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8.9.2017

Welcome to our slightly-less-special second-ever Wednesday edition of The Grip, because our lead designer got rowdy on Monday night and went to an Earth Wind & Fire concert. And then proceeded to watch Game of Thrones with the free time he had left. Priorities. 

The Impending Predicament of Isaiah Thomas

Set to make just $6 million next season -- the final year of a contract with the Phoenix Suns that seems like a decade ago -- Isaiah Thomas is undeniably the biggest bargain in the NBA.  

For comparison, here are a few randomly compiled names, and how much they’ll make this season: 

Evan Turner -- $18 million

Evan Fournier -- $17 million

Ryan Anderson -- $20 million

Allen Crabbe -- $19 million

Jon Leuer -- $10 million 

Thomas’ situation is comparable to Scottie Pippen’s in the late ‘90s, which we covered a few issues ago; a rushed, long-term contract opting for security rather than big bucks in the midst of a financial boom.

Alas, Thomas’ relative underpay can’t last forever.He came to Boston in a trade three years ago as an unknown. Since, he's turned himself into a folk hero, an elite scorer and, in theory, a maximum contract-type player. He’ll be a free agent next season, and someway, somehow, somewhere, he’ll cash in.

When summer 2018 rolls around, he’ll be eligible for a max offer from Boston somewhere in the ballpark of $30 million a season for five seasons, likely more depending on how much the salary cap rises.

Whether he deserves it isn’t really a debate -- he does -- but whether the Celtics will offer it will dominate headlines when time comes. He’ll be 29 by then and seven years into a career as a drastically undersized point guard who gets pinged around more than perhaps any other guard in the league.

The history for little guys like him [CC: Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Nate Robinson] is bad. Things tend to go south quickly. It’s why the Clippers are probably a little bit relieved they didn’t have to shell out north of $200 million to keep mid-30s Chris Paul.

Were Danny Ainge to tie up another max contract, that would make three total; Al Horford, Gordon Hayward and Thomas, who are all talented, but are any of the three going to be the best player on a title team?

And at some point, should it choose to retain all the young talent, Boston will also have to pay Marcus Smart, Jalen Brown, Jayson Tatum and whoever else gets drafted in 2018 and 2019.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement is set up in such a way that heavily rewards older, more accomplished players, making the task of coaxing a young core together near impossible, unless you're Golden State, essentially willing to break the system.

A max deal for Thomas would decimate the role player situation, much like the Hayward signing forced out Avery Bradley, and if a max-core of Horford, Hayward and Thomas went stale by 2020, it would leave Boston with precious few options.

Thomas will likely have to settle with something like a $20 million a season contract -- an idea he seems heavily opposed to -- or seek a bigger payday elsewhere.

He’s been the heart and storyline of the Celtics’ textbook rebuild, but he’s been mistreated his entire basketball life. Who could blame him if he took the latter.

TONY ALLEN, STILL TRYIN' TO GRIND

Entering what would be his 14th season, Tony Allen is still without a job, likely living with his mom, eating her cereal and driving neighbors crazy. There is a small chance he retires, but it feels unlikely; he was second-team all-defense last year and he still has that distinctive gritty, fiery passion. 

He's been linked to the Cavs, the since-dissolved Clippers and the Timberwolves.

The Cavs are the obvious title contenders looking for a veteran on the minimum, and he used to play for both Doc and Tom Thibodeau (when Thibs was a Boston assistant), so all three make sense.We hope this isn't the end of Mr. First-Team All-Defense.  

QUICK HITS

• Some guy called Willie Reed on the Clippers abused his wife. #ThanksDoc

• Also, Doc lost his general manager privileges. (Kind of like in Pulp Fiction, when Bruce Willis took money to lose a fight, didn’t lose a fight, then bumped into briber Marcellus Wallace while returning to his old apartment for his father’s watch. Anyways, one thing led to another and Wallace was getting back-humped by Zed. After much deliberation, Willis found a samurai sword and chopped up Zed, freeing Wallace from tight quarters. Ha. Wallace wasn’t mad at Willis anymore but he did ban Willis from his city with a famous line: You lost your L.A. privileges. Willis = Doc, sort of. The offseason is a slow time for The Grip, ladies and gents.)

• Tony Allen told MassLive a funny story about how Grit-N-Grind started. It was actually a disguised diss toward Rudy Gay, who twittered about it.

• John Wall is repping Washington really hard after accepting the Wizards’ super-max contract extension. We wish him the best, but we also wonder what he’ll be saying when, in four years, Washington is bad and Wall is moody.

• PG thought he could stroll into The Drew league playoffs without playing any of the regular season and got a hard NO.

CONCRETE READS

• Bill Burr lends his thoughts on the NBA, discussing everything from Boston's (lack of) lure for top celebrities, as well as LeBron’s future. Start at 17:45 - [Tap Here]

• SB Nation's Sarah Kogod shows the rags to (quasi)riches story of organist Sir Foster, who plays the catchy rally cries at Atlanta Hawks games. [Tap Here]

• ESPN's Kevin Pelton used some crazy formula to project every NBA team's win total next year. Boston's was pretty low. [Tap Here]

A TIMELESS WATCH

Tim Duncan got T’d up when he didnt even suit up for the game. [Watch here]

#throwbackeveryday

August 9, 1928: Boston and Holy Cross hero Bob Cousy was born in Queens, N.Y. He was the MVP of the league in '57, led the league in assists for eight straight seasons, all but invented the behind-the-back pass, and won six championships with the Celtics. He was also the first documented bad-ass white boy in the NBA.