a champion seem to be an unparalleled work ethic complemented by superior talent, a desire to be great, and a championship mindset. This includes the ability to learn and get better from failure, and an obsession with being the best. In team sports, I would also add the ability to sacrifice for the good of the team. One must always think of what will make the team better first, not what will make the individual better. Lastly, great coaches and mentors are helpful as well. When striving for greatness, you must always have people around you conducive to success.

THE CELTICS WAY

So, does this team have these characteristics, the heart of a champion? Brad Stevens has always instilled in his players the belief that they can be great, all the way to the last player on the bench. “The walk-on, the manager, the head coach, the best player—we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. I would say that’s the Butler Way,” says Ron Nored, a four-year player for Stevens at Butler. With a fierce dedication to this culture, they made it to the NCAA championship twice. Despite losing both times, Stevens has come back even hungrier to get back to that point and win a championship. Now, it’s the Celtics Way, and just about every player that has made a stop in Boston under Stevens has bought in.

Stevens’ old Butler pal and one of the newest Celtics, Gordon Hayward, was a key piece in one of those championship runs. He was a perfect fit as the leader of that team because he represented what the team was all about, or “the Butler Way” as they called it. “To me, it’s all about winning basketball games,” Hayward says. Now reunited with his old college coach, he continues to strive to get back to that championship stage as well. He has gotten noticeably better in each of his seven seasons in the league, a testament to the work he puts in to honing his craft. Now, they will take on the league together along with a revamped roster that will be getting a crash course on “the Celtics Way” in the next month or so.

ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE

Hayward should fit in seamlessly, just as he did with this system in college. The biggest question mark surrounding this team is its biggest star and newest member, Kyrie Irving. Will he be able to fit in, or will he be trying too hard to stand out? He is saying all the right things, claiming to be excited about “going after something bigger than myself,” echoing what Nored said when describing the Butler Way. The story the media portrayed was that Kyrie wanted to get out of Lebron’s shadow and have a team to call his own. He cleared this up on First Take recently, stating that it was actually quite the opposite; he wants to be part of a team that focuses on every players strengths, not revolves around the greatness of one.

So, can Brad Stevens work his magic and get the absolute best out of Kyrie Irving? Regardless of what Kyrie says, he has been known to go AWOL at times and try to take on the entire defense on his own. More concerning is his lack of effort at times defensively, something this team emphasizes, so this will be a challenge. If there was one thing to take away from the press conference introducing Kyrie and Gordon, it was the unmistakable grin on Coach Stevens’ face that the always calm and collected coach couldn’t wipe away for the entire 30+ minutes. The message? He can’t wait to get to work with these guys and show them what the Butler Way, the Celtics Way, the Stevens Way is all about.

Boston Celtics, left to right, coach Brad Stevens, owner Wyc Grousbeck, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and general manager Danny Ainge share a laugh during a news conference in Boston, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE

We do know Irving has the desire to be great, the dream, the vision. Another thing we know is that Kyrie Irving is a champion. Say what you want, but he has the ring to prove it.

“Embrace the challenge; never run from it. Don’t let anyone’s thoughts or opinions affect your drive to be great.” -Kyrie Irving

He is a firm believer in Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, which focuses on honing and perfecting your craft every day. He was lucky enough to learn firsthand from one of the all-time greats, playing alongside Lebron James for three years. Together they made it to the Finals, lost, and came back better to win it the next year. Poetic justice if Michael Jordan and Sam Snead have anything to say about it. Oh yeah, and he hit the shot to seal the series in a classic game seven of those 2016 Finals. Being clutch never hurts.

THE GLUE

The rest of the team seems ready to step up to the challenge as well. BSE’s own Ricardo Vieira wrote a nice piece about Marcus Smart’s rigorous offseason training in preparation for a bigger role. Jaylen Brown made it a point to play in Summer League to log more game minutes, and has been working nonstop this summer as well. He is a potential starting candidate after a solid rookie campaign. Al Horford has been a key piece on both Hawks and Celtics teams that clinched the #1 seed in the East, and is still hungry for more.

All the pieces are in place for this team to make some great runs in the coming years. When it comes to championship DNA, I think these guys have it. The team culture is one that should push this forward, and the culture of the city will elevate it even further with its illustrious championship history. With the core of Irving, Hayward, and Horford, along with improvements year by year from the young guns, it is only a matter of time before we see the Celtics hang Banner 18. And while it might not happen this season, I’d bank on it coming sooner rather than later.

Even Stevens: Making Lemonade Since 2013

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SOMETHING IN THE AIR

We hear it every time a team has any type of significant roster turnover. “They’ll need time to gel.” Or, “We’ll have to wait and see if they have chemistry.” Sure, these are valid points. But I’m here to tell you, these issues are minimal with this Celtics team. To find out why, you don’t need to look any further down the team roster than the head coach.

Brad Stevens became the head coach prior to the 2013-2014 season. Remarkably, he has exactly zero players left from that team going into the 2017-2018 campaign. Seems like a massive headache for a guy who came from college coaching ranks. A mid-major nonetheless, where he didn’t have to worry about the business side of basketball. Stevens has embraced the challenge, however. He has done a better job than anyone expected him to, improving the teams record every single year since he came to Boston despite some major changes. Let’s take a closer look at how he has handled this tremendous roster turnover in the past.

2013-2014*

Stevens’ first year as head coach was a rough one. The team won 25 games, and it looked like the rebuild might take awhile. He did give us a taste of his genius though, when he dropped Jordan Crawford into the starting Point Guard role in the absence of Rondo. Crawford was widely considered a selfish player around the league, but Stevens made him into a team- first guy. He had his best all-around year, even earning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors. Despite the poor record, Stevens showed he wasn’t afraid to do things his own way. He gave the last player on the roster the same opportunity to prove himself as the first guy. He didn’t want to overlook anyone, and made sure everyone got their fair shake.  If you could play team ball and defend, you would play, period.

2014-2015*

In his second season, Ainge made some significant midseason moves, and Stevens was finally getting a taste of the difficulties of coaching in the NBA. The Celtics were 9-14 when Rondo went to the Mavericks, and 13-23 when they sent Jeff Green to Memphis. Both were starters, and the players that earned those roles were new to the team. Marcus Smart was an unproven rookie, and Evan Turner signed as a free agent just before the season. Turner was widely considered a bust after being the number two overall pick and never meeting expectations.  But Stevens saw something in him.

When the team traded for Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline, they were still trying to crawl out of the cellar. Nobody expected them to make the playoffs. With a completely different look than just months prior, they finished the year with one of the best post All-Star break records and made it to postseason. In a year that saw 22 different players receive minutes, Stevens created a playoff team. His peers were starting to see him as one of the best young coaches in the game.

2015-2016*

2016-2017*

The last two years have had considerably less roster turnover, but still saw a new name in the starting lineup each year with Amir Johnson and Al Horford. The team has continued to improve and exceed expectations no matter who they roll out. Isaiah Thomas turned into a star, but they still didn’t have much firepower behind him. Stevens’ teams to date have been known for being overachievers.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Let’s take a look at what Stevens was working with in his second season compared to what he will have next year. In ’14-’15, the fresh, new core was a rookie Marcus Smart, Evan Turner, and a young IT who had not yet established himself as a star. Compare that with the likes of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Jayson Tatum along with plenty of other moving parts, and there is no contest as to which group has more talent.

Taking all of this into account, it’s a given that this team will be good, and possibly great. Stevens has without question the most talented roster he has coached in the NBA. He no longer has to make lemons into lemonade; he already has the lemonade. If they simply achieve, progress will still have been made. Betting sites have them pegged for as high as 56.5 wins on the season, more than the 53 wins they reached last year.

The overachieving C’s may be gone, but the new look C’s might not need to overachieve to win a championship. They have the talent. The question we must answer now is, does this team have what it takes to win it all? Do they have championship DNA? Stevens will do his part and put players in the best position to succeed as he always has.  But it will be up to them what they do with the opportunity.

 

* Courtesy of RealGM. Depth charts are from the last game played that season. This takes into account injuries, which shows another element Stevens has had to deal with. He was missing a starter due to injury in the playoffs all 3 years he has been there.

Will Kyrie Ever Find His Jersey in the Rafters of TD Garden?

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Trader Danny

10 years ago, in the summer of 2007, the Celtics were in the middle of some serious changes. Danny Ainge worked the phones, and pulled off deals to bring both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston. Along with Pierce, they formed the “Boston Three Party,” and went on to win a championship in their first year together. A decade later, the madness is repeating itself in similar fashion. The overhaul is significant- Stevens has 10 new players that are expected to make the final roster. Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are the all-star additions this time around. Along with Al Horford, they will to try to repeat the success of the Big Three from a decade ago.

Legends made in the finals

The 2008 team had one key element that the current one lacks.  And that’s a true Captain in Paul Pierce. He had already done some incredible things in a Celtics jersey, and all that he lacked to verify his status as a great was the Larry O’Brien trophy. He got the undeniable stamp of approval that year. In fact, did us one better, taking home the Bill Russell trophy as well, designated for the Finals MVP. He pulled off what seemed like would never happen for him- he became the king on top of the NBA’s highest mountain. More importantly, he stuck around in Boston despite some truly rough years, determined to win it all wearing the glorified green and white.  A true Celtic then, and now, a true Celtic legend. His jersey will head for the rafters during the Cavs game on Feb. 11, 2018.

One retires, one steps up

Enter Kyrie Irving. It’s all too fitting that Kyrie will be watching this from a Celtic point of view, just as it is that the game is against his old team. He has already reached incredible heights in the NBA with the Cavaliers, winning an NBA championship and Finals MVP in the same year, just as Pierce did. His jersey should be retired by them. But will he do enough with his new team to reach those same heights and beyond? Will he have a night dedicated to his accomplishments as a Celtic? Irving talks about learning what it takes to be great more than anything; it consumes him. So when the legend of Paul Pierce is celebrated this season, Irving will be paying close attention.  He is now in position to follow Pierce’s footsteps all the way to the rafters of TD Garden.

 

Isaiah Thomas: The 5’9 Giant

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Championship Mike Drop

The clock ticks down under 10 seconds. The game is tied in overtime. The Staples Center in LA is packed. Jersey number two in black is still dribbling calmly in place just past half court. The people closest to him know what happens next, as he prepares to show the rest of the world what he is all about. Isaiah Thomas starts to drive hard left. He gets inside the perimeter enough to sell the drive. He gets a sliver of space and then takes a step back with a distance comparable to that between Man and the Moon itself to get behind the line.   A two-point victory wasn’t good enough for him. (It ended up being called a two but I dispute it to this day). You can probably guess what happens next: swish. “COOOLLDD BLOODED!!” the announcer can be heard yelling over all the chaos.

Special Person, Special Player

That was the scene of the PAC-12 (then PAC-10) championship game on March 12, 2011, and the exact moment I became an Isaiah Thomas fan. You see, certain players bring more to basketball than just talent. IT plays with a fierce passion unmatched by most. You have to bring up the names of greats just to find somebody on his level in that regard. Then there’s that smile. You can always tell he’s having a blast on the court, and for his teammates, it’s contagious. Complement these things with an unrealistic confidence and you have the makings of a special player. He is willing to say he wants to be the best player in the NBA, and he doesn’t care if you doubt him. As a fan, you have to love a guy like that. Especially when he’s able to back it up with top-five level play, which is right where he found himself in the MVP race at the end of last season. Say that again?

Down Draft

Speaking of doubt, let’s fast forward from that day at the Staples Center to a few months later at the 2011 NBA draft. You’ve probably heard the story. Thomas was taken with the last pick, far beyond the point where a team can typically find someone worth a roster spot. Well, the Kings struck gold. Not only did he make the team, he averaged 11.5 ppg as a rookie. He jumped up to 20.3 ppg by his third year. Despite showing promise as a young player, the  Kings weren’t satisfied and dumped him for nothing in a sign-and-trade move with the Suns. He played in Phoenix for only half of the 13-14 season. Even though he continued to play well, they doubted Thomas and his role in their long-term plans. They viewed him as the third-best point guard on the roster.

Little Big Man

When I heard the Celtics landed Thomas before the trade deadline of the 2014-2015 season, I was ecstatic. Right away I felt we had the scoring punch we needed to maybe make a run at the playoffs, and he took us there as a mid-season acquisition. But he wasn’t satisfied; he won the starting role, and in the 2016-2017 season threw it in the face of his doubters and had himself an MVP caliber season.

Some of the things he did this past season literally brought me to tears. There’s the Miami game where he notched a career- high 52 points, and we needed every last one of them to win. The King of the Fourth came to play that day, breaking Larry Bird’s franchise record with 24 in the final period.

Need a day off? The very next game, he recorded a career high 15 assists behind 29 pts, and it started to seem like he could do anything. Just two games in the line of a franchise-record 43-straight, 20-point games. And in the playoffs, when he bested his 52 with a gritty 53-point performance on a bad hip, on what would have been his sisters 23rd birthday. She passed away in a car accident weeks before. If you weren’t a fan of his after that game, you didn’t have a pulse.

He fought through that personal tragedy for the rest of the playoffs and beyond. The missing tooth game, the game winner in Atlanta, I could go on and on. We were witnessing greatness out of “the little guy” every single time he stepped on the floor. He fought so hard for everything, and he finally felt at home. He was in a good situation where his coach allowed him to be himself and it was paying dividends. Even the doubters where starting to diminish. Imagine that, it took an MVP level season for most to realize this guy is pretty darn good.

…Another, New, Era?

What happens next, well, is simply heartbreaking. As I’m writing this, I’m torn between excitement for the future and borderline depression that the hard nosed Celtics led by Thomas will never step on the floor together again. While the culture remains, the fact is this is a much different team led by a different floor general. Isaiah wears a Cavaliers jersey now. And get this; reports reveal the Cavs didn’t care much about Thomas being part of the deal, but were more enamored with Crowder and the Nets pick. Two great assets, sure, but the message was clear; we don’t think he can do it again. Definitely not after the hip injury. They even demanded more out of the deal after it was agreed upon when concern was expressed about their results from Thomas’ physical. IT’s newest team has become his latest doubter.

Is the hip a concern? Yes. Is he shorter than your roommate, who thinks he would’ve made it to the NBA if he was taller? There’s a pretty good chance. The concerns have always been logical, but does it really matter? I answered that question for myself the second the ball left his hands in the final seconds of that OT game on March 12th 2012 in the sold out Staples Center. It didn’t matter whether it went in or not; I had seen enough to know this kid had guts. The fact that it dropped was the proverbial icing on the cake.

Cleveland Doubts Thomas

Certain players, certain people, defy logic with their craft. Coincidentally enough, some people call it the “IT” factor, and the man whose initials and most popular nickname is I.T. has “IT.”  Magical might be a more appropriate word than logical when talking about Thomas. He has defied logic time and time again, and you won’t find me giving any reason why he can’t do it once more. So when it was reported that Isaiah was really just the icing on the cake for the Cavs, the only reasoning I can come up with is that their front office is full of odd individuals who only eat the icing.

P.S. I wanted to help direct Cleveland here, as they will almost certainly be needing this service in the near future. You earned it IT!!

Isaiah Thomas said when asked about his looming payday next offseason that they better bring in the Brinks truck, and took it a step further with these.  Here’s a clip of the shot in the 2011 Pac-10 title game. Stat line: 28-5-7. COLD. BLOODED.