"Don't take this sh*t for granted": Former All-Star Isaiah Thomas urges young hoopers to embrace the journey and face the consequences bravely
Isaiah Thomas has experienced every high and low the NBA has to offer. After being drafted with the No. 60 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the 5-foot-9 point guard has been on the end of an NBA bench all the way to being an MVP candidate.
Therefore, Thomas knows the pitfalls associated with being a non-star in the league.
During a recent appearance at a Rico Hines training camp, Isaiah Thomas addressed a room full of young basketball hopefuls, providing them with some sound advice for the future, and linking it back to the different ups and downs he's experienced in his own career:
"Guys that got drafted, guys that made the Summer League team, guys that are going to training camp. Don't take this s**t for granted. Stay in the gym. Be a great a** teammate. Do something to impact the team.
"They're already paying m*****f****** to go and get 30. In order to stay on the court, you gotta make an impact. A winning impact."
Thomas continued:
"I've been in all situations. From a MF that don't play, franchise player, all that. Don't take this s**t for granted. Embrace the journey. It ain't always going to be sweet. Y'all know what I'm dealing with right now. I'm trying to get back in. But I still love this s**t. I still love the process."
Thomas has been out of the NBA since the end of the 2021-22 season, where he played in 17 games for the Charlotte Hornets, providing them with 8.3 points per game.
Isaiah Thomas credits a film session with Kobe Bryant for improving his game
During a recent podcast appearance on "Gils Arena," Isaiah Thomas noted how he once sat down with Kobe Bryant to study game tape. Thomas noted how he believes that the film session helped him improve as a player:
"Kobe, the one thing he gave me is like, to get the guys who aren't as good as you, to follow you, you gotta really teach them the way. I didn't really understand that at first.
"Obviously, he always talked to me about being a killer, being great. But what resonated with me the most, is getting those guys to figure out where you are at mentally."
He continued:
"...Kobe would watch film with me, and I would ask him, 'How do I get them to get the mindset that I have?' He was like, 'You got to sit down and watch film with them. Their mind has to be where yours is when you're watching film...'
"I used to watch film to see where I could score, that was it... We were down 2-0 against the Bulls. We were the one seed, they were the eighth seed."
One of the more memorable playoff runs for Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics was when they came back from a two-game deficit against the Chicago Bulls, who were led by former 2008 championship winner Rajon Rondo.
Thomas noted that Bryant's influence helped the Celtics overcome the Bulls in that series:
"We watched every possession from game one to game two, that s**t took like five hours on FaceTime. I had my video guy send it to his email. After every game he was sending the exact clip of how I did it, and what he'd said. It opened my whole game up."
Throughout his career, Thomas has evolved his game from being a high-energy scorer to being a savvy veteran. However, despite all of Thomas' experiences in the NBA, he is still struggling to find himself a new home in the league.