Since being acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the offseason in exchange for fellow All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas has had to make a major adjustment to his new team and new surroundings.
Although he’s yet to play a single game due to his hip injury, Thomas has a clear understanding of what the Cavaliers need from him in place of Irving’s absence, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
“You lost a guy that was a big part of what they did here,” Thomas said. “What they won a championship with. We’re kind of the same type of player when it comes to scoring and making plays, and, they lost that. They’ve had that for three years and it’s tough to adjust to.”
The 28-year-old has the ability to provide much of the same of which Irving brought to the table for Cleveland as a scorer as he’s coming off a career-best season where he averaged 28.9 points. In fact, he has shown a knack throughout his career to provide a dependable scoring punch for each team has played for holding 19.1 points per game career average.
Upon his return to the court, Thomas could quickly step into the starting lineup while becoming the second scoring punch behind LeBron James. This will also allow for Derrick Rose to move to the bench, where he could be a more effective scorer and distributor alongside Dwyane Wade.
The Cavaliers may be putting plenty of eggs in the basket for Thomas’ return, but there is clearly a lot of potential for this to have a tremendous impact on the team’s outlook this season.