The frauds came out Friday night.
So-called Celtic fans were appalled when Greg Dickerson and I said that Isaiah Thomas was not a foundation (franchise) player. And he's not. He's not a singular player to build your franchise around.
Look, there are only a handful of foundation players in the NBA. Call them franchise players if you want. LeBron. Steph. KD. The Brow. And maybe James Harden. (Some might say Russell Westbrook; I would not.) That’s it, folks. End of story.
Isaiah is a very good player and could easily be an integral part of a title-contending team. Can you imagine this guy coming off the bench for the Spurs or Golden State? Wow. Steph goes out and this little guy with a chip the size of Dickerson on his shoulder comes into the game and drives the other team’s second unit nuts? That'd be outstanding.
Still, it's understandable that Isaiah would have a problem with us calling him just "a very good player." I wasn't surprised -- and didn't take offense -- when he tweeted at Greg and “the other guy” (damn, I'm still living in Dickerson’s shadow) that we were haters. (Well, I took offense that he didn't know my name, but I'll get over it.) He's an elite athlete and he strives for greatness. So surprised? Not in the least.
What did surprise me was how many of you attempted to defend him as a centerpiece. I was shocked by the stupidity on Twitter over the weekend. Like @scamjenkings saying, “Get SARS Gary.” Oh Scam, that is so 2003.
But Celtic honks screamed at us. “He’s better than John Wall!” or “His numbers are better than Wiggins in Minnesota!” Even Dan Greenberg -- a.k.a. @stoolgreenie of Barstool Sports -- reamed us out because we said Thomas was short (hey, 5-foot-10 ain’t tall in the NBA) and we were creating the perception that his height was the reason he was not a franchise player.
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It's not perception. It's reality! The only little man who was a franchise player was Allen Iverson.
Celtic fans should know better. There have been 17 championship teams here and they were built around truly great, franchise talents. From Russell through Bird to the Big Three, there've maybe a dozen foundational players here in the last 50 years. As good as Isaiah Thomas is, he's not in that class. That's all Greg and I are saying.
And any Celtic fan worth a thread from one of the 17 banners should know that. Very good players and playoff contention are nice, but we've seen better.
So, if you're truly a fan of the 17-time world champion Boston Celtics, don't try to tell us very good is great. Raise your expectations to the expectations of the franchise.
