I hope people appreciate what they're seeing in this guide he is a super special player in 2017 a five foot nine Isaiah Thomas was an All-Star and all NBA player and finished top five in MVP voting a year later he was one of the least efficient players offensively and the worst defender in the NBA here's the story of Isaiah Thomas his unlikely road to the top of the NBA and how the Celtics misdiagnosed the injury that ruined his career foreign [Applause] Thomas's father was a Lakers fan and he hated Isaiah Thomas the legendary Pistons point guard but after he lost a bet with a Pistons fan James Thomas had to name his son after Isaiah but with an extra a in his name and just like his father young Isaiah caught the basketball bug even though he was the smallest player on every Court Isaiah always wanted to become an NBA player and he spent all of his time playing ball because of his size his parents tried to limit his time on the court his dad admitted that he tried several extremely unsuccessful attempts to make him quit he would often take Isaiah to the playgrounds to hoop with adult men in order to harden him and make him tougher but also because he wanted his son to reconsider basketball and think about a plan B Isaiah however was not interested in anything but plan a he was doing just fine against the adults when he got knocked down he got back up and relentlessly attacked the basket again and again Isaiah always pushed himself extra hard against taller and stronger opponents and in his Junior and senior years of high school he was averaging 30 per game in his three years at the University of Washington Isaiah made the all-conference team each year averaging 16 points four rebounds and four assists in 105 games as a Husky and then in the 2011 NBA draft his dream came true the Sacramento Kings select Isaiah Thomas from the University of Washington and never give up never get discouraged I stay on the right path Thomas was drafted with the final pick of the draft and 60th overall but that didn't matter to Isaiah he didn't care that he was drafted last as long as he got the opportunity to prove people wrong like he did all of his life the 60th pick was just a number every year I had to fight that battle of okay I'm better than this guy and I'ma show you the Sacramento Kings were not known for great draft choices but they were the only ones who believed that this five foot nine short guy could play in the NBA foreign Against All Odds the king struck goal after a couple of months Thomas won the starting spot which he would never let go by his third season Isaiah became the shortest player in NBA history to average 20 points and six assists per game that season he also became the shortest guy to ever record a triple-double with 24 points 11 assists and 10 rebounds against the wizards but then the Kings started doing King's things and they traded I. T to the Phoenix Suns for a bag of chips Thomas's stinton Phoenix was short and he was traded mid-season as it was quite unclear why he was even brought to a team that already had two starting caliber point guards in Goran dragic and Eric Bledsoe but the next stop was the right one Boston is a city that knows how to win and loves players with a fighting Spirit the night he got traded from Phoenix to the Celtics I texted him and I said this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to your basketball career it seems crazy to hear that from a guy that was a big rival of the South ticks and back then he didn't want anything to do with the Celtics with 16 points and four assists Off the Bench Isaiah was second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting and was the best Celtics player in a first round playoff loss against the Cavs but the best was yet to come in the following 2015-16 NBA season it became a permanent starter and played every game he led Boston in scoring and assists with career-high 22 points and 6. 2 dimes per game Thomas gets loose with a scoop earning the call to his first All-Star Game Thomas became the lowest draft pick to be named an All-Star since the NBA draft was reduced to two rounds he also became only the ninth player under six feet to be named an All-Star while also tying Calvin Murphy as the shortest All-Star ever the Celtics finished fifth in the East but they fell behind two nothing in the first round of the playoffs against the Hawks then in game three it scored a career-high 42 points the players who scored 40 points in Celtics history and led the Celtics to a 111-103 win he became only the ninth Celtic to score 40 points in a playoff game with 28 points in game four Thomas helped the Celtics even the series at 2-2 however that's all Boston can muster as the Hawks won the next two games and the series but the Celtics coach Brad Stevens saw greatness in Isaiah and his playoff success prompted Stevens to organize the entire offense around it and his unique talents it was a system built on positional fluidity where the entire team worked super hard to secure the space for Thomas to attack and use his quickness defensively Stevens tried to hide Thomas on the weak side as much as possible Stevens put the entire reins of the team in Isaiah's hands and it proved to be an excellent move as Thomas was a fantastic system playmaker who led the Celtics well-oiled machine to Greatness it averaged a career-high 28.
9 points on career-based shooting splits putting his name in the record books in several categories his 33-point average in January was just the third time a Celtic averaged over 30 points in a month he was also just the sixth Boston player with over 2 000 points in a season and he broke the franchise record with 43 straight games over 20 points as well as the record for points in the fourth quarter against the Heat it dropped an unreal 29 Points in the fourth and a career-high 52 points [Applause] 52 points a franchise record 29 in the fourth quarter you were Unstoppable what does that feel like a blessing from God I mean you dream about things like that especially playing for the Celtics get MVP chance all the great players that did it before me and I'ma just keep going and then and I can't say enough about my teammates and my coach for putting me in position to do the things that I do he made the All-Star and second all NBA team becoming the shortest ever player to make an all-nba team in one way it was a dream season in another it was an absolute nightmare because that same year two events absolutely crushed Isaiah both professionally and personally just one day before playoffs began tragic news affecting Boston Celtics star Isaiah Thomas his sister was killed in a one-car accident early Saturday morning according to Washington State Police Chyna Thomas died at the scene on on Interstate 5 in Federal Way She was 22 years old no word on the cause of the crash man I'm just taking it day by day I'm not some days are better than others but I'm not here man like it's never gonna do the same tragic loss of his 22 year old sister China Isaiah was devastated as he just lost his baby sister and his biggest supporter throughout his whole career for the first time in his life Isaiah wanted to quit and didn't love basketball anymore but somehow he managed to play with tears in his eyes his mind elsewhere and his teammate Avery Bradley had to hold him not to collapse crying on the court with Isaiah in that state the Celtics lost the first two games of the series against Chicago even though it played exceptionally well under the circumstances but then it decided to shake it off and Channel all his energy to honor his late sister the Celtics never looked back after that and won the next four games in the series with Thomas leading both teams and points just before the start of the second round it attended his sister's funeral the entire Boston Celtics family is deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Chyna Thomas and that this time we ask you to please join us in a moment of silence in her honor and on the very same day he flew back to Boston to play the first game of the second round against Washington in game one against the Wizards Thomas lost a front tooth following an inadvertent elbow from Otto Porter the new smile for Isaiah Thomas requiring surgery to replace it he played through all that and finished the game with 33 points and nine assists leading the Celtics to Victory but what happened in the next game was something even more extraordinary and it was easily one of the best performances in NBA history Thomas scored 53 points the second highest total in Celtics playoff history helping Boston to win 129 119 in overtime and take a 2-0 lead in the series Isaiah where is this coming from man where is this coming from it's my sister it's our birthday today happy birthday she would have been 23 today so everything I do is for her my sister wouldn't want me to stop the only thing about it is once I leave this gym I hit reality and she's not here it was Unreal how this average five foot nine man kept driving amongst the trees finishing through contact and how his quickness and shiftiness drove the Wizards crazy it scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and nine in OT showing that he was the most clutch player in the NBA at the time he became only the fifth Celtic to score 50 or more points in a post-season game missing John havlicek's team record by one point his fearlessness heart and grit won the heart of the Boston crowd and the entire Sports World but the Wizards wouldn't go away and they pushed the series to Game 7 where Isaiah once again came to the rescue he led the Celtics with 29 Points and 12 assists to a 115-105 win and a 4-3 series Victory finishing the series with seven assists on average and 27 points while his personal life was falling apart he was at the top of the basketball world but then and the basketball would also fall off a cliff it managed to play just two games in the Eastern Conference Finals where he only scored 19 points on horrendous 22 shooting before he was shut down for the series and the rest of the season it was all because of his ailing hip an injury he nursed and played true throughout the playoffs and the final few months of the regular season the Celtics claimed that the original injury occurred on March 15 2017 against Minnesota when Carl Anthony towns fell on it's back pressing the small Point guard's body even further into the hardwood however Thomas got up and played the rest of the game in the following months the injury would be aggravated and re-aggravated over and over again as it tried to push through the pain after consultation with Specialists and team doctors Thomas decided not to undergo surgery on the labral tear in his hip throughout the playoffs instead focusing on rest and Rehabilitation to be available for the team he suffered through a great deal of pain 7 say it's a marathon like we're not going to be able to score 30 points tomorrow like but we will again but it played through it while the injury kept getting worse when he was finally shut down for the season his hip had gotten so bad that he could barely walk even after the Celtics lost to the Cavs in the Eastern finals the Celtics doctors advised Thomas to rest and avoid surgery then in early August another shock for it and every Celtic fan I missed this call then he asked me how I was doing and then like it got a little quiet he broke it to me he's like well I T I just traded you their favorite player got traded to Cleveland for Kyrie Irving during Thomas's physical examination the Cavaliers doctors raised concerns about the health of Thomas's previously injured hip saying that it had been playing through numerous issues in his hip for several seasons such as arthritis and loss of cartilage because of his poor test results the Celtics agreed to send the Cavs in extra second round pick to complete the trade while Thomas himself vowed to return to full health because of his injury it missed the first few months of the season but when he finally returned he was a shell of his former self Thomas's success was largely reliant on skills that heavily tied to quickness agility and explosiveness he used hesitations and quick moves to create space off the dribble actions that require significant hit movement with a hip that wasn't fully healed it's first step was gone and without that burst of speed to create separation all of his magic disappeared he became ineffective one-on-one and within the Cavs static offense he didn't have the entire team to work for him and allow him to dance in the pick and roll on every possession but what was even worse was the defense the Cavs overall incompetence and carelessness on defense only exposed Isaiah's huge deficits on that end of the floor Thomas's defense was bad to the extent that he completely gave up on providing any kind of defensive effort and was easily the worst defender in the entire NBA uninspired performances on the floor loss of speed and inability to navigate the new system soon turned Thomas into the most toxic person in the Cav's locker room constant bickering complaining and calling out all teammates for not making an effort culminated when he attacked Kevin Love for not playing at the end of the game against the Thunder due to a mental health issue I think when you lose some of that explosiveness at his size I think he wanted to do so great so fast there's no bad blood between me and Kevin Love we go back to Fitness is great I asked the question where he was and it was never clarified if he was the player he was with the Celtics his behavior might have been tolerated but it himself played terrible basketball he seemed to be slowly giving up on the team and the team was slowly giving up on him Thomas's time in Cleveland can be best explained by LeBron's game-winner against the Timberwolves and the whole team rushed up to congratulate including Isaiah but while LeBron celebrated with the rest of the team he ignored Thomas like an ex-girlfriend at 3am in the club after that the writing was on the wall and the disgruntled I. T was soon traded to the Lakers the Cavs sent him to Los Angeles after only 15 games and had to pay the Lakers a first-round pick to do so with the Lakers Isaiah continued his Bleak form shooting just 38 percent from the floor and not playing much better than he did with the Cavs before the end of the season he finally opted to have that hip surgery which was supposed to get him to 100 in his final season with the Celtics Isaiah had told the reporters that he expected a Max contract I mean I'm a match guy so I desire of the match and that the Celtics would have to unload a Brinks truck in front of his house but just one year later after the 32 games he played with the Cavs and the Lakers Thomas became a free agent but due to his injuries not only did he not get a Max contract he was only able to sign a one-year two million dollar veteran minimum deal with the nuggets and that would have been fine if Thomas had been able to return to his usual form scoring over 20 points and being unguardable in the fourth quarter but that Isaiah was gone in Denver he averaged only 15 minutes per game scoring just eight points on 34 shooting when he played Denver's net rating went from plus 5. 4 to minus 5.
