Is Kemba Walker the Next Isaiah Thomas? (126 views)

[eric]

Kemba Walker is rumored to be joining the Boston Celtics in free agency. Brad Stevens famously turned a relatively unaccomplished point guard into a star with Isaiah Thomas (no, the other one), why couldn't he do it again?

Kemba's Not as Good

Isaiah in his first four years generated .14 WS/48 and shot 38% from three, along with generating 5.9 assists per 36 minutes. Meanwhile Kemba's career figures sit at .11 36% and 5.8 respectively, and he's waaaay past four years. Although Kemba is a slightly more efficient passer (2.5 ast:tov vs. 2.1) he is overall a less efficient scorer with only a 54 true shooting percentage to early Isaiah's 58%.

And Costs Way More

Isaiah Thomas made $7m a year in Boston. Kemba will be making at least $30m. He doesn't just have to outproduce Isaiah, he has to outproduce Isaiah and Tyler Zeller and Jae Crowder. (Granted, one of those is easier than the others.) This is especially crucial given that these Celtics are setting another $30m a year on fire in a Gordon Hayward shaped furnace, whereas those Celtics' biggest money pit was Amir Johnson's comparative bargain of a $12m deal.

And Isaiah Wasn't That Important Anyway

The Celtics went from first round speed bumps to perennial (conference) championship contender in 2017, when Al Horford joined the team (and Evan Turner left), not in 2016, when Isaiah Thomas had his first full year in Celtic green. With Al Horford by all reports out the door, this puts even more on the slender shoulders of the greatest point guard in UConn history don't @ me Khalid El-Amin.

Kemba Walker isn't the next Isaiah Thomas, and there was never really a first Isaiah Thomas.

[TimPig]

Really loving all the IT appreciation ITT 

[eric]

Scary Terry was largely a phenomenon of going up against awful defenders like Eric Bledsoe and Ben Simmons, and even with the C's most recent flameout he's probably still a little overrated in certain sectors.

But at .11 WS/48 the last two years he's legitimately a league average player, which is really solid for a backup point guard: the great basketball-reference.com lists only 37 "guards" last year who managed .1 WS/48, which even if it didn't include many pure shooting guards like Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook would mean in a 30 team league that the overwhelming majority of backups were worse than Rozier, and since we know it does Rozier is probably a legitimately starter level talent at PG. He can kind of shoot (35% career from three assisted on 74%), kind of pass (4.2 ast/36 against only 1.4 tov/36), his overall on/off is brutal but he's been a little better than neutral defensively, which for a backup is good.

So it's kind of a big deal that the Celtics are (allegedly) renouncing him.

Kemba Walker is worse than Kyrie Irving.

Kemba Walker and Bargain Bin Free Agent Signing X are way worse than Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier.

Kemba Walker at $35m is way way WAY worse than Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier at $23m.

The Celtics are not the 2017 Warriors. They can't bring back their studs on massive deals and hope they can make up for a woeful, punted bench. The Celtics won 49 last year and got waxed by the Bucks in the second round.

The Celtics are now the Wizards.

Good luck with that.