On February 8, 2016, the Celtics played at home against the Sacramento Kings. That day coincided with the 27th birthday of Greenshirts defender Isaiah Thomas.
In that game, Thomas Jr. scored 9 of 22 points in the final 1 minute and 50 seconds of the game. With 27.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Thomas Jr. stepped onto the free throw line and hit two key free throws to seal the win for the team.
At this time, the Celtic fans on the scene sang a birthday song for Thomas Jr. At that moment, the North Shore Garden Arena became the scene of Thomas Jr.'s birthday party.
Between the timeouts that followed, Thomas Jr. got up to thank the fans. After the game, Thomas Jr. tweeted: "Thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes to me, thank you to everyone! #27岁. ”
At the age of 27, Isaiah Thomas found his place in the city of Boston. On January 29, 2016, in the league's announcement of the 65th Toronto All-Star bench, Thomas Jr.'s name was prominently listed. With years of unremitting efforts, Isaiah Thomas proved his worth to all those who once looked down on him.
All the way to the present, Isaiah Thomas's journey trekked through mountains and waters. It wasn't just coming to Boston from Phoenix, it was also his entry into the NBA League.
In the summer of 2011, the annual NBA Draft was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Despite the league's face of a shutdown crisis, teams are still enthusiastic about the draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who had a winning pick, picked Kyrie Irving with the first pick, Derrick Williams from the University of Arizona, was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the second pick in the first round, the Utah Jazz chose Innes Kanter with the third pick in the first round, and the Turks became the Tantrum of the year... The draft went on in an orderly manner.
Isaiah Thomas's draft night didn't settle until the last minute. It wasn't until the 60th overall pick in the second round that Thomas Jr. heard his name appear on the radio at the Prudential Center Arena. Yes, he was selected by the Sacramento Kings and was the last rookie to be elected that year.
The reason for all this is that he is only 5 feet 9 inches tall. In the eyes of too many people, Thomas Jr. is too short to adapt to the NBA level game.
And Thomas never gave up, he kept fighting, he kept trying to prove to those who questioned it — I could.
Before attending the Kings' training camp, Thomas wasn't even guaranteed to stay on the team's roster. But with extraordinary efforts, Thomas gradually won the trust of the coach in the team and found his own position. Soon after, Thomas made his way into the Kings' starting lineup. Since then, his career has officially begun to blossom.
How much of a rookie who was selected with the 60th pick play in his debut season? Ginobili, who was selected with the 57th overall pick, is a gold in the low pick, but his rookie season averaged less than 8 points per game. Michael Reid was also selected at the end of the second round, but averaged just 2.22 points per game in his rookie season. Thomas Jr. averaged 11.5 points per game while also delivering 4.1 assists in his rookie season.
Thomas Jr.'s performance is statistically comparable to agent zero's performance in his debut season, but Aritus is known as the second selected player in the second round of the 2001 draft, that is, in the thirtieth pick. Compared to the two, Thomas's starting point was more than a little lower than that of Aritus.
In the Kings' final season, third-year Thomas averaged a career-high 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. In the summer that followed, Thomas knocked on the door of the free agency as a restricted free agent.
4 years and 28 million, in the end, Thomas chose to sign such a contract with the Suns. To the surprise of many, the Kings let Go of Thomas with plenty of money and instead chose to replace him with Darren Collison.
The Suns signed Thomas to form an attacking combination of three defenders alongside Bradsoe and Dragic. While the team's idea was great, it backfired. Because of the distribution of the ball, the Suns sent Dragic first, and then Thomas to Boston, in exchange for Marcus Thornton and a 2016 first-round pick.
Angie, a man who had coveted Thomas, seized the opportunity this time, and he got Thomas while giving away only one of the expiring contracts and a whole bunch of draft picks.
In Boston, Thomas Jr. found his place.
There have been rumors in the league that Thomas's attitude is problematic and will cause friction in the locker room. But in Boston, people have never heard of this problem.
Guided by the excellent system built by coach Brad Stevens, Thomas's on-field performance has improved all the way. Perhaps, as an NBA player, Thomas's physical fitness is not much of an advantage, but his style of playing is undoubtedly in line with the standards of a new era defender. With superior speed and breakthrough, he became a defender's nightmare. His small physique makes him not easily delayed by defenders, and his clever way of playing makes his movements not easily seen and predicted by defenders. He undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the defenders. He can reach the inside and make room for himself to shoot, or destroy his opponent's defense and properly deliver the ball into his teammates.
At one point last season, he was a strong contender for the sixth man of the year. It was also under his leadership that the Greenshirts unexpectedly broke into the playoffs and cut thorns for the team on the road to reconstruction.
This season, Thomas's performances have gone further. He averaged 32.3 minutes per game and had 21.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists. On January 29, 2016, in the league's announcement of the 65th Toronto All-Star bench, Thomas Jr.'s name was prominently listed.
In this way, Thomas Jr. became the second player in NBA history to be successfully elected an All-Star at 1.75 meters or less, the last being Rockets guard Calvin Murphy, who was named an All-Star in 1979.
"You don't want to just be an All-Star," Thomas said, "I want me to go in every year, I have so many things to improve, I'm still young, I have to keep going, I want to win championships." ”
Before the All-Star roster was announced, Jet Jason Terry wrote a paper canvassing for Thomas Jr. When Thomas Jr. was in sixth grade, Terry had known him. In the article, Terry recalls:
I remember one night when I came home from practice it was a little late - it was about nine o'clock, so it was almost pitch black outside - and when I walked into the house I heard something banging on the outside side of the house. I was thinking, is someone trying to break into my house? Later I found out it was Thomas Jr. He was training his shots in the dark, and he was using the wall on the side of the house to pass the ball to himself. I used to be a basketball teenager next door like Thomas Jr., practicing outside until the streetlights came on. But he seems to work harder, and that will always motivate me. This is his passion for basketball that has not been extinguished to this day. That's why he can do it all.