Browsing: Narratives

Brooklyn Nets restricted free agent guard Cam Thomas didn’t take kindly to remarks made by NBA analyst Zach Lowe regarding consensus thoughts about his game last year, and the former ESPN commentator offered a response.

On Tuesday, Thomas was asked about Lowe’s response and provided his remarks.

On July 14, Lowe led a discussion on key restricted free agents during his podcast. He made these remarks on Thomas, citing consensus around the league.

“The consensus on Cam Thomas — if there is one, and he’s got some fans, and he’s got some mega-detractors — but the consensus is kind of like empty calories, ball hog.”

Lowe responded on his July 21 podcast (52:53).

“If Cam Thomas had listened to the subsequent 12 minutes — I don’t think he did, but I don’t know — he would have heard me deep dive into his game and talk about career-high in assists, certain kind of passes he’s gotten meaningfully better at. Nic Claxton lobs, little dump-offs, and stuff like that,” Lowe said, per Erik Slater of ClutchPoints.

“I have said consistently for two years about Cam Thomas: the guy can straight up get buckets, and there is a place for him in the NBA. To me, that place is most likely a sixth-man, scoring burst guy, which is what I said in that 12-minute segment. Nekias Duncan on that segment went and got numbers about how good the Cam Thomas–Claxton pick-and-roll was. And then I talked about how a lot of Cam’s passes are like, ‘I’m-in-jail, last-resort’ passes.

“And what does he look like as an off-ball player? I’m not sure that anyone really knows that yet, or we’ve seen a lot of evidence of it. My only rebuttal would be: it was a fair [segment]. No one else in national media is going into 200 Cam Thomas pick-and-rolls before a podcast to really dissect it. And I offered my own opinion. He probably still doesn’t like my own opinion that he’s probably best as a sixth- or seventh-man scorer, and I’m not sure he has the vision or the mindset. And, frankly, I do think sometimes he plays like a ball hog, and that’s OK. Because he can score and he plays on a terrible team. But I don’t think anything I said was unfair.”

Now, a few months later, Thomas provided his thoughts at the Nets’ media day.

Thomas, a former LSU star selected No. 27 overall in the NBA draft, averaged 24.0 points on 43.8 percent shooting (34.9 percent from three), 3.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists last season. Unfortunately, his season was cut short to 25 games due to a left hamstring strain.

Thomas best showcased his talents scoring and passing near the end of last season, notably amassing a career-high 10 assists in his final regular season game of the year to go along with 24 points. He also averaged 5.8 assists per game over his final five matchups overall.

He signed a one-year, $6 million qualifying offer with the team on Sept. 6, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after this season. So the 2025-26 season is obviously a big one for him as he looks for a big deal next year.

Thomas and the Nets open this season on Oct. 22 with a road game at the Charlotte Hornets.

Source link