Golden State Warriors 118-108 Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 talking points

#2 Can Isaiah Thomas really help the Cavaliers?

Isaiah Thomas

It's obviously a small sample size so far (5 games) but it's worth asking: Can Isaiah Thomas really help the Cavaliers?

The recurring issues for these Cleveland teams that have gone to the NBA Finals have been twofold - defense and shot-blocking. When these are covered, the Cavaliers are a force to be reckoned with and can even defeat the Warriors, like they did in the 2016 Finals irrespective of the circumstances.

Thomas was second to last among 468 players ranked in ESPN's Defensive RPM (the players' estimated on-court impact on the team's defensive performance) for last season. How is this player supposed to help the oldest team in the league to play better defense? Thomas has mentioned in various interviews about the lack of effort by the team but even if they were to give it all, he would be a liability because of his height, no matter how much he puts on the line.

Through his five games so far, he's averaging 13.6 points and 3.4 assists on 36.1% shooting from the field and 23.1% from beyond the arc. More importantly, the team is 2-3 when he's played this season and in the last three games, he has played (all losses), the team goes -16.3 points on average.

Again, this is a small sample size - just five games but there are stats that back the fact Thomas might not be beneficial to the Cavaliers' problem-solving attempts.