Cam Thomas has been essentially buried in the Nets rotations for some time now with Jacque Vaughn consistently going in different directions than the second-year scorer. But should this change over the next couple of games with the series going back to Brooklyn?
The Locked on Nets guys take a look at the situation with Cam Thomas and make the case why Brooklyn should pivot some of its strategies and why Cam should see the court. It’s an interesting situation and does come down, in part, to how one feels about Thomas as a player. But the Nets are in a situation where they also need to look to the future before the series is over.
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9 Comments
Yuta needs to replace Harris. He's a 3 and D guy and won't fold in the playoffs like Harris ALWAYS does!
growing up with the nets dinwiddie love and Harris love them cuase their the og's but Harris and din need be replaced in this series
We need to address this cam Thomas drama.
Cam has shown he's a prodigy when it comes to scoring the basketball. The 40 points games and making history is all fine and no one is arguing he won't be a good scorer in the league because he has a great ability to score..
However basketball is so much more then just scoring and Cam Thomas hasn't taken that next step or gear in other parts of his game such as playing defense or being an effective playmaker for his teammates.
Coach Vaughn has put an emphasis on playing a no excuses competitive basketball system in Brooklyn which allowed the Nets to make the playoffs above the playin.
However people argue that since Brooklyn is technically in a rebuild developing cam Thomas should take precedent over the team so he can score a lot. However if Cam Thomas isn't putting effort into defending better or trying to help his teammates get good looks that hinders the whole team chemistry competitiveness and ability to problem solve.
Also Cam Thomas has shown he's not really been receptive to coach Vaughn and his staffs challenging him to improve in those areas and that could lead to Cam Thomas potentially playing somewhere else next season…
It's ironic that Trae young has been linked to Brooklyn as a possible trade destination if the hawks blow things up and go into a rebuild.
Trae young is essentially what Brooklyn hoped Cam Thomas would become due to their natural abilities to score at impressive clips. However their size and lack of defense has hurt their stock as far as players to build around.
However one part of Trae young game that no one is really crediting is his assist numbers took a gigantic leap this season that showed Trae cares about getting his teammates good scoring looks whereas Cam Thomas hasn't really found that consistency of his game yet…
If Cam Thomas is part of big trade package to get Trae young Brooklyn would officially complete their rebuild.
A Trae young Mikal Bridges Cam Johnson Dorian Finney Smith and Nic Claxton rotation would be very strong. Young would have four top defenders around him and will get a lot of opportunities to score. Mikal Bridges becomes an important secondary scorer who could drop 24+ while Johnson will get free reigns to score as he wants as well. Claxton and Dorian defense has been so crucial in Brooklyn finding their defensive identity..
Again it's hypothetical but Trae young is still a young scorer growing his game and Brooklyn has a strong young defensive core that just needs a consistent offensive scoring presence….
He is going to win most improved player of the year next year. Reminds me of how Bernard King was treated by trading him to Golden State. If you can find the media on why he was traded by Mike Weber of the Star Ledger and John Sterling’s reasoning on his radio show, well, history rhymes. The owner told the coach to not play him.
Cam cant operate within an offense and have a pos impact_ yet_ it seems. He either IS the offense In those games where the starters out or in games he plays with the starters the ball sticks or he turns it over.
@lockedonnets I definitely agree. He should get playing time, especially when they're trying to double team or play the zone defense he can alleviate some pressure and put a wrinkle in that defensive plan because of the type of score he is
Guys you missed out on some other things JV talked about in regards to cam Thomas. He basically said the problem with him is that he needs to be able to take 29 shots of game and can he be a productive and efficient player playing within a team concept where he doesn’t get that many shots. I tend to agree with GV on his point that cam Thomas is a ball hog.
However, as I’ve stated before, this team is not going anywhere, so the best course of action would be to try to build up a young asset. Even if JV doesn’t like cam, and doesn’t want him as part of the future of the team let him score 45 even in a losing effort it makes him tradable to bring back other assets, because some of the team will want him. Maybe you can use him in a salary Dump if you want to move Joe Harris, and if he plays really well, maybe some team in exchange for cam Thomas says they I will take Ben Simmons contract because I think cam Thomas could be a star. But when you don’t play him, you kill his trade value.
Here’s 3 reasons why Cam needs to play between 20-30 minutes next game
1. If there’s any remote chance that we still believe we have a shot at winning this series it will have to be a huge jolt in the offense. Problem is we don’t have any players in the team that can provide it accept Cam. Sure we can win a game in this series but almost impossible to win 4 without seemingly having another guy that can go out and get you 30. Weirdly enough we actually have one of those but he gets zero playing time.
2. If we plan on trading him this is the perfect time to up his trade value. Cam showing he can score n meaningful playoff games may be intriguing enough to other GM’s to see him as value in a trade this summer
3. If we plan on keeping him and developing him than why not see what he can do on the biggest stage? If we think we’re not gonna win anyway it would make zero sense to keep him out just because he’s not a team player
Ultimately Cam plays like Iverson with his approach. We look down on it because we’re like no late 20’s pick in the draft should be attempting to be like Iverson that guy was unique. Well what if we actually have the next Iverson sitting right here on our bench and didn’t even know it? How do we know for a fact that he doesn’t have all nba capability and we just sat on it? It’s imperative to see what we have with this man