Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics star, named 'Most Clutch' in 2016-17 by NBPA awards

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/08/isaiah_thomas_boston_celtics_s_14.html



Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics star, named 'Most Clutch' in 2016-17 by NBPA awards




Posted on August 18, 2017 at 1:31 PM





Boston Celtics' Isaiah Thomas (4) and Evan Turner (11) celebrate as time expires, and Golden State Warriors' Shaun Livingston (34) walks off the court at the end of an NBA basketball game Friday, April 1, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Boston won 109-106. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)(Marcio Jose Sanchez)



By Tom Westerholm




The NBPA announced its own version of several end-of-season awards on Friday, called the 2017 Players' Voice Awards. They included one designation for "Most Clutch," which was given to Boston Celtics star Isaiah Thomas.


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Give us OT with IT. The Clutch Performer goes to @Isaiah_Thomas. #PlayersVoice
11:45 AM - Aug 18, 2017
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https://twitter.com/TheNBPA/status/898571452844089344


"Isaiah Thomas had an amazing season -- scoring the ball, distributing the ball," Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum said in the video. "Some of the things he did this year will be remembered forever."

This is a well-deserved honor for the King In The Fourth. The Players' Voice likely didn't dig too far into statistics, but if they had, the stats would have confirmed their selection.

Thomas propelled the Celtics to a ridiculous record in clutch situations, going 30-14 in 44 opportunities, per the NBA's stat site. Only Russell Westbrook scored more points per clutch scenario -- 6.2 to Thomas' 5.1 -- and Thomas was ridiculously efficient: 40 percent from 3-point range with a staggering true-shooting percentage of 65.4, aided by 1.9 trips to the line. He also had a net rating of 18.2 (despite mediocre defensive numbers) and a comically high usage rate of 46.0 (ninth in the league). Westbrook, who outscored Thomas, had an even more ridiculous usage rate of 62.3.


That's a whole lot of numbers to tell you, in essence, that Isaiah Thomas got a ton of buckets in the clutch this year. As Damian Lillard succinctly put it, to be clutch "You are deadly at the end of the game." Perhaps no one in the NBA last year fit that description better than Thomas.

The NBPA also handed out awards for "teammate of the year." The Celtics's selection, interestingly, was Gerald Green.

The NBPA seems to have decided that it is unhappy with having the media pick the official end-of-season awards (and given that those awards are often tied to significant amounts of money in contract negotiations, it's difficult to blame them). The Players' Voice Awards didn't stray from the media in MVP, handing it to Russell Westbrook, but they did switch up the Defensive Player of the Year -- instead of the media's choice of Draymond Green, the players gave it to Kawhi Leonard.

But everyone, it seems, can agree that Thomas was incredibly clutch last year. He will have more help this season (and perhaps, as a result, fewer close games that will count as clutch opportunities), but the Celtics will be thrilled to have him on board once again when the playoffs roll around.






bob
MY NOTE:  Oh, yeah, let's trade him for a ME-baller whose offense isn't as great, whose defense is only marginally better, who isn't as clutch and is complaining because he's winning championships in someone else's shadow and not with everyone else in his shadow.  

Here is the link to all the awards:

https://nbpa.com/players-voice/


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