Gregg Popovich on Isaiah Thomas: ‘He’s a tricky little dude’
The Spurs' head coach had strong praise for the Celtics' All-Star point guard.
Isaiah Thomas has spent the first month of the 2016-17 NBA season trying to prove his All-Star selection from a year ago was no fluke. The 5-foot-9 point guard has succeeded on that front through Boston’s first 16 games, ranking among the league leaders in points (9th), assists (13th) and free-throw attempts (7th) per game. That kind of production is catching the eye of some of the league’s most respected basketball minds, including Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “It’s hard to keep up with him,” Popovich said of Thomas on Friday. “He’s a tricky little dude. He’s got a lot of ways to score, find the open man if that’s appropriate. He’s just tough to stick with. The way the game is today, when you have shooters around people like that, you end up with two on one situations, and then it’s a matter of timing. “Either he wins the battle of finding the open man, or you get back to where you have to be, and he’s very clever with the way that he scores.”Thomas was not the only member of the Celtics’ organization on the receiving end of praise from Popovich, as Brad Stevens also earned a strong endorsement from the veteran head coach. “I’ve enjoyed, from Day 1 when he came into league, we talked several times and we’ve continued that,” Popovich explained. “He’s a fine young mind, of great character, and one of the fine coaches in the league now already.”
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