Scoring has all the time been Cam Thomas’ superpower. This season, nevertheless, Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez wished to see the fourth-year guard evolve as a playmaker.
The 23-year-old has embraced Fernandez’s problem, averaging a career-best 3.4 assists this season, however clearly nonetheless has methods to go to maximise his potential in that regard.
For context, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Damian Lillard and Jalen Brunson — three of the perfect scoring guards within the recreation — common 6.2, 7.2 and seven.4 assists an evening, respectively. All three are All-Stars. All three have mastered the artwork of manipulating defenses based mostly on the eye their scoring calls for. And that’s the extent Thomas ought to aspire to succeed in.
“CT is a weapon. Everybody has to pay attention,” Fernandez mentioned.
In Thomas’ protection, it’s onerous to develop when you’ll be able to’t keep on the court docket. He’s been restricted to only 22 video games this season due to hamstring accidents, however has proven regular enchancment as a distributor when wholesome. He had no less than six assists in 4 appearances between Nov. 4 and Jan. 2, together with a season-high seven-assist efficiency towards Philadelphia on Nov. 22.
“I’ve been [finding my teammates]. They’re just making it,” Thomas mentioned following Thursday’s 121-119 loss to Golden State. “That’s how assists are. If I pass it to them, they have to make it, and they’re making it. So, it goes on the stat sheet as an assist. But I’ve been doing the same thing and playing the same way all year. So, they’re just making shots and they’re going as my assists.”
In his final two appearances towards San Antonio and Golden State, Thomas logged six and 7 assists, respectively, whereas averaging 23.5 factors on 43.2/31.6/90 splits — whereas sharing backcourt minutes with D’Angelo Russell. He’s turned the ball over twice over that span.
“What I really liked about his game tonight was the six assists to one turnover,” Fernandez mentioned after Brooklyn’s 127-113 highway loss to San Antonio on Tuesday. “He had more potential assists, hockey assists, that’s how we value him, not just the assists, but the potential ones. I’m pretty sure if it gets close to 10 or over 10 is very good, that’s the CT we want to see.”
Nic Claxton appears to be coming into his personal as a playmaker, too. The veteran heart completed with a career-high 10 assists in Thursday’s loss, 5 of which got here within the first quarter alone.
“Big time,” Thomas mentioned. “Just to be able to have him at the top of the key playmaking, he makes it easier on us to get the cuts going, get us into actions quicker. If he’s making plays like that, he makes us really hard to guard. That makes it easier on him. Most guys, like they were doing, were trying to send two to me, he’s wide open. I think him developing his playmaking, he really helps us as a unit. Definitely need him to do more of it. It was great to see.”
