Ryan McDonough made quite the admission during a radio interview yesterday, when the Suns general manager said it was a mistake to trade Isaiah Thomas to the Celtics last season. The Suns have lost 13 games in a row, and Thomas continues to win games for the Celtics, last night with 27 points and seven assists, including a behind-the-head pass to Jae Crowder in the corner for a game-clinching 3-pointer.
The Celtics guard smiled quietly when asked about McDonough's regret.
"I mean, it's cool. I'm starting to get more and more respect, I guess," Thomas said after the Celtics' 112-107 win over Milwaukee. "It felt good to hear him finally say that. Like I always say, I'm focused here on the Celtics. I'm not focused on what happened in the past. When I seen that this morning, it was nice to see somebody say something like that."
With the exception of the Celtics and his time at the University of Washington, Thomas has felt overlooked in most of his stops. "I did," he said of his stay in Phoenix. "I always do. I've always felt overlooked. Ever since the All-Star selection, guys were kinda liking what I do out here."
But now that he's an All-Star, he has a new goal.
"My next goal is that I want to be All-NBA," he said. "I always try to find things to motivate me. I'm a goal-orientated guy who tries to reach all of the goals. That's my next step."
Roster on hold
If the Celts do indeed fill the opening on their roster, it will be with a player who meets a very particular set of coach Brad Stevens requirements. "I think the biggest thing is just any time you're talking about winning in this league right now, I think versatility is huge," the Celtics coach said.
"Certainly shooting's a big deal. All those things come into play. Obviously with Kelly ( Olynyk ) out interior help is something that you'd have to consider, but hopefully he's not out too long. "So there's all kinds of things you could go through and look at but I think when you're talking about a team like us, if we choose to look at that last roster spot, I think the versatility stands out more than anything else."
The local radar lit up once Brooklyn bought out Joe Johnson yesterday. As for whether the Celts are interested in their former rookie, Stevens had a very predictable response. "I'm not allowed to talk about individuals. That's something that Danny ( Ainge is) looking at, Danny's trying to figure out," he said. "We talk about it occasionally but like I said before, we haven't been in any rush to fill that spot. And we'll fill it if we need to, but sometimes those things happen as a result of injuries. Sometimes those things happen as a result of need. I think that each team has its own particular needs, and I think that we've got some that we could potentially benefit from using that last roster spot. But we'll see."
Now that the Celtics are pursuing a high conference playoff seed, they could be in line for some veteran help at a variety of positions, including an inside player or another shooter. "I'm not going to talk about whether or not a veteran, young . . . I just think if we add to it, it will be to help our team with increased versatility," said Stevens. "Otherwise there would be no reason to add somebody just to add somebody."
A ticket to fly
Evan Turner was part of an interesting promotion involving the Celtics' partnership with JetBlue last Tuesday. Turner and assistant coach Walter McCarty boarded a flight that arrived at Logan Airport from Fort Lauderdale, and after a brief introduction, started handing out free tickets to the surprised passengers, as Lucky the Leprechaun was doing flips near the front of the parked jet. Passengers seemed fine with this Celtics takeover, except for one elderly woman, who had a request of Turner. "She asked me if she could please just get off the plane," he said.
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