Your Morning Dump… Where Sports Illustrated ranks IT No. 45, and it feels too low

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Last season, Thomas lashed out on Twitter after SI ranked him No. 88 in the NBA. This season, Thomas climbed 43 spots — but, knowing him, still might take offense to where he landed. Considering he was the best player on a 48-win team — and finished 16th in overall win shares, according to Basketball-Reference.com — the Celtics All-Star could have a legitimate gripe. […]

Sports Illustrated still hasn’t released its top 30, but so far only one point guard ranks ahead of Thomas: Kemba Walker, No. 36 on the list. In a writeup, Sports Illustrated pointed out that Walker set career highs in points, rebounds, FT attempts, FG%, 3P%, TS%, offensive rating, Player Efficiency Rating and Win Shares. Thomas performed better in most of those categories, and scored more efficiently despite shouldering a higher usage rate in Boston’s offense. Still, some of the advanced stats (like VORP, box score plus-minus, and ESPN’s real plus-minus) favored Walker last season because of his defensive impact.

MassLive – Sports Illustrated’s NBA player rankings: Isaiah Thomas of Boston Celtics at No. 45

+ His 22.2 PPG last season ranked third all-time among players listed under 6 feet, trailing 1991 Michael Adams (26.5 PPG) and 1978 Calvin Murphy (25.6 PPG)

+ He led the NBA with 949 drives last season, ranking No. 2 with 619 points on drives

– He had his shot blocked 109 times last year, second most in the NBA

– Struggled in the postseason, as his overall efficiency, three-point shooting and finishing numbers all drop

Sports Illustrated – SI.com’s Top 100 NBA players of 2017

As noted above, IT zoomed up the SI charts since one year ago, and the synopsis of his ranking is actually very complimentary. Still, Isaiah deserves better than No. 45.

Thomas was selected for the All-Star Game last February (and Kemba Walker wasn’t), so at that point he was one of the top 24 players in the NBA. Toward the end of the regular season, IT was even in the discussion for All-NBA (at least by those of us who wear green-tinted glasses).

Then there’s this nugget:

Isaiah Thomas shooting 62.3% at the rim is just another example of how crazy good he is. Kyrie at 59.3%, Russ at 57.7%.

— Chris Towers (@CTowersCBS) September 13, 2016

With all that, seeing him at 45 is a head-scratcher. But we know what will happen next. The Little Guy will say for the umpteenth time in his life that he’ll just have to work harder and prove everyone wrong, as he’s done so many times before. Don’t bet against him.

On Page 2: Don Chaney, the forgotten No. 12

12 – Sidney Wicks

With Apologies To: Jerry Sichting

Sidney Wicks posted much better numbers than Sichting, and while Sichting won a title, Wicks almost certainly could have as well with the team Sichting played on.

MassLive – All-Time Best Boston Celtics By Jersey Number 00-99

To pass the time before training camp begins, this slideshow took a fun look at Celtics numbers. There weren’t many surprises: anyone whose number is in the rafters was a lock for this list. But there’s a huge whiff at No. 12, which happened to be worn by Don Chaney.

After Bill Russell, Chaney is my all-time favorite Celtic, because his skill set in pro basketball – great on defense, long arms, poor outside shooter – was the same as mine on the playground. I was at Boston University during Chaney’s early years, so was able to see him play countless times. I also happened to be present on the nights when he broke out for his two highest-scoring games, 32 and 29 points. My Twitter avatar is an autographed picture of the “Duck.”

Chaney played 10 seasons in Boston, won two rings, and (you could win some bar bets with this one) was the only player ever to be teammates with both Russell (1968-69, Chaney’s rookie year) and Larry Bird (79-80, Chaney’s final season). His number might even have been retired, except that in 1975 he bolted to the ABA for a big payday. As you’d figure, Red Auerbach wasn’t pleased. However, that didn’t stop Red from bringing Chaney back in a trade at the end of 1977.

As for Sidney Wicks, his time as a Celtic was a disaster. After averaging 22.3 points per game in five seasons with Portland, he was moved to the Celtics for cash. The Blazers must have known something because Wicks dropped to just 14.2 PPG in two seasons in green.

Furthermore, in Boston Wicks was reunited with his college teammate, Curtis Rowe. At UCLA, they had been superstars and NCAA champions, but as Celtics they were the most underachieving pair ever to take the parquet. It wasn’t a coincidence that Boston went from NBA champs in 1976, the year before they arrived, to out of the playoffs in 1978.

Give me Don Chaney as No. 12, all day and every day.

And, finally: NBA players may follow Kaepernick’s lead

Count on it — the NBA season is coming, and those players are not going to be quiet.

Think the NFL players are conflicted about whether to speak up, how to speak up, if they get to act individually or make some kind of compromise (hello, Seahawks and Chiefs)? Think the response among baseball players is nonexistent because, as Jones said, it’s “a white man’s sport’’?

Believe this: we are weeks away from the volume going way up.

The NBA is a black sport. Plenty of people in this country find that repellant. Plenty of others are drawn to it because of it. But pretending it’s anything but that, numerically, culturally and socially, is foolish. (If you do somehow believe that, here’s Allen Iverson’s Hall of Fame induction speech. Check out Yao Ming’s, too.)

NBA players don’t live and work in an environment where large numbers of their peers can’t relate to them and their experiences. There are far more coaches and executives and other authority figures who can relate, in fact.

Thus, they are far less likely to be told, “Yes, the issues you face in this society as a black person are important, but …”

No “buts” when those topics circulate in this sport.

Sporting News – NBA players are on deck to spread protests as baseball shies away

As we all know, Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players have been staging silent protests during the National Anthem, to bring attention to racial injustice in America.

Under the Constitution, the athletes have every right to stage peaceful protests, just as other citizens have every right to agree or disagree with them. (Unfortunately, that nuance is often lost in the debates held on Twitter, Facebook, sports talk shows, in presidential campaigns and in stadiums.)

There’s no signs of the demonstrations easing, and this article says we’d better get ready for much more of the same at NBA arenas.

Will widespread protests by NBA players push this situation far enough that some action might result? Or will inertia set in so that the protests become commonplace and eventually ignored? Considering that it’s been nearly 50 years since the Black Power fists were raised for essentially the same reasons in the 1968 Olympics, we probably know the answer.

The Rest of the Links:

MassLive – Boston Celtics mailbag: Will Jaylen Brown or Marcus Smart have a better career?

CSNNE – Cedric Maxwell Talks About The ’86 Celtics; Forging A Peace Treaty With Red Auerbach (podcast)