On Thursday night, the Boston Celtics found themselves in the same position as they did in 2012, losing to the best player in the world in LeBron James as their season came to an end.
In both cases, it presented a feeling that change was on the horizon, as the Celtics came to the same realization that their current star power was simply not good enough.
Back in 2012, an aging Celtics roster fell to James, who was then orchestrating his rule with the Miami Heat. Their defeat gave way for Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, to look towards the future, hoping that the King’s eventual downfall would naturally correlate with his age.
He made a gamble by trading away his prized possessions in Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for a bevy of picks from the Brooklyn Nets, which turned into chances to land in the lottery. A little over a week ago that gamble paid off with the Celtics now holding the first pick in the 2017 Draft.
Everything between 2012 and 2017 has been a luxury for the Celtics faithful, who have watched their team both rebuild and compete simultaneously.
What Ainge envisioned has come to life, and as a result Boston hasn’t had to go through the same awful rebuilds as teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers. Along the way, he’s made countless moves to overhaul the Celtics’ roster, with Avery Bradley being the only remaining player from their 2012 ECF roster.
Of all his moves, trading for Isaiah Thomas in 2015 gave the Celtics a chance to remain competitive while also staying flexible in terms of cap space. Ainge took a gamble on a 5-foot-9 point guard who improbably led them to the Eastern Conference’s first seed this season.
However, against the Cavaliers in the 2017 playoffs, it was apparent that Thomas wasn’t the answer, something that Ainge might have already have known when he initially brought him to Boston.
Ainge’s grand plan starting in 2012 was always set on the distant future and this summer he’s on track to complete his rebuild. With the first-overall pick he’s likely to select consensus top prospect Markelle Fultz, a potential generational-type player who, like Thomas, is a point guard.
It’s just one of the reasons why Thomas’ tenure with the Celtics might just ultimately be a placeholder for eventual greatness to come.
But the biggest reason why it’s safe to question Thomas’ future with the Celtics now more than ever is because he’ll be hitting the free agent market in 2018. Knowing he’s due for a substantial pay raise after making roughly $7 million this past season, the Celtics’ decision is two-fold:
Should they really pay an undersized one-way player at least $25 million per year when the goal is beating the King?
Or should they continue with Ainge’s rebuild model by trading Thomas at the deadline next season to get even more assets to add to a core that already includes Bradley, Marcus Smart, last year’s 3rd overall pick in Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and an incoming franchise point guard from the upcoming 2017 draft?
The second option seems a lot more realistic, considering the King will then be in his 19th season in the league. By then it’s safe to think James will actually be on his decline, while that young core will also by then have five years of experience under their belt.
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Trading Thomas wouldn’t be a knock on the all-star point guard. To deny he’s a special talent would be foolish. To deny Thomas has established himself as a Boston legend would be equally foolish.
But Ainge has proven in the past that he values winning over everything. He proved that when he decided to trade Garnett and Pierce, two players who delivered the Celtics their first Championship in over 20 years.
That 2012 trade wasn’t even an uncharacteristic move of Ainge. Back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, the former dual athlete even encouraged the Celtics’ front office to trade Larry Bird and Kevin McHale after the iconic duo had delivered three Championships to the city of Boston.
His reasoning was logical, yet, as always, ruthless: Bird and McHale were old, and the Celtics needed to act at that moment to be able to capitalize on their value to have a chance to start a successful and quick rebuild— something he had the opportunity of doing in 2012 with a different set of players.
Bird, McHale, Pierce and Garnett all shared the same flaws: their age and health. He viewed them as limitations, as the former duo didn’t have enough in the tank to compete against teams like the Bad Boy Pistons, Showtime Lakers, and soon the up-and-coming Jordan-led Bulls.
The latter duo faced the same problem Thomas’ Celtics face right now, which is trying to get past LeBron James. Instead of Thomas’ age being his limitation, it’s unfortunately his height at 5-foot-9.
To point to Game 3, the only game the Celtics were able to win against the Cavaliers in the 2017 postseason, is irrelevant. Yes, Thomas didn’t play, but that win came at the hands of a miraculous night from Marcus Smart, who hit seven three-pointers.
But Thomas’ height has proven to be a limitation throughout the entire Celtics season. Throughout the regular season, he was dead last amongst point guards in defensive real plus-minus, a stat that shows how much better or worse a team is with a player on the court.
Thomas’ average of 28.9 points throughout the regular season did help his overall impact on the floor. But come the playoffs, when every weakness is exploited, his defensive liabilities were too much for the Celtics to make up for against squads like the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose shortest starter was Kyrie Irving, who is still six inches taller than Thomas.
It seemed no matter the opponent the Celtics were constantly forced to try to find places where they could hide Thomas on defence, which severely hurt them at times.
Winning with a player who’s six-feet or shorter in your starting lineup is practically impossible in the NBA. The only recent occasion is when the Dallas Mavericks point guard JJ Barea, who’s listed at three inches taller than Thomas, started three games in the 2011 Finals against, oddly enough, LeBron James.
It was a move that worked for a couple reasons. First off, the Mavericks had enough defensive monsters on the court in Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Tyson Chandler to provide support. And secondly, James was suffering a mental meltdown as a villain, something that only happens once every 14 years in his career.
To think it’ll happen again, against a Boston team the King has dominated in the past five years, would be a foolish bet even if, like Ainge, you’re known for taking the occasional risky gamble.
The most realistic option for Thomas and the Celtics is a move to the bench to be able provide a spark as a sixth man. But knowing he’s established himself as a two-time all-star and a 30-point scorer, that would be a tough move to sell.
Instead, it just might be time for the Celtics and Thomas to have a mutual breakup, content that they’ve become better versions of themselves than when they originally joined forces.
