Isaiah Thomas' Ascension Into Superstardom
The NBA season has no shortage of storylines. The Warriors are mercilessly tearing through the league, the Cavs are hot and cold, James Harden and Russell Westbrook have messed around and normalized triple doubles like they invented them. But with all of these headlines there is one that is being completely underplayed and that's the meteoric rise to superstardom. The story of Isaiah Thomas is one that any casual basketball fan can get behind. Named after the Detroit Pistons Hall of Fame point guard after his father lost a bet over a Pistons game, the younger Isaiah Thomas has worked his way to a similar type of stardom. At only 5'9, Thomas is one of the shortest players in the NBA. Thomas was not a highly touted draft prospect either as he was the last pick in the 2011 Draft. To put that in perspective, the Sacramento Kings (the team that drafted him) took two other players before him in that draft. Those two other players taken ahead of Thomas were Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Honeycutt, neither of which are still in the NBA. Thomas spent three seasons in Sacramento averaging 15.2 PPG and 4.8 APG. In July of 2014, Thomas was traded to the Phoenix Suns in a sign and trade deal for 7 million dollars and the draft rights to Alex Oriakhi. After 46 games and only one start in a Suns uniform, Thomas was once again traded to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Marcus Thornton and a first round draft pick. Isaiah Thomas has been doubted his entire career and coming into this year, he had a chip on his shoulder after the seemingly overachieving Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks in last years playoffs. But what Thomas has done with this years' Celtics team, has to garner some MVP consideration.
In a conference dominated by Lebron James and the defending NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Thomas has introduced the Celtics as a real contender to challenge the almighty Cavaliers. After finishing 48-34 last year and settling for the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics currently sit at 30-18 and are second to only the Cavs in the Eastern Conference by only 2.5 games. The Celtics have been one of the most improved teams in the association and their superstar has become the most improved player in the association as well. To compare Thomas' numbers to last year, his scoring has risen from 22.2 PPG to 29.4 PPG and his shooting percentage has gone up 4% from the field and over 5% from the free throw line and is 6th in the league in player efficiency rating (PER). My favorite player to compare him to was another giant killer back in his day, Allen Iverson. They have similar styles of play and Iverson, himself, is considered one of the greatest players in NBA history to play "below the rim". But lets compare Thomas' impressive season to Allen Iverson's MVP season in 2000-2001. Iverson posted a better PPG average (31.1 compared to Thomas' 29.4) but Thomas has averaged almost two more assists per game (6.4 compared to 4.6). In terms of shooting efficiency, Thomas is shooting a better percentage from the field than Iverson (47% compared to 42%) as well as a better percentage from the 3-point line (39% compared to 32%). And finally, on the defensive end, A.I. only posted a 99.2 Defensive efficiency rating which is nothing compared to Thomas' 113.8.
Isaiah Thomas is having a career season and this is the year he will be recognized as one of the NBA's elite point guards. He was named to his first all star game this past week and got completely robbed of a starting spot in this game (sorry Kyrie). Thomas is the second best player in that conference this year and for all the Lebron haters out there, I.T. is your only hope to dethroning the King in the East. Not only does Thomas pass the eye test as an NBA superstar, but his toughness and statistics can prove that Isaiah Thomas is a legitimate MVP contender.
@TheLong2_Sports
