Isaiah Thomas knows he’s not quite back yet. Sure, he’s back in that he’s made his debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers, marking the first time he has taken the floor this season. But physically, Thomas acknowledges that part of his issue stems from the fact that he’s still working to get into game shape.
The problem is that the only opportunities he claims he’s getting to work at a high level come during games themselves. This is because the Cavaliers, apparently, do not practice.
Thomas dropped this nugget while meeting with the media after Cleveland lost to Golden State on Monday night. After playing a season-high 32 minutes, Thomas was asked if that’s about where he wants to be at this point in his recovery process until he’s at 100 percent.
“That’s the only thing that’s gonna help me, because we don’t practice,” Thomas said. “Only thing that’s gonna help me is getting reps, running up and down the floor, getting my hip, getting my body accustomed to taking a beating and to running up and down the floor, getting in basketball shape.”
The Cavaliers not practicing isn’t a new thing, and Dwyane Wade even said this season that he “could get used” to the arrangement in Cleveland. You can also make the case that as the season goes on and there is wear and tear on players’ bodies, especially with an older team like the Cavs, it is actually good to not practice and put any extra physical stress on the players.
Still, with Thomas trying to get back into game shape, Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert working towards returning from injuries, and the team’s well-documented issues on the defensive end of the floor, it seems a little odd to not have some kind of regular practice time on the schedule, no? Perhaps Thomas was exaggerating, or maybe the Cavs have just decided to lighten up on practicing during what has been a rough January. No matter what, it might behoove the team to practice, at least until Thomas feels like he’s ready to go.
(Via The Score)
