Isaiah Thomas agrees to one-year deal with Wiz

[Ruzious]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2019/7/2/20677954/2019-nba-free-agency-washington-wizards-ish-smith-isaiah-thomas-analysis

Ouch! That was pretty brutal, but mostly accurate. It is true that the team never seemed to accept Sato and always tried to replace him with crappy PGs. We all watched in utter incomprehension as Sato was consistently effective yet consistently benched. If the team had treated him better, I wonder if they could have reached a deal without Sato signing an offer sheet.

The one part I disagree with is this:

As of writing this, a number of other intriguing guards remain available — Emmanuel Mudiay, Rajon Rondo, Quinn Cook and T.J. McConnell, to name a few. None of them are expected to get long-term contracts — and an eight-figure deal like the one Smith got seems rather unlikely for each.

Yet, for some reason, the Wizards pounced at the opportunity to add Smith and Thomas, two point guards who come to Washington who play in a different way than Satoransky did.

I'm not convinced any of those guys would have been all that much better, except maybe Mudiay. Let's face it, the backup PG market is pretty thin this offseason. I agree that we should have been patient and not signed Smith. I'm just saying that it wouldn't have resulted in us having a significantly better stopgap PG running the show, but it might have resulted in us having a cheaper one. A guy like McConnell at 1-year $2.5M would have been better than Ish at 2/$12.

Mudiay's the player I was pushing for. Other than that, yeah there's nobody that would have gotten me excited, so I'm fine with IT as a stop-gap and can't get too unhappy about Ish for 2 seasons - he's limited but plays smart and seems like an on-court leader. Good luck to Sato - I'll definitely root for him.

But the Wiz decided to I$hIT at the PG this season.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/07/10/isaiah-thomas-says-hes-fully-healthy-ready-prove-it-with-wizards/?utm_term=.3642b95cdc2c

[Ruzious]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/07/10/isaiah-thomas-says-hes-fully-healthy-ready-prove-it-with-wizards/?utm_term=.3642b95cdc2c

Yeah, I think people forget that he's only played 47 games the last 2 seasons - and now he's healthy. He was a show-stopper before that - and not just in the 2016-17 season. Ish got the better contract but - for better or worse - I expect IT will end up getting more PT - particularly in 4th quarters. He's 30, not 34 like Livingston, so there could be somesome left in the tank for a couple more years. Put it this way - Sato's 28, and IT is 30. IT's rested and is probably super-motivated - again - for better or for worse.

[JWizmentality]

I fully expect IT to start.

[nate33]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/07/10/isaiah-thomas-says-hes-fully-healthy-ready-prove-it-with-wizards/?utm_term=.3642b95cdc2c

Yeah, I think people forget that he's only played 47 games the last 2 seasons - and now he's healthy. He was a show-stopper before that - and not just in the 2016-17 season. Ish got the better contract but - for better or worse - I expect IT will end up getting more PT - particularly in 4th quarters. He's 30, not 34 like Livingston, so there could be somesome left in the tank for a couple more years. Put it this way - Sato's 28, and IT is 30. IT's rested and is probably super-motivated - again - for better or for worse.

I hope so. It's worth noting that he said he was healthy since February, yet his per-minute stats in Denver since then were a horror show. It could just be a low sample size issue though: 181 minutes of intermittent garbage time isn't much to go on.

[Ruzious]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/07/10/isaiah-thomas-says-hes-fully-healthy-ready-prove-it-with-wizards/?utm_term=.3642b95cdc2c

Yeah, I think people forget that he's only played 47 games the last 2 seasons - and now he's healthy. He was a show-stopper before that - and not just in the 2016-17 season. Ish got the better contract but - for better or worse - I expect IT will end up getting more PT - particularly in 4th quarters. He's 30, not 34 like Livingston, so there could be somesome left in the tank for a couple more years. Put it this way - Sato's 28, and IT is 30. IT's rested and is probably super-motivated - again - for better or for worse.

I hope so. It's worth noting that he said he was healthy since February, yet his per-minute stats in Denver since then were a horror show. It could just be a low sample size issue though: 181 minutes of intermittent garbage time isn't much to go on.

True, players typically start out very slowly coming back from major injuries.

Honestly, I'm not sure it'll be a good thing if IT comes back close to his former self. I'm not sure he'd be good for team chemistry - particularly playing with Beal. Even in his best years, he hasn't been popular with teammates, and his teams haven't fought to keep him.

[nate33]

Yeah, I think people forget that he's only played 47 games the last 2 seasons - and now he's healthy. He was a show-stopper before that - and not just in the 2016-17 season. Ish got the better contract but - for better or worse - I expect IT will end up getting more PT - particularly in 4th quarters. He's 30, not 34 like Livingston, so there could be somesome left in the tank for a couple more years. Put it this way - Sato's 28, and IT is 30. IT's rested and is probably super-motivated - again - for better or for worse.

I hope so. It's worth noting that he said he was healthy since February, yet his per-minute stats in Denver since then were a horror show. It could just be a low sample size issue though: 181 minutes of intermittent garbage time isn't much to go on.

True, players typically start out very slowly coming back from major injuries.

Honestly, I'm not sure it'll be a good thing if IT comes back close to his former self. I'm not sure he'd be good for team chemistry - particularly playing with Beal. Even in his best years, he hasn't been popular with teammates, and his teams haven't fought to keep him.

It's going to be interesting. He certainly seemed like a great teammate in Denver, accepting being benched even after getting healthy. If he is indeed healthy and anywhere near his form of earlier years, It would probably be most appropriate for him to take a role like he had his first year in Boston, as a scoring leader for the second unit.

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

Isaiah Thomas started last night. It was his first start since March 14, 2018.

Isaiah is having a very nice comeback year. So far, in 4 games this season, he is averaging 23.7 points and 11.5 assists per 36 on a so-so TS of .545. Interestingly, that's almost exactly what Wall posted in his best season. Isaiah's defense has been atrocious though.

I don't understand why Brooks started him though. I think the lower-usage Ish Smith is better suited for the starting lineup. Ish is less awful defensively and can at least hope to slow down the opposition's PG. Isaiah should be on the 2nd unit. Opposing 2nd units are less likely to have effective PG's who will exploit IT's bad defense as easily.

[WallToWall]

I don't understand why Brooks started him though. I think the lower usage Ish Smith is better suited for the starting lineup. Ish is less awful defensively and can at least hope to slow down the opposition's PG. Isaiah should be on the 2nd unit

Perhaps the thought was that with Beal and Bonga on the court too, there was enough help defense to somewhat cancel out the detrimental defense that IT provides, and that the "cost" didnt outweigh the "benefit" of having the more prolific offense (scorings, passing, assists). Maybe that will fly with some teams/games in the regular season.

[wall_glizzy]

Isaiah is having a very nice comeback year. So far, in 4 games this season, he is averaging 23.7 points and 11.5 assists on a so-so TS of .545. Interestingly, that's almost exactly what Wall posted in his best season. Isaiah's defense has been atrocious though.

These are per-36 numbers, to be clear.

[Ruzious]

I don't understand why Brooks started him though. I think the lower usage Ish Smith is better suited for the starting lineup. Ish is less awful defensively and can at least hope to slow down the opposition's PG. Isaiah should be on the 2nd unit

Perhaps the thought was that with Beal and Bonga on the court too, there was enough help defense to somewhat cancel out the detrimental defense that IT provides, and that the "cost" didnt outweigh the "benefit" of having the more prolific offense (scorings, passing, assists). Maybe that will fly with some teams/games in the regular season.

I agree that that's part of the logic, and there's also the psychological side. Starting is very important psychologically to IT - probably much moreso than it is to Ish - who's used to coming off the bench and has a 2 year contract. Part of IT's agreement was that the Wiz would help rehab his value - and starting is part of that in IT's mind.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I don’t mind IT sucking on defense. What I do mind is him not trying. And last night, he didn’t even try.

Thank gawd the Pistoni were down to their 4th pg

[pcbothwel]

I don’t mind IT sucking on defense. What I do mind is him not trying. And last night, he didn’t even try.

Thank gawd the Pistoni were down to their 4th pg

i mind on both accords. We're building a culture here... you cant ship out Dwight Howard (Who seems like a great compliment to Bryant) because you want to flush out any possibility of a distraction while also allowing IT to completely take off on one side of the court.

Let him get and stay hot... ship him out to a team that needs playmaking and shooting for an asset.

[closg00]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2861763-i-got-my-joy-back-isaiah-thomas-trip-to-hell-and-back

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Just read the puff piece by Buckner in the Post about IT.

Cmon. Shouldn’t part of the beat reporters’ job descriptions be that they actually watch the game. Essentially the piece was about what a hard worker IT is.

To be branded that, you should at least have to give some, any effort on D. IT is a statue and a short one at that.

[queridiculo]

Having Thomas out there as a starter is a joke.

Talk about putting them team into a hole right from the get.

Im sure the Wizards could have found a more creative way to spend Ish Smith's $12 million if starting him was the plan.

I'd rather have paid Ed Davis....

[nate33]

Having Thomas out there as a starter is a joke.

Talk about putting them team into a hole right from the get.

Im sure the Wizards could have found a more creative way to spend Ish Smith's $12 million if starting him was the plan.

I'd rather have paid Ed Davis....

And if we're stuck playing him because we're trying to boost his trade value, we'd still be much better off bringing him off the bench. It's small sample size theater, but look at his numbers as a starter versus as a bench player:



Likewise, the team looks much better when Isaiah is out there with the bench and not the starters:

I basically used Wagner as a proxy for the bench unit. The bench units are highlighted. The starters are not. Look at the team point differentials when he plays with the bench versus the starters.

[youngWizzy]

They need to end the IT experiment 100%. I'm really confused what the long term picture was here for the front office. Was this a shot called by Ted on behalf of Tommy?

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[youngWizzy]

I'd give Chiozza a shot to play minutes. He's at least a more willing defender than Thomas. There was a play in the game yesterday where Thomas started casually walking back when he saw kemba open for a three. Kemba seemed to be beyond confused and took 5 long seconds to shoot and made it. Thomas won't get us even a 2nd round pick and a buyout probably seems inevitable and the right move to do.

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[Kanyewest]

Likewise, the team looks much better when Isaiah is out there with the bench and not the starters:

Is the same true for Ish?