WALTHAM - You weren't the only one shocked to hear that Isaiah Thomas had taken the fewest shots in Celtics scrimmages over the first several days of training camp.Thomas smiled when asked before yesterday's practice just what is wrong with him.
"I don't know," said the 5-foot-9 (former?) gunner. "I'm sick or something, right? "Honestly, I'm just taking what the defense gives me. Coach had said that to the team yesterday. I was kind of surprised, too, but I'm just really trying to make the right play each and every time down, and that's what it's getting me. Guys are making shots. Other guys are making plays. For me, even in these practices, they're paying me a lot of attention, so I'm just trying to really focus in on making the right play. If I've got the shot or I can score, I'm definitely going to shoot it, but for the most part, if two guys are on me, trying to find that next guy that's open."
But as the Celtics prepared for last night's flight to Europe and games next week in Milan and Madrid, Thomas thought it important to let everyone know he hasn't gone and changed. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "I've still got the same mindset. If I can go get 40, I'm going to go get it. No question about that. But the game's just slowing down for me. I've become more of a student of the game. I watched a lot of film this summer, just seeing where I can get better at. In these practices we've had, it's just making the simple play. Coach always talks about hitting singles and not trying to hit home runs, and I'm really trying to focus in on that."
Which is not to say he's forgotten how to swing for the fences. "Oh, yeah, I'm Ken Griffey in his prime," Thomas said, going with a slugger from his home team, the Mariners. "It's just, for the most part, if you hit singles, you can still get on base. So that's what he (Brad Stevens) said. Don't just try to go for the home run play.
"But like you say, I've always tried to hit the home run, because at the end it makes the story a lot better. But the game is slowing down for me, like I keep saying, and I think that's just going to make me an overall better player at the end of the day. "If I want to be great like I want to be, you've got to learn those types of things. And when he said that one day, it kind of hit me. He didn't say it directly to me, but he said it to the team. Like, hitting singles is good, too. We don't always have to hit the home run. I really focused in on that, and this whole training camp I've just been trying to make the simple play, the right play.
"But at times you've definitely got to try to go for the home run," Thomas went on. "You get out sometimes, and you make a highlight sometimes. So for the most part just trying to become a more complete basketball player." That sharing approach may be a little more difficult when Thomas is asked to come off the bench and inject quick offense into the operation.
"It can be," he said, "because, I mean, if you do come off the bench, you've got to be ready from the jump. You don't have that first five or six minutes to just really let the game come to you. So it's all about just making the right play and reading what the defense gives you. If I can score each and every time down, like one of my old coaches told me, go and score 100 points. If that's the right play each and every time down, do it. But if the right play is to make the pass to your teammate each and every time down, you need to do that as a point guard."
What's most important is winning, and Thomas was determined to provide the punctuation for yesterday's chat. "I think training camp's more about learning and then competing," he said. "And I do want to let you know I'm undefeated in all the scrimmages. No matter what team Brad puts me on, I haven't lost yet. That's where I get excited, when we're competing and scrimmaging and getting up and down. Whoever's on my team, we're winning. That's what I tell guys. Whoever's on the opposite team, look forward to losing that day, because I'm not going to lose."
David Lee feigned disbelief and a little anger when apprised of the comments.
"We would hear about it if that was true," he said. "They won (Thursday's) scrimmage, I think, or part of it. But you know what? Come on. No one's undefeated right now. We've flip-flopped teams every day. You know, it bothers me that he would say that. I'm going to take that up with him immediately when I get done here."
It is presumed Thomas made the right play when confronted.
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