Kyrie Irving’s situation opens up more opportunity
Seeing as they are a contending team and Cam Thomas still needs to mature a lot as a young talent in this league, it is hard to imagine that the Brooklyn Nets will throw their rookie out on the court for big minutes early on in the season, but Kyrie Irving being out opens the door wide open for Thomas to emerge as a key talent on this roster.
He checks off all the boxes of being an elite-level scorer off-the-bench, but being able to play alongside guys like Harden, Durant, Harris, Griffin, Aldridge, and others and not be “the guy” will take some adjusting on Thomas’ part.
From high school basketball through AAU and college, Cam Thomas has always been the guy to take the last shot for his teams and be the one to score when they need a basket, but in Brooklyn, he will need to learn his place.
Cracking the rotation is tough for any young player to do in their rookie season, but head coach Steve Nash is definitely keeping his eyes on Brooklyn’s rookie guard. “Cam’s a scorer. He can score. He’s got a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do, but he starts with a lot of ability. I’m not surprised,” Nash told reporters following Cam Thomas’ 21-point preseason debut. “He has that type of talent and [his] game just got to continue to develop him and teach him to get him up to speed with the NBA game.”
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Coming out and scoring 21 points in his first preseason game ever against the Milwaukee Bucks was definitely a statement from Cam Thomas, but this is just preseason.
The Brooklyn Nets really did not play their starters that much and Milwaukee barely played any of their key talents, which allowed Thomas to go out there and do what he does best — score the basketball.
“We’ll see about the rotation. We’ve got a lot of veteran guys on this team,” Nash went on to say in regards to his rookie. “That’s a tough ask for a young player. But we love him. We think he can develop into a very good player but I don’t want to get ahead of it.”
Kyrie Irving’s situation is definitely going to play a role in how much playing time Cameron Thomas could get through the first couple months of the regular season, but as he continues to gain experience in actual games and learn from some of the best players in the league in practices, he is going to become a key rookie in this league.
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Guys like Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, and Evan Mobley are going to get all the attention and a lot of playing time early on because they were the Top-3 picks in the draft this year, but Cam Thomas has a chance to be just as good as them in terms of his value to Brooklyn.
Having reliable scorers come into the game off-the-bench is vital for teams in this league and if they are only 19-years-old this is just an added bonus. The future is very bright for Thomas and by midseason, we could realistically be talking about him being a First Team All-Rookie type of guy.
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All offseason long, the rookie guard has continued to improve mentally and is learning that he does not always need to be the guy to score in order to be effective on the court.
Being the 27th pick, not many expectations are thrown onto Cam Thomas, but he will definitely draw a lot of attention from fans and other teams around the league as the season progresses.
