Boston Celtics: Can Isaiah Thomas Make An All-NBA Team?
Isaiah Thomas is having a career year for the Boston Celtics, but are his numbers enough to land him a spot on an All-NBA Team?
The Boston Celtics only have one All-Star on their roster, and he is 5-foot-9. Isaiah Thomas is having the best year of his career, and one of the big reasons why is that Boston has made him a permanent starter.
He is averaging 32.5 minutes per game this season; for his career he has averaged 29.1 minutes. Thomas has been sensational for the Celtics as the primary playmaker and scorer. He leads the team in scoring (22.4 PPG) and assists (6.4 per game), even though he’s only averaging 16.9 points and 5.0 assists per game for his career.
Thomas is fourth among point guards in scoring and he is ninth amongst point guards in assists per game. He is only behind Stephen Curry (30.1 PPG), Damian Lillard (25.8 PPG) and Russell Westbrook (23.7 PPG) in scoring, which is rather impressive.
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Curry, Westbrook and possibly Lillard are all going to be on an All-NBA team. There are five spots for every All-NBA team and there are three teams, traditionally including two backcourt players and three frontcourt players. The team does not have to make logical sense though, as they can select two point guards in the backcourt, and they can pick some combination of forwards and centers in the frontcourt.
Last year, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMarcus Cousins and Pau Gasol made up the All-NBA Second Team. It does not truly go by position, it really goes by how well the players played for the season and whether they are considered a backcourt or frontcourt player.
So, Isaiah Thomas is the best player on the Celtics, and he is certainly becoming one of the better point guards in the NBA, but has he done enough this season to make an All-NBA Team?
Thomas’s Outlook
There are 10 games left in the NBA season for Thomas to keep up his impressive play and make a run for an All-NBA team. If he were to make an All-NBA team, it would definitely be the Third Team because players like Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and James Harden are in front of him. The players with which Thomas will be competing for backcourt include John Wall, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler.
Although Thomas is having the best year of his career and has put the Celtics in a great position for the playoffs, there really are not enough spots to include Thomas. Wall, Lowry, Lillard, DeRozan and Butler have had better years all around.
Wall is one of the best passers in the NBA (10.0 APG) and he is a great defender; Lowry is fifth in the NBA in offensive win shares in front of players like LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Kawhi Leonard; Lillard is fifth in the NBA in scoring; and DeRozan is eighth in the NBA in scoring. Thomas is tied for 11th. Thomas could get more votes than Butler, mainly because Butler was injured for 14 games, but Butler was terrific before he got hurt.
Overall
Before the season, people would have thought you were crazy if you said Isaiah Thomas was a top 20 NBA player, but nobody would think that anymore.
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Thomas is a top-20 player because of his ability to take over games, facilitate and put up big numbers every night. Thomas is not going to make an All-NBA team because there are too many players in front of him that are having better seasons, but he will certainly get some votes.
Isaiah Thomas has become a star for the Celtics.