Ainge spoke with Thomas yesterday after the All-Star had questioned Brad Stevens’ substitution pattern in Monday’s loss to the Clippers. It was the second time this season Thomas had let his frustration out in a public fashion, and Ainge defended his coach while trying to make it a learning experience for his star. “Nobody prepares more for a game than Brad,” Ainge told the Herald, “not even Isaiah, who really prepares. Players don’t know what it’s like to coach. I took Isaiah’s comments as frustration. He hates to lose. But good leaders don’t look for blame. It’s easy to lead when things are going well. It’s much more difficult when adversity strikes. And everyone will face adversity. I know Brad is a great coach — even one of the best — but that doesn’t mean he won’t make a mistake, just like great players do. But I know he will learn from his mistakes because he doesn’t look to place blame but looks internally for what he can do to maximize his talent.”
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That last comment can be taken as a hint for Thomas. “I talk with Isaiah about becoming a better leader, and I think he can and will develop into one,” said Ainge. “He, too, will learn from this.”
Before the morning session to prepare for meeting with the Warriors on the other side of the bay, Thomas at first joked, “It’s you guys’ fault, man. “Nah,” he went on, “it’s whatever. It happens. I didn’t mean to throw anybody under the bus. That’s not me. I just said how I felt at that time. My job is to just to move on and do my job and don’t make it a distraction, because it’s not. I didn’t do it to throw anybody under the bus. I was frustrated. I thought we should have won the last two games, and that’s just how I felt. I mean, I was always taught to speak my mind. But for the most part, I don’t want to be a distraction. My teammates know that. It’s bigger than how I feel, I guess. I’m just going to move forward and look forward to tonight, and hopefully we can get a win.”
According to Stevens, the way Thomas dealt with things after speaking to the media in L.A. kept it from being an obstacle. “Isaiah reached out to me really quickly,” said the coach. “If it would have been reversed, where I would have had to initiate it, I think that may be an issue. But it wasn’t, so, again, I didn’t lose any sleep over it. I didn’t put much thought into it until it became a deal that everybody was talking about, and, at the point in time, I heard from Isaiah pretty quickly. So I don’t put a lot of stock (into it). I understand the emotions and how high they run at the end of games, win or lose. I have to go out there every day and talk after the game, too, and it’s not an easy thing to do all the time. And so I get it, and I’m OK with the fact that people are going to say some things, and you may have to have that moment where you communicate back and forth. But I don’t put too much stock into it, to be honest.”
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