What Makes Isaiah Thomas So Good?

Hint: It’s not carrying the basketball

CSNNE.com

After Isaiah Thomas completely torched the Chicago Bulls in Game 4 of the first round, Fred Hoiberg decided to voice to the media that Thomas is impossible to guard because he can discontinue his dribble and “carry” the ball. Thomas was asked about this, and wasn’t very concerned, saying that it’s “not why I’m impossible to guard.”

Hoiberg’s comments are quite ridiculous. Mostly due to the fact that he has his own pair of players (Wade and Butler) that are hard to guard, and carry the ball as well. Even though this is basically a coach whining after paying the price for making no adjustments between losses. But it still begs the question of what makes Thomas so impossible to stop, because it certainly isn’t the carrying.

Sporting News

Aggressiveness

You can have all the skills, but it won’t get you anywhere without the right mentality. Even though Thomas is a 5'9" point guard, it doesn’t stop him from scoring from anywhere on the floor. The most effective part of his offensive game is his drive to the basket. He is a fearless competitor that doesn’t care who’s in front of him on the floor because he’s going to get where he wants, no matter what.

Thomas is consistently the smallest player on the court, but takes it into the paint more than most point guards in the NBA. Here are the percentages of field goals some of the top point guards take around the basket:

Isaiah Thomas: 33%

Stephen Curry: 21.9%

Damian Lillard: 26.9%

Kyrie Irving: 26.4%

A third of Thomas’ field goal attempts come within three feet of the rim, yet he’s so small. Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game this season, so that style of play certainly did not hurt his numbers.

Downtown

Quickness and Dribble Moves

Since it’s pretty clear that Thomas wants to get to the rim, how does he do it? Bigger players should be able to contain him with length and their athletic abilities, right? So, so wrong.

Thomas may be the quickest guard in the NBA. What gets hidden behind his small size is that he is a terrific athlete. He can blow by defenders with a quick first step and elevate into bigs to take away their size advantage. And since he’s so small, he can split any double team. This forces the screen defender to over commit, opening more passing lanes.

What sets Thomas apart are his dribble moves. His hesitations are unstoppable. No, not because he carries, but because he knows exactly when to change speeds. Once Thomas gets a defender on his hip, it’s over. Good luck trying to get in front of him again because he’ll keep stopping and going until he scores.

Thomas also has this nifty move where he turns his back to the defender to make it look like he’s stopping to go the other way, but before you know it, he bursts to the basket and is at the rim getting another two points.

Improved Shooting

Thomas has always had the ability to get into the paint and score, but his ability to knock down outside shots has vastly improved this season. Here are his three point shooting numbers from the last two seasons:

2015–16: 35.9% in 5.7 attempts per game

2016–17: 37.9% in 8.5 attempts per game

Thomas’ rise in scoring this season can be accredited to his improved shooting numbers. Defenders have to respect his ability outside, so it has reopened driving lanes that Thomas loves to exploit. This year Thomas has completed his offensive skill set, and he can only get better from here on out.

Dirty Water Media

Intangibles

The main reason why Thomas is unstoppable to guard is his heart. It’s why he has developed into a superstar player in the NBA. The competitiveness of Thomas is up their with the all-time greats. He is David in a game of Goliath’s, and the Goliath’s have no answer for him. Coaches have tried to game plan a defense to stop Thomas from controlling the game, but he has always found a way around it.

A day before the first game of the playoffs against the Bulls, Thomas found out that he lost his little sister in a car accident. Everyone would have understood if he decided to miss a game or two to mourn her death, but Thomas didn’t miss a game. He has played all four games against the Bulls, averaging 25.5 points per game and inspiring his teammates along the way.

So no, Fred Hoiberg, Thomas is not impossible to guard because he carries. He’s impossible to guard because he has all the tools and the heart of a lion that won’t allow anyone to stand in his way. If Thomas takes exception to those comments, I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes off to send the Bulls packing in this series they thought was won.

As long as Boston has Thomas, they have a chance against anyone. If his left hand was broken I’d be confident in him scoring 20 points. There aren’t many players like him in the league, so he deserves the term “special” to describe his overall basketball ability.