Isaiah Thomas: Boston Celtics ‘Could Be Special’
Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas is excited about the upcoming season. He believes the team ‘could be special’ if all the pieces fall into place.
You can feel the excitement buzzing all throughout New England and Celtics nation. As the Boston Celtics prepare for their 2016-17 season opener Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden, the players also share in that excitement. Just ask All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is looking forward to another All-Star season.
"“To be another All-Star. All-NBA. Win a playoff series and go from there,” Thomas said Tuesday via WEEI. “That wasn’t in order, but those are definitely goals of mine. And first off, I definitely want to win a playoff series. So that’s the most important. But individual things, I have a lot of goals I want to achieve.”"
If Thomas does have another one of those seasons, the Celtics should improve on their 48-34 season from a year ago. Although Boston lost a couple of those pieces, they have upgraded with the addition of Al Horford and have some young players hungry to make an impact, including the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Jaylen Brown.
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"“If we can put it all together, we could be special,” Thomas continued. “I’m not going to say we’re going to go to the NBA Finals or do none of that, but like I said before teams know we can be really good. We just have to put it together and find our identity, which is on the defensive end. And if we do that everything else will take care of itself.”"
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LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers may be the only team standing in their way from a trip to the NBA Finals. The Celtics may be another star player short. If they make a trade or if one of the younger players take a step in that role, they can at least challenge Cleveland.
Overall, Thomas wants to continue to improve on his own game in order to help Boston’s chances. He averaged a career-high 22.2 points per game and shot 35.9 percent from 3-point distance. He wants to be a more consistent shooter and not just a streaky shooter.
Besides, knocking down the 3-point shot on a more consistent basis opens up everything else:
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“If you can knock down that 3-ball that opens up everything else for you. I can drive at a pretty high level as well. So if I can up my 3-point percentage it’s only going to make me more dangerous”