Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers paid guard Cam Thomas a huge compliment Wednesday after Thomas went off for 34 points in only his second game since joining the Bucks.
Speaking to Eric Nehm of The Athletic following the Bucks’ 116-108 road win over the Orlando Magic, Rivers compared Thomas to some of the top sixth men of the past, saying, “I’ve had Jamal Crawford. I had Lou Williams. And now, I have Cam Thomas.”
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Rivers also reacted to the news that he was named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
The 64-year-old, longtime NBA coach and guard told reporters, “I don’t have a lot to say about it. It’s an amazing thing. I don’t do well with awards and accomplishments. It’s never been anything about me. I’ve had so many coaches and players that helped me get here. Front-office people who trusted me. It is a cool thing. My kids all called today and they told me, could you at least smile and be happy about something for once in your life, one of my kids said. And I told them I would be.”
A 24-year-old guard who averaged 24.0 points per game last season, Thomas was shockingly waived by the Brooklyn Nets last week following the NBA trade deadline.
Milwaukee signed Thomas amid superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo’s continued absence from the lineup due to a calf injury, and it didn’t take Thomas long to make an impact.
On Wednesday, Thomas played 25 minutes off the bench and delivered 34 points on 12-of-20 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two assists.
That marked the second-highest scoring output of the season for Thomas, who largely struggled in 24 games with the Nets before getting waived, as he averaged 15.6 points per contest and shot just 39.9 percent from the field.
Rivers is in the midst of his third season as head coach of the Bucks, but he is better known for his nine-year run as head coach of the Boston Celtics and seven-year tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.
It was in L.A. where Rivers saw three different players win a total of five Sixth Man of the Year awards over a seven-year stretch from 2013 to 2020.
Guards Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams won the award two times each under Rivers, while forward Montrezl Harrell took it in 2020.
For their careers, Crawford and Williams were named Sixth Man of the Year three times each, and they are the only players in NBA history to have earned that distinction.
Thomas is quite similar to Crawford and Williams since he is capable of getting hot and scoring in bunches just like they did.
Crawford played 20 NBA seasons for nine different teams, averaging 17 points per game or better on seven occasions, and 14.6 points per game for his career.
Williams played 17 NBA seasons for six different teams, averaging 20 points per game or better in back-to-back seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and 13.9 points per game for his career.
If Thomas can have a similar impact for the Bucks for the remainder of the season, it could go a long way toward getting them back in the playoff conversation, as they are currently two games out of a play-in spot with a 22-30 record.
As for Rivers’ Hall of Fame candidacy, he is sixth in NBA history with 1,184 regular-season coaching wins and fourth with 114 playoff wins.
He also led the Celtics to a pair of NBA Finals appearances in 2008 and 2010, winning the NBA championship in 2008.
Rivers has not been back to the Finals since 2010, but with 21 career playoff appearances as a coach to his credit, he is undoubtedly among the most successful NBA head coaches of the past 25 years.