Nets Must Figure Out How To Ride Thrills-and-Chills Rollercoaster That Is Cam Thomas
Nets fans are waxing poetic about Brooklyn’s walking bucket of a guard, Cam Thomas. It’s what you do to soothe the pain from watching your team blow back-to-back leads in crunch time, most recently on Friday night with a 125-120 loss in Dallas, to open the 2023-24 season at 0-2.
Undeniably, Thomas has been phenomenal with the ball in his hands in the first two games. His 30-point outing on Friday night actually lowered his average to 33 ppg, placing him fifth in the NBA. His 62.5% shooting from the field tops all four of the recurring All-Star players above him. He is putting action behind his preseason words that he could average 25 ppg over a full season if given regular playing time.
However, like it was when the Nets went 1-3 in games when Thomas exceeded 40 points last season, the Nets didn’t win either of these contests either, diminishing the impact of his feats. It’s like when you get a rush from riding a rollercoaster and then puke at the end. You might know something isn’t right, but the thrills make you yearn for more.
At 22, Thomas is prone to mistakes in judgement, like at the tail end of Friday night’s third quarter. He hoisted and missed a difficult two-point pull-up way too early, giving time to Dallas for him to foul Tim Hardaway Jr. on a three-point heave just before the buzzer. It was quite a swing,
To be absolutely clear, I’m not singling out Thomas for blame here. He was far down the culpability list for this defeat. Dallas star Luke Doncic was otherworldly, scoring 49 points on 25 field goal attempts. Heck, Thomas. wasn’t even on the floor for several of the key possessions where Brooklyn choked away leads, something that I hope keeps Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn up all night until the next game in Charlotte on Monday.
Vaughn’s stance had some logic behind it: Thomas, though seemingly more engaged defensively in Year 3 this season, remains a liability on that end. In a switching scheme, which is what most teams do in close games, the opponent can target the weakest defender, which is often Thomas. Ergo, Vaughn played it too cute for school (or the pros), attempting to platoon Thomas with a stouter defender when he had timeouts to burn in the last two minutes—in Friday’s case, with Ben Simmons.
Unfortunately, what Vaughn failed to realize was that the two ends of the court are often connected—a bad offensive possession can lead to a better scoring opportunity for the opponent going the other way. Here’s how the game went after Thomas was subbed out following his block of Hardaway Jr.’s shot out of bounds with 2:21 remaining and the Nets ahead, 118-113:
Dallas: Luke Doncic three-pointer
Nets: Shot clock violation
Dallas: Luka Doncic three-pointer
Nets: Spencer Dinwiddie missed 20-foot floater
Dallas: Josh Green 1-of-2 free throws after Dinwiddie foul six seconds later
Thomas re-enters
Nets: Thomas bucket
Dallas: Doncic absolutely ridiculous one-handed hook while nearly falling over the sideline banked three-pointer
Nets: Thomas missed difficult step-back three-pointer
Dallas: Josh Green two made free throws with 12.5 seconds remaining to put the Mavs up by an insurmountable five-point margin
The end of the Nets opening night loss to the Cavs on Wednesday night went nearly the same way, with Cleveland’s All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in the Doncic role but hitting more conventional shots to will his team to an undeserved victory. Thomas was stuck on the bench for several of those ugly Nets crunch-time offensive possessions too.
In Thomas’ place, Spencer Dinwiddie took the reins, dribbling the shot clock away before the possession ended poorly. Funny, Dinwiddie was superb in an off-the-ball role through three quarters on Friday, drilling 6-of-11 three pointers en route to 21 points. Per NBA.com, he went 4-for-8 on simple catch-and-shoot 3s.
What’s the solution? I’m hoping Vaughn knows it’s that he shouldn’t be pulling Thomas off the floor except for maybe a final possession where the Nets desperately need a defensive stop. If Thomas is forced to switch onto the opposing star like Doncic or Mitchell, send help to get the ball out of his hands and scramble back into position. Hard-hedging, with Thomas allowing the on-ball defender time to get around the screen and then peeling off to find his man or rotate out to help his helper, accomplishes the same thing.
Yes, as a one-on-one defender, Thomas is often the victim of old school bullying tactics, with Doncic figuratively throwing him into a locker with the ease in which he could score over him (NBA.com had Doncic scoring 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting with Thomas as the nearest defender). But it’s the cost of doing business. Not that Thomas is Stephen Curry, but do you see the Warriors playing scared that he’d be exposed; or do they scheme to find ways to accommodate their star player on the defensive end?
Besides, it’s not like the Nets’ defense was that horrible with Thomas on the court—only Simmons posted a superior defensive rating in the one-game sample. Take away Doncic and Mitchell’s 2-for-2 on Wednesday, Thomas is allowing his man to shoot 26.7% from the floor as the closest defender this season.
Does anyone still think Dennis Smith Jr., who was hyped to be this super defensive force when the Nets signed him on the first day of free agency this past summer, could have done better at slowing down Doncic? During a crucial third quarter stretch, Smith Jr. played like Ollie from the film “Hoosiers”, allowing Dallas to regain momentum. Doncic went right at him to the tune of five points in 58 seconds before Vaughn mercifully took Smith Jr. out.
Obviously, all of the above statistics can and will likely change drastically as the season drags on, but those that call on the Nets to “Free Thomas” do have a point. So long as he’s proving himself capable of carrying a significant offensive load, there’s no reason to pull him in close games. Like with rollercoasters, you can figure out how to get used to dealing with the occasional reflux.
Photo by: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports