With the New Year just only a few days old fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers were beyond ecstatic because Isaiah Thomas, who had been sidelined for seven months with a hip injury, was finally making his debut in wine and gold against the Portland Trailblazers. In his first game, Thomas, who was a big surprise, was a spark for the Cavaliers in limited play finishing with 17 points and three assists.
This was the first step in a very slippery slope for Cavs fans, who should have tempered their expectations from the moment Thomas first started playing for the team.
After his debut against the Blazers, Thomas joined as the Cavs starting point guard, and besides two good games, both against the Orlando Magic, he has had quite a few stinkers for the team. In a recent game against the Miami Heat, Thomas shot the ball with reckless abandon, finishing 2-15 from the floor, including going 0-6 from beyond the arc and got the following reaction from the home crowd after missing his sixth three-point attempt:
I was at the game that night and I even joined in on roasting Thomas:
I wonder how often I can make this tweet relevant #NBATwitter https://t.co/0LFDopBhQS
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) February 1, 2018
But jokes aside, Thomas has been obviously underwhelming through his first month of action with the Cavaliers with overall averages of 15.4 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.8 rebounds but as mentioned before, Cavalier fans should have tempered their expectations after his outstanding debut against the Blazers as Thomas himself has shared that right now he is only playing at about 80%.
While right now it seems like the world is falling down for Cavaliers Nation, with Kevin Love breaking his hand adding to even more drama in a soap opera of a season, the fact that Thomas has looked so lackluster in every single one of his games for the Cavs definitely is alarming. Cavs Nation's Sam Penix lays out a pretty clear idea that maybe Thomas will never fully recover to the player he once was and may suffer a similar fate to former Minnesota Timberwolves guard Johnny Flynn:
Flynn was drafted sixth overall in 2009, and after an impressive rookie season in which he averaged 13.5 points per game, looked to be on track to becoming one of the NBA’s top point guards. Unfortunately, his career came to a crashing halt when he tore the labrum in his left hip. He opted to have surgery to repair it, as opposed to pure rehab like Thomas. Flynn’s playing time dropped and he began to bounce from team to team as trade filler, and was out of the league by 2012. Flynn suffered his injury at the age of 21. Thomas is 28.
Before this season, Thomas was considered one of the elite scoring guards in the league that can dismantle defenses with relative ease. After coming back from the hip injury, Thomas looks like the shell of the player he once was, shooting a putrid 23.7% from beyond the arc and is only converting 36.4% of his shots.
On defense, it is the same old Thomas as this was an iconic shot of Thomas in the Cavs latest humiliation against the Houston Rockets:
— Miles Moon (@_MilesMoon_) February 4, 2018
When in Boston last season, Thomas had a someone to cover his defensive flaws in Avery Bradley and the team was able to get by with such a horrendous defender. With the Cavs, Thomas is paired alongside JR Smith, and to be frank it is nothing like the tandem of Thomas and Bradley from last season. The Cavs have one of the worst perimeter defenses in the league and having Thomas playing for them is only making things worse.
To be honest, though, Thomas did not ask to be traded to Cleveland, as he had the perfect situation in Boston where he is loved and it has become pretty clear that he still cannot let go of his ex-team. Now that he plays with the Cavs, and the best player in the world in LeBron James and all of these flaws have been put under a microscope and professional windbags like Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith have constant fodder to criticize the Cavs.
With things under a microscope, it also adds even more drama to the Cavs locker room and it reached a boiling point when the Cavs had their infamous locker room blowout where everyone was pointing fingers at each other and Thomas tried to make Kevin Love the fall guy for the team's problems. Obviously, the fact that Love is being used as a scapegoat for the Cavaliers problems is ludicrous but maybe the team should look to the smallest guy on the floor, who is quick to criticize the team whenever things go wrong:
Isaiah Thomas questioned the Cavs' effort after the game: "I don't know the last time we got on the floor for a loose ball. I know that teams I've been on, defense is determined on deflections, steals, loose balls, who's the hardest working team." #Cavs pic.twitter.com/3eR9uAhuGs
— clevelanddotcom Cavs (@PDcavsinsider) February 4, 2018
Not once did you hear that Thomas took the blame on himself, instead of looking to blame the Cavs' problems on everyone else and all the while pining for the Cavs' biggest rival makes one thing pretty clear. While Thomas is supposedly playing at 80% of his ability, while he tries to get to the final 20% (or even more with how bad he has looked), he should be doing it in another team's uniform.
While it seems like a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the Cavs shipping Thomas only after seeing him for a small portion of the season, the team does not have the time, patience, or energy to deal with all the baggage he brings with him. The fact that he is so quick to blame others, all while gushing over old teammates like Marcus Smart makes him the root cause of a Cavs locker room that is about to rip apart at the seams.
Originally thought that he could be an easy plugin to replace Kyrie Irving, someone who Thomas has a very similar playstyle too, the transition would be seamless and the Cavs would continue to roll through an Eastern Conference that they have dominated the last three seasons. Instead, Irving is having an MVP year and the Cavs look like a team that will be bounced out of the first round.
Heading into the season, the Cavs looked like big winners with acquiring Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the 2018 Brooklyn Nets first-round draft pick. Now, in hindsight, the trade appears foolish as they have assembled a bunch of players that do not fit and may end up shipping out all four of these pieces just to try and salvage a season that may be lost soon enough. The most logical trade would be to send Thomas, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, and the Nets pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Kemba Walker and Dwight Howard. Then, the team can try and make more moves to clear more roster space to maybe sign a veteran like Tony Allen off of waivers, who would be amazing playing alongside Walker. Regardless, the possibility of trading Thomas is at its highest ever in the next three days.
In the end, this Cavaliers season, which may be the last for LeBron James, may be a lost cause and the team may stand firm and hold on to the coveted Nets pick and grab a rookie that may be a future great. The other thing is Thomas supposedly has Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wrapped around his finger and Cavs fans may get used to seeing his mug for the foreseeable future. Before things get worse, Cavs GM Koby Altman should do the right thing and cut away one of the cancers both on and off the floor for the team.
Thankfully he has an expiring contract, and the Cavs do have some ammunition to shift the season back in the right direction. It just hinges on if the team is willing to let go of Thomas after trading away one of the greatest point guards in franchise history for him. If the team cares about winning a title for the second time in three years, they should do the right thing and say goodbye to Thomas.
Follow Us
Subscribe