Post by jhb on May 10, 2021 14:12:21 GMT -5
Isaiah Thomas
PG
5'9"
185
22
Washington
A guy many teams may foolishly overlook because of his lack of size, Thomas forced scouts to take a second look with a big junior season where he showed tremendous improvement in his game in multiple areas.
Many teams had completely written him off because he was seemingly a 5'8", 160lb shooting guard (he measured in better than this at the combine, to the delight of scouting departments everywhere) who was masquerading as a point guard by simply using all of his teams possessions on offense. However, that changed in a big way when Thomas put a big emphasis on improving his passing and being a true point for his team...he improved his assist totals without creating significantly more turnovers than he had before and in turn started to show much better shot selection and efficiency all around. While he's still prone to over-dribbling or forcing highlight reel-type passes or taking ridiculous end of clock shots, he's a much more grounded player than he was in his first two seasons of college, where he just showed an uncanny ability to create offense for a man his size.
While his size will make it tougher for him to do what he did in college at the next level, there is some hope he will translate because he has added a lot of good weight and is very strong for his size. He's shown the ability to use his body well to screen the ball from longer defenders and at times even bullied much larger players to finish through contact and get to the free throw line. He has excellent leaping ability, even off-balance, that allows him to elevate and create more space for himself to finish inside. His ball fakes and superb quickness make it tough for defenders to stay in front of him and he has a tendency to "get lost in the trees" and find a way to get open around the rim.
Unfortunately, his size will continue to be a liability defensively at the next level as he simply just won't be able to hold up with some TMBSL PGs that are over half a foot taller than him with the same athleticism. He will need to play alongside some good help defenders to make sure you reap the benefits of his offensive ability without suffering for his inability to defend. While you'd expect that he not contribute on the boards at all, he was fairly tenacious at attempting to do his part in college so he might end up at least being average in this department (although the size should temper your already low expectations here, for sure).
While he's a three-year college player, Thomas has shown he's still working hard to improve his game based on his last season in college so he may still have some room to grow and improve left.
