Philadelphia 76ers: Isaiah Thomas could provide point guard parody

With only one point guard under contract going into the summer, could Boston Celtics great Isaiah Thomas relaunch his career with the Philadelphia 76ers?

The Philadelphia 76ers have the tallest point guard in the NBA, maybe in NBA history, so it only seems right that they should consider adding one of the league’s shortest point guards to balance out the roster.

I don’t know about you, but there’s something ironically hilarious about subbing out a 6-foot-10 player for a reserve point guard a full foot shorter, no?

Though he may not be the player he once was, and may never again rise to that level in the NBA, there once was a time not too long ago when Isaiah Thomas was an MVP finalist, and among the best point guards in the NBA.

Measuring in at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, vintage Thomas was a do-it-all scorer who could knock his shot from pretty much anywhere on the court, and do so at an above-average clip. Over three years with the Boston Celtics – from 2014-17 – Thomas averaged 24.7 points a page, knocking down 88.9 percent of his free throws, 49.2 percent of his attempts from the field, and 36.8 percent of his attempts from 3.

Thomas was such an effective scorer in his heyday that he thoroughly embarrassed T.J. McConnell in his first NBA game (as per his appearance on The WOJ Report, more on that here).

While Thomas was never a particularly useful defender at any point in his seven-year NBA career, due in large part to his diminutive stature, he was consistently able to remain a net-positive on the court due to his pure offensive prowess, as highlighted by his positive 1.5 Real Plus-Minus ratings over his tenure in Boston.

There was a time where pundits sincerely debated whether or not Thomas was worthy of earning a max contract to be the focal point of Brad Stevens‘ system for the foreseeable future.

But then, disaster struck.

Mere weeks after losing his younger sister Chyna in a car crash on the same day as a Round 1 bout against the Chicago Bulls, Thomas suffered a postseason-ending hip injury that would eventually place his very NBA career in jeopardy.

With no guarantee that he’d ever return full strength, the Celtics traded the face of their franchise to the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the Brooklyn Nets 2018 first round pick, and the Miami Heat‘s 2020 second-round pick; forever ending an era of Boston basketball.

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From there, Thomas appeared in 15 games for the LeBron James-led Cavs before being traded alongside Channing Frye and a 2018 first-round pick for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr., whose father just so happens to be a Cleveland basketball legend.

Though Thomas ultimately appeared in 32 games over the 2017-18 season, averaging about 15.2 points and 4.8 assists in 26.9 minutes of action a night, his tenure as an elite point guard appeared firmly in the past; with some wondering if he’d even be on an NBA roster in 2019, especially after undergoing another hip surgery on March 29th.

He ultimately did, signing a one-year deal with the Denver Nuggets a few weeks into free agency, but Thomas barely had an impact on the court, only appearing in 12 games after making his return on February 13th.

After the Thomas-less Nuggets made an improbable run all the way to the Western Conference Semifinals with IT sitting on the bench, it seems like the pint-sized point will have to find a new home to continue his NBA carer and hopefully have his first healthy season of basketball since 2016-17; that destination should be Philadelphia.

With only one point guard under contract going into the fall and no real all-level scorers on the roster outside of maybe Joel Embiid, the 76ers pretty much need help at every position across the board, but could really use a sixth-man coming off the bench who can run a show and get buckets both for himself and for his teammates.

While he may not be a traditional fit in Brett Brown‘s switch-heavy scheme, where tall 3-and-D wings typically thrive, Thomas was once a prolific scorer, and could again provide that spark off the bench in the way that the 76ers haven’t really had since Lou Williams and Allen Iverson shared the court together.

Though he’d be a rough fit in some of the team’s sets, and likely wouldn’t be able to share the court with Simmons with much regularity, Thomas would give Philly their first double-digit scoring reserve since Marco Belinelli suited up in the red, white, and blue back in the spring of 2017.

Will he ever become a starter, All-Star, or MVP candidate ever again? Probably not, but for the price of a veteran minimum contract, the Philadelphia 76ers could buy low on an all-heart, all-effort player who once torched them with regularity on the team’s most hated rivals. If Isaiah Thomas can finally get his body right and return to his vintage form, a claim he’s staked on Twitter, denoting one of their 15 roster spots to a former two-time All-Star has almost no downside.