Four games into his return from a hip injury he suffered last season, Isaiah Thomas isn’t worried about the mixed results. On the contrary, he expected them.
As he told reporters, per ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon:
“I knew it was going to be like this,” the Cleveland Cavaliers point guard said after practice Sunday. “I have no legs. So it’s going to take some time to get it back, even when I played well those first two games I told Coach (Tyronn) Lue it didn’t feel right. It was kind of fool’s gold.”
Thomas is averaging 12.3 points and 3.3 assists per game on 35.3 percent shooting overall, including a 26.1 percent clip from downtown, since joining the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation. His first two games showed almost no sign of his extensive absence. He totaled 36 points on 13-of-25 shooting. Over his past two outings, though, he’s amassed 13 points on a 5-of-26 magazine.
Starting him hasn’t really expedited the process. The Cavaliers are being outscored by 28 points per 100 possessions when subbing him in for Jose Calderon, according to NBA.com. Overall, in the 84 minutes Thomas has spent on the court, they’ve been outpaced by a total of 24 points.
But this is all part and parcel returning from an extensive stay on the shelf. Thomas isn’t suddenly going to have his game legs about him when he hasn’t encountered real, live, NBA action in more than a half-year. It takes time for him to get his bearings.
Besides, it just so happens his return came at a time when the Cavaliers were suffering from one of their usual midseason nosedives. That makes the situation look 10 times worse. Really, though, Thomas hasn’t appeared either ahead or behind schedule. If anything, he’s moved in and out of the lane slightly better than expected. And so long as he’s adequately adjusting to the speed of the game, without any major physical setbacks, his shot will come. He won’t post a sub-35-percent clip around the rim forever, and his touch from beyond the arc should return when he’s catching kick-outs from LeBron James.
Whether the Cavaliers will figure out their defense with him on the floor—or at all—is an entirely different story, but Thomas and the offense should be just fine.
