2. Point guard Isaiah Thomas
Isaiah Thomas came back from his long time off to recover from the hip injury with some excited fanfare, but he hasn’t been able to play at a good and consistent level since that return.
His slash line of .373/.273/.632 are all well below his career averages and he’s not providing that offensive spark of the bench that the team was hoping for.
Thomas has never been a good player on the defensive end of the floor, and he needed to perform on the offensive end to make that happen.
His per 36 minutes numbers give him the benefit of the doubt in the points column, but he’s still too inefficient to justify the number of possessions that he uses when he’s on the floor.
When the Boston Celtics made their run to the playoffs with Thomas leading the charge, he was one of the best players in the NBA. He was efficient and spectacular in the best ways.
It’s unlikely that he’s going to ever get back to that level, but the Nuggets need him to either reduce his possessions or increase his efficiency. Otherwise, their bench is going to struggle to produce how they need it to.