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Robb: Isaiah Thomas Trade Paying Major Dividends

BOSTON (CBS) – We are less than a week into the Isaiah Thomas era in Boston and the bandwagon of supporters for the 5-foot-9 point guard is already filling up.

It's not hard to see why. The 26-year-old got payback against his former team Monday night in Phoenix, scoring nine of his 21 points in the game's final three minutes to close out an impressive road win for the green.

The performance makes for a good story, especially after the ex-Sun stared down his former teammates toward the end of the contest, but those theatrics are not the reason Celtics fans should be excited about this guy. Instead, it's the fact he's bringing the kind of instant offense this team hasn't had in a very long time.

Normally, it's the Celtics who are getting burned by players like Thomas. Speedy guards who wreak havoc against a defense, creating constant opportunities for themselves and their teammates. In just two games of action in Boston, it's clear that Thomas is capable of doing both things quite well.

Here are his per game averages from those two performances: 26 minutes, 21 points, 5 assists, 3 assists, 1.5 steals, 41% FG, 40% 3-pt FG, 7FTA.

The field goal shooting percentage has been a little low, and the turnovers have been an issue at times (4.5 per game thus far), but the rest of what Thomas is doing makes up for those flaws. He's an elite 3-point shooter and more importantly, he's already the best weapon to get to the free throw line. That's something this team has sorely lacked this year (Brandon Bass leads team with 2.7 free throw attempts per game).

Unlike Boston's former point guard, Thomas is making his freebies, too (87.1 percent for the season) and isn't afraid to create contact and get to the charity stripe.

Very few players in the NBA have the ability to shoot 3's well and get to the free throw line with high regularity. Landing a guy for the next three-plus seasons that can do both will be a promising addition to the Celtics' offensive core.

Thomas has also appeared to fit well within Boston's rotation. With a duo of above-average defenders to pair him with in Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart, the Celtics have been able to hide his size on smaller players. Thomas isn't a great defender, but he works hard to get through screens and will improve as he becomes more familiar with the team's scheme.

The Celtics are getting all this out of a guy that they acquired for just a late first-round pick and Marcus Thornton. Thomas reportedly had some issues with his role in Phoenix's backcourt, but this trade looks like highway robbery by Danny Ainge after two games.

Score another win for Trader Danny, as the Celtics continue to make positive strides in their rebuild.

Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.

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