Boston Celtics' Isaiah Thomas compares himself to Ken Griffey but wants to hit basketball singles too

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Boston Celtics' Isaiah Thomas compares himself to Ken Griffey but wants to hit basketball singles too



Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on October 02, 2015 at 2:28 PM




WALTHAM -- Don't worry. Despite cutting down on his shot attempts early in Boston Celtics training camp, Isaiah Thomas still plans to produce plenty of buckets.

"I've still got the same mindset," the guard assured the media before practice Friday. "If I can go get 40, I'm going to go get it. No question about that.

"But the game's just slowing down for me. I've become more of a student of the game. I watched a lot of film this summer, just seeing where I can get better at. In these practices we've had, it's just making the simple play. Coach (Brad Stevens) always talks about hitting singles and not trying to hit home runs, and I'm really trying to focus in on that."

In a major surprise, Stevens revealed Thursday that Thomas took fewer field goal attempts than any of his teammates over the first four days of camp. The stunning stat caused Boston's leading scorer to crack that he "must be sick," but Stevens said Thomas has still been "unbelievable on offense" facilitating for others. How unbelievable? That's not entirely clear. Thomas boasted his teams have yet to lose a scrimmage at practice, but David Lee refuted the claim with a laugh.

"Come on," Lee said. "No one's undefeated right now. We've flip-flopped teams every day. You know, it bothers me that he would say that. I'm going to take that up with him immediately when I get done here."

Regardless of whether he really owns an unblemished scrimmage record, Thomas believes his game has evolved since last season. Teammate Jae Crowder thinks a playoff loss to Cleveland convinced the guard he needs to adjust when teams throw all their defensive resources at him.

Recalled Thomas about that series, "Just them putting their whole focus on trying to stop me. I mean, I've never really had that happen other than college and high school, but those players definitely weren't as good as the Cleveland Cavaliers. So I'm just trying to make the game as easy as possible for myself. I think if I get teammates involved early and often, it just opens things up for myself late in games and throughout the whole game. I'm just trying to become a more complete player and, like I'm saying, just trying to make it simple and the right play."

Throughout the interview, Thomas repeatedly discussed "hitting singles" -- Stevens' term for making the simple play. Still, that doesn't mean Thomas plans to slow down his attacking style.

"I'm Ken Griffey in his prime," he smiled, well aware he's still capable of smacking metaphorical home runs. "It's just, for the most part, if you hit singles, you can still get on base. So that's what he said, don't just try to go for the home run play. But like you say, I've always tried to hit the home run, because at the end it makes the story a lot better. But the game is slowing down for me, like I keep saying, and I think that's just going to make me an overall better player at the end of the day."

"If I want to be great like I want to be, you've got to learn those types of things. And when (Stevens) said (to hit singles) one day, it kind of hit me. He didn't say it directly to me, but he said it to the team. Like, hitting singles is good, too. We don't always have to hit the home run. I really focused in on that, and this whole training camp I've just been trying to make the simple play, the right play. But at times you've definitely got to try to go for the home run. You get out sometimes, and you make a highlight sometimes. So for the most part just trying to become a more complete basketball player."



bob
MY NOTE: Personally, I have no problem with a game where the majority of the Celtics' fgm are layups and dunks.


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