BOSTON — “One of the reasons I came here was to play with him.”
Al Horford only got to play one season with Isaiah Thomas, but that one year made a big impact on the Boston Celtics’ big man.
“One of the things I always admire about Isaiah is his heart,” Horford said. “He’s a good guy off the court, but on the floor just leaving it all out there, it didn’t matter if he was hurt or if there was something wrong. He’s a guy that loves to compete, that plays hard, that plays to win, and it’s just a lot of fun to be able to play with him. Now he just needs to just continue to stay the course. I hope that he feels better, because he can help that team a lot.”
“That team” is the Denver Nuggets, Boston’s opponent Monday night. Unfortunately for Thomas, it’s one more team that’s just not getting from him what Boston did.
He never wanted to leave the Celtics, but when the younger, healthier Kyrie Irving became available, General Manager Danny Ainge had to pull the trigger.
No one had captured Boston’s heart so quickly and fully as Thomas, but the cold-hearted business of the NBA has demands. The man once in line for a life-changing payday is now clinging to veteran-minimum deals and searching for some team, somewhere, to fit him as perfectly as Boston did.
“It’s going to feel good to see him,” said Marcus Smart. “I’m really good friends with Isaiah, just like a lot of guys. For him to have the career he’s had and then go through the injury he went through and everything after that, you don’t wish that upon any player, especially of his caliber. It will be good to see him, and hopefully he gets the love he deserves.”
Thomas made these Celtics possible. He helped bring Horford to Boston. He recruited Gordon Hayward and celebrated when Boston got him. Hayward spoke glowingly of Thomas after the trade.
“He didn’t just help recruit me to Boston, he was a big piece of that recruitment,” Hayward wrote in his blog. “He had talked a lot about the city and how it was different to be a Celtic. He talked about the intensity of playing in the Eastern Conference finals, playing at the Garden in the playoffs, and how much fun it was, and how much fun he had playing in Boston.
“All of that ultimately helped win me over. And by the time of the trade, I had already started to build a little bit of a relationship with him.”
It’s easy to forget this wasn’t the original plan for the Celtics or for Thomas, but as the saying goes, life doesn’t care about anyone’s plans. Thomas accelerated Boston’s window from rebuilding to contending. He gave Boston everything he had.
He played after his sister was killed in a car wreck. He played when his hip told him not to. He jeopardized his career for the Celtics because Isaiah Thomas is a team-first guy who wants nothing more than to win.
Maybe he should have been more selfish. He might still be a Celtic, and a lot richer. But that’s not what Thomas is about.
He’s now been demoted again, and he may not see the floor against the Celtics, no matter how much fans in Boston want it. It undoubtedly eats at him, but Thomas maintains his public facade.
He’ll be all right. Thomas is still a good player and he’ll make money off the game somehow. Even if his playing career ends at some point soon, he’s a dynamic personality who can probably make a good living off a life in the media.
However it goes is something to worry about later. All Boston cares about right now is seeing Thomas on Monday night.
“The little guy,” as Tommy Heinsohn constantly referred to him on broadcasts, will come through Boston in a big way because that’s just what he does. His big personality. His big charm. His big heart. There’s just nothing little about Thomas in this town.
In this cold, cold business of professional sports, Thomas’ return gives Boston fans a chance to revel in something mostly lost now: Unconditional love between an athlete and a city.
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