ESPN NBA insider: Phoenix Suns realized Isaiah Thomas did not fit long ago
Feb 19, 2015, 11:45 PM | Updated: 11:45 pm
Some are viewing the Phoenix Suns’ trade of Isaiah Thomas to the Boston Celtics Thursday as an admission that signing him last summer wasn’t a great idea to begin with.
It was a curious move at the time, especially since the team was already very deep at the point guard position.
Was he supposed to be insurance if restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe ended up not coming back? Maybe, but that idea went out the window when Bledsoe signed a five-year, $70 million contract a couple months after Thomas inked a four-year, $27 million deal with the Suns.
From there, the Suns had a bit of a crowd in their backcourt, with Goran Dragic and Bledsoe the starters and Thomas, who had started for the Sacramento Kings the season before, coming off the bench.
At that point the hope was the trio could co-exist on the floor together, and there were times this season where the three point guard lineup was very effective.
The team traded both Dragic and Thomas Thursday, but according to ESPN NBA insider Chris Broussard, the Suns realized things were not going to work out with all three of them very early on in the process.
“I really like Isaiah Thomas’ game, he can put up numbers — he reminds me of Nate Robinson,” Broussard told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday. “Nobody can deny his ability, but signing him, in my opinion, was a major mistake by that front office.
“And from what I’m told, they were looking to trade him within days or weeks of training camp starting. They just saw that it wasn’t working.”
Broussard said it had nothing to do with Thomas’ personality, as the players and coaches got along with him and liked him, but instead just the way the point guard plays.
The 5-foot-9, 185-pound guard was averaging 15.2 points and 3.7 assists per game, playing 25.7 minutes per contest coming off the bench. He was the team’s third-leading scorer despite averaging the fifth-most minutes, and his 11.1 field goal attempts per game ranked fourth on the team. He attempted 4.5 three-point shots per game, which was the second-highest total on the team.
“The way he plays, he’s a one-on-one player, his head’s down, he’s getting his,” Broussard said. “And that can wear on a team. And obviously, with him and Bledsoe at the point, it just took Dragic out of his game.”
