NBA trades aren’t won in the first 24 hours and they are not lost until more than a year passes. Three things happen in the life of a trade. Either a trade serves both organizations, or it destroys both organizations. Or a third option. The trade has a little bit of something something for everyone…
Finally, Isaiah Thomas had his moment. He was able to bask in his tribute video at the Garden. He absorbed all the cheers and reminisced while watching his greatest moments as a pro unfold. He admitted he almost cried. That was how touched he was by the gesture and by what he saw. But, in…
Mile High Isaiah Compared to year’s past, it feels like Isaiah Thomas is forgotten. Far away from the media glare, Thomas is a member of the Denver Nuggets, a team of young guards who like to pass the ball, shoot threes and flex. When they need elite talent to do things, the Nuggets count on…
The Missing Brother On October 20th, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and LeBron James will be on the same basketball court. Three brothers from another mother will be competing to win a game that LeBron James will forever remember, his first game in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles uni. That is the overwhelming story, how James…
Isaiah Thomas’ painful body is like that movie the War of the Roses. At every turn there is abject misery that he has to overcome by working through the suffering. One eye is on the present, one on the future. But the right now just hurts like hell. Like his 2018-19 paycheck. He signed for…
When Kyrie Irving emphatically shocked his employer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with his insistence to run away from LeBron James, something no one has ever publicly said they wanted to do, it turned the NBA world [and the Cavaliers] upside down. First, it erased a myth that players would sell their soul to draw a gasp…
The script is pretty basic. Old team comes to town, team that made you the scapegoat, that blamed you for everything. They are struggling to win without you so perhaps a lot of the blame was premature. Nevertheless, here they are. And here you are. One thing is supposed to happen. You are supposed to…
Fresh off a gentleman’s sweep in last year’s Finals, the Cavs retooled their roster and rebooted their style of play with the additions of Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, and Dwyane Wade. With 17 All-Star appearance between the three, 12 by Wade, it would appear that the Cavs can once again stand toe to toe with…
The three months before this past month, living and crying was the rule of the day. Grief mixed in with competitive fire gave Isaiah Thomas a way through his sadness, a way to dig through a cataclysmic fog. And then, on a perfect day in summer, as if a lost sister and a gimpy hip…
When the Cavs traded for Isaiah Thomas last week they knew he wasn’t the same Isaiah Thomas. He had hip surgery in the offseason. Hip surgeries can be iffy, can go north or south, limiting mobility down the line. Danny Ainge acknowledged that part of the reason he was willing to give up Isaiah, the…