J-Speaks: I.T. Finally Makes His Cavs Debut

In his 2 ½ seasons with the Boston Celtics, Isaiah Thomas went from the No. 60 overall, and last overall pick in 2011 that the Sacramento Kings, and Phoenix Suns did not want into a two-time All-Star that was a major reason the Celtics be a contender in the Eastern Conference. He became even more beloved when led the Celtics’ playoff run a season ago that ended in five-games in the Conference Finals to the reigning three-time East champion Cleveland Cavaliers, and did so on the heels of his sister Chyna being killed in a one-car crash on Interstate 5 in Federal Way, WA on the eve of that playoff run on Apr. 15, 2017. Thomas’ season concluded in Game 2 of the East Finals when a hip injury, and he was traded in August to the rival Cavs for All-Star Kyrie Irving. Thomas began this season on the shelf rehabbing that injured hip. The question was when he did comeback, would he be anywhere near the player he was. That answer came on Tuesday night. 

In the Cavaliers (25-13) 127-110 win versus the Portland Trail Blazers (19-18), Thomas playing in his first game since Game 2 of the East Finals on May 19, 2017 had 17 points in 19 minutes off the bench in helping the Cavs to their 13^th straight home win, their longest since 2015. He was 6 for 12 from the field, including 3 for 8 from three-point range with three assists. 

In a postgame interview with the Players Only crew of NBATV, Chris Webber, Hall of Famer and two-time champion lead guard of the Detroit Pistons Isiah Thomas, and Hall of Famer Kevin McHale, the younger name sake, who was part of a 61-point bench output by the Cavs said that being back on the hardwood was, “That was Christmas, New Year’s, all of that.”

“I’m blessed. I feel so good right now just because I’ve been down for seven months. So, it’s been a long marathon. It’s been a long journey for me, and I’m finally here. Through all I’ve been through, I just always just kept going. Kept getting in the gym. Kept believing in God. Believing in my faith. Having my faith strong, and everything, and just knew at the end of the day, this is my story, and this is just what it is, and my job is to just keep pushing. Keep grinding, and whatever happens, happens.”

Before he exited the court to adulation from the fans in Quicken Loans Arena with 8:10 left in the game, Thomas was greeted with a hug from four-time league MVP LeBron James, and another from Cavs’ head coach Tyronn Lue, who pulled him close, and offered two of the most wonderful words that described his night, “Welcome back.” 

It has been a long road back for Thomas, who had not played in an NBA game in seven months because of a torn labrum in his hip that concluded his 2017 postseason with the C’s, and became a major road block to his career. 

The 5’9” guard out of the University of Washington, whose inspirational play for the Celtics inspired the team, and the city in the aftermath of his sister’s death used that same fortitude during his long rehab. 

“You don’t really understand it until you can’t play no more,” Thomas said in a candid interview with ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump,” host Rachel Nichols days before his return. 

“There was so many points in the rehab process where it literally drained me. I never had to sit out like this, and really just play the waiting game, and have no time table, or when I’m going to be able to play again. So, to know that it is coming, right around the corner is definitely a relief, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

That hard work, and dedication was rewarded right from the start of his first game on the floor with the Cavs when he checked in at the 4:33 mark of the first quarter, and received a standing ovation, and overwhelming loud cheers from the 20,562 in attendance at “The Q,” for a player who they hope improves the Cavs chances at winning their second title in the last four seasons. 

“It was a special moment,” Thomas said about his first contests with the reigning three-time East champions. “I haven’t played in a game, and you would think I was here for a few years, and playing, and battling in the Finals, with this team. But, it was special for my family to be here, my wife, and kids to see that, that’s genuine love right there. 

While seeing Thomas play at the level he did on Tuesday night may be a surprise to those that watched on television, but it was not a surprise to him. 

He has been beating his detractors who thought he would not even play collegiate ball all his life. It has become his life story. So much so, there was an article in a local paper from his home state of Washington when he was a junior at Curtis High School, “Game Lives Up to His Name.” 

Nichols asked Thomas how having that in his background helped him overcome his hip injury to get back on the hardwood, he answered, “It puts a smile on my face.” 

“It’s going to happen again. My story is story, and it will always end up where I get the last laugh. It’s like, ‘What’s next?’ And, I’m ready for what’s next.”

Thomas had hoped to get that same kind of love long term from the Celtics, but when he was traded for the 25-year-old rising All-Star in Irving, whose game-winning triple in the 2016 Finals gave the city of Cleveland their first professional sports title in the 52 years was genuinely hurt by the fact that he was dealt after all he had given to the team where he played the best basketball of his career, and became a household name. 

Thomas’ hip injury that he sustained in a home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves last season ultimately changed that from happening. 

It was that same mentality that Thomas used his entire basketball career was what put him in the situation where he did end up being traded. 

Thomas said to Nichols that if he had a redo he would have sat out the postseason knowing that he would have been on the court right now helping the Cavs get back to The Finals this season.

“I do wish I had more information,” Thomas said to Nichols about be more informed about the severity of the injury from the former Celtics’ medical staff. “It was never this could be something that can possibly shut you down for a while. [Be]cause if that was the case, I definitely wouldn’t have played, but there was a time for that, and that time people will know what really went on, and well see about it.” 

In an interview on Aug. 22, 2017, Celtics’ General Manager Danny Ainge said one of the reasons Thomas was traded to the Cavs, along with forward Jae Crowder, and center Ante Zicic was because of his injury. Thomas said to Nichols that he was really hurt by that, especially with everything he gave to the team, and the city. 

“You don’t things like that. So, that’s why it hurt,” Thomas said to Nichols about his feelings towards Ainge. “It was a weird situation for him to say one of the reasons he traded me was because of my hip. It’s like, ‘I hurt my hip on your time.’” 

At that time Thomas said that he would never speak to Ainge again, which Thomas has yet to do, and he said to Nichols he has no plans of speaking to him, though he said that he might talk to him one day, but for right now there is no reason to. 

With all that has transpired, Thomas got traded to a team that every player with his talent, and skill would be crying tears of joy to go to. Thomas got dealt to a team that has the best player on the planet in LeBron James, and his former teammate with the Miami Heat, and longtime good friend Dwyane Wade, who he helped to lead to four straight Finals, and two straight titles in their time in South Florida. 

“I think the first time we went to dinner I’m like, ‘I would’ve never thought I would be on the same team with you guys.’ And they started laughing,” Thomas said to the NBATV crew about when he first went to dinner with James, and Wade. “Sometimes you look down the locker room, and you look down, and you see LeBron. You see D-Wade, Kevin Love, and you just like, ‘Man. This is like an All-Star team.’ But at the same time, the respect level. The respect factor is there on all parties, and we make each other better.”

He got traded to an organization in the Cavaliers that he can help achieve their goal of winning another championship, and no one is more excited to have him back than James. 

“When you have a long absence like that, you just want to see one go in,” James, who had 24 points, six boards, and eight assists on Tuesday night said about Thomas’ return. “You want to see one go in. You want to take a fall here, or you want to take someone hit you right where you’ve been injured, and if you can respond to that, then you feel really good about the rest of the game, and all of that happened for him tonight.” 

It was a wonderful return for Thomas to the hardwood, but the real work is still ahead for Thomas, and the Cavaliers. They have 44 games to both get acclimated with each other on both ends of the court. Thomas needs to get up to game speed in terms of his timing with his teammates, as well as with his individual game. Also, Thomas has a big decision to make when this season ends, as he will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. 

He has made it no secret as he told Nichols during NBA Summer League, that he wants to be paid, or as he said, “Back up that Brinks Truck,” meaning he wants a max contract, and he hoped to get that from the Celtics at the time. 

Even with all that has transpired, Thomas said, “I deserve it, and the world is going to see. When I do come back, I’m not going to miss a step. Yes, it might take some time to get my rhythm back up after being out for so long. But, when I do come back 100 percent, and playing the way, I’ve always played, I deserve to be paid as a max player.”

Isaiah Thomas was a player that was the last pick in his draft in 2011. For most of his life, many told him that he could never be a great player in college, let alone the National Basketball Association. In a documentary that aired not too long ago, there were signed posted along the gym walls that said, “Pick Me Last Again.” It is these kinds of things that keep Thomas going. It is what got him through those grueling days of rehab just to get back on the court, which he did as mentioned on Tuesday. He hopes to use this same kind of motivation to not re-gain the form that made him a top-notch scorer, especially in the fourth quarter the prior two seasons to help the Cleveland Cavaliers win it all this June, but to earn a max contract with the Cavs, or another team this off-season, but to also learn to trust another organization to not do what he felt the C’s did to him this summer.  

“I’m still going about it,” Thomas said to Nichols about learning to trust the Cavs whole organization. “I don’t trust anybody because I’ve heard the best you can hear. And then I’ve been through the worst you could’ve been through, but as I build trust in these guys. And as I’m around these guys more, and more each, and every day, these are some good people.” 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 1/2/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump,” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Ramona Shelburne, and Byron Scott; 1/3/18 2:30 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by KIA Motors with Chris Webber, Isiah Thomas, and Kevin McHale; www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameid=400975295; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Thomas_(basketball).