Isaiah Thomas on Recruiting Free Agents to Celtics: 'I'm Going to Keep Trying'

SALT LAKE CITY — The Boston Celtics made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, but the team is not content with just being ahead of schedule with its rebuild. Boston’s young core is hungry to show last year’s 24-12 record to close out the regular season was not a fluke. 

Captaining that charge is point guard Isaiah Thomas, who’s ready to assist the Celtics off the court and help them acquire more talent.

Thomas has only been a Celtic for five months, making him a surprising candidate to fill that recruiting role. He’s just 26, but after playing for three teams in his first four NBA seasons, he’s happy to have finally landed in a place he is wanted.

"The fans, the city: It’s unbelievable," Thomas said in Utah on Thursday while visiting the Celtics' summer-league team. "It’s something you definitely want to experience by playing. It’s the best city I’ve been in by far with how crazy the fans are and how dedicated they are to the Boston Celtics."

After experiencing the passion in Boston firsthand, the 5’9’’ guard believes word should be spread to other players that Boston is a great place to play, and he believes he's the perfect man for the job. 

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

“I think I’m pretty good at it,” Thomas said. “Even in college, man, when guys came on visits, I was the guy they were hanging around with all weekend. So when Danny [Ainge] came to me [about recruiting], it was easy for me to say ‘Yeah, I could try to do what I can.' I know it’s going to be tough, but I can do what I can and tell people about how nice Boston is."

Thomas has already reached out to stars such as DeMarcus Cousins and Kevin Love via subtle posts on social media this offseason. He came up empty on that front, but it hasn’t been due to a lack of effort. In addition to recruiting on the web, he's fielded questions from players everywhere about Boston. 

"They ask about the coaching staff, the organization," Thomas said of players he's recruited. "I just straight up tell them before I got here I didn’t know [anything] about Boston, other than the history obviously. ... You don’t really know how nice it is, the tradition and what being on the Celtics is about until you are on the team."

Thomas added: “I’ve done the best I can possibly do. I’m going to keep trying. There are a few more guys out there hopefully we can get.”

Boston’s struggles to attract free agents are nothing new, so it’s pivotal to have a popular young talent such as Thomas willing to vouch for the franchise. The Celtics had salary-cap space for the first time in almost two decades this season, but the biggest name they were able to nab was power forward Amir Johnson on a two-year $24 million deal.

It’s no secret Boston has never been an NBA free-agent destination, and the lack of star talent the Celtics have across their roster right now makes it a long road back to contention. That’s not an appealing proposition to star or second-tier free agents who want to win now. There’s also the issue of playing in a cold market, according to Thomas.

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

“I think, personally, people don’t want to go there because it’s cold,” Thomas said. “I think that’s the biggest thing because, other than that, I was in Boston a few weeks ago and that was weather that was amazing. That was nice. It was warm, and the city is great. I try to do the best I can. Guys, for the most part, have their minds made up [about] where they really want to go and the options that they have.”

Despite Boston’s inability to make a big splash this summer, Thomas is still content with the team’s moves thus far, which includes signing Johnson, agreeing to trade for David Lee and re-signing forwards Jonas Jerebko and Jae Crowder.

“For the most part, I like the moves we have made. I know Danny is probably trying to make more to get better or more players to fit whatever he’s trying to do. I’m down for what he’s doing, and I like the new guys,” Thomas said.

Ainge’s moves didn’t make big headlines, but they should improve the team while maintaining Boston’s long-term flexibility.

Johnson is an upgrade from Brandon Bass at power forward with his versatility on both ends of the floor. Lee should provide a much-needed scoring boost in the frontcourt with his ability to excel in the pick-and-roll and finish strong around the basket. Jerebko and Crowder were also integral parts of the team’s strong second half last season, so their roles should only grow upon their return to Beantown.

Additionally, Johnson and Jerebko both signed two-year deals with non-guaranteed money for the second season. Those two contracts and Lee’s expiring deal mean all three acquisitions are low risk and also enable the Celtics to have the capability to open up $50 million in cap space for next offseason. 

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Thomas isn’t alone in praising Ainge’s moves. Rob Mahoney of SI.com called the Johnson deal, “a great value with a useful contract.” Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com also provided some positive perspective on the maneuvers:

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There's something to be said for keeping much of last year's late-season core together, building off what that group displayed in the second half of the year, and maintaining patience while waiting for that big-splash addition.

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While the roster remains crowded with a logjam of guards and bigs, Thomas remains optimistic Ainge isn’t done with his offseason just yet:

“I think he does [have some moves in mind]. We’ll see, though. We’ve definitely got a lot of guards. But it will work itself out. At the end of the day, honestly, every year that I’ve been in the league it’s always worked itself out. So like I said, you just control what you can control and do your part and you go from there.”

Regardless of what Ainge’s next move is, we know Thomas will be anxiously awaiting the chance to provide a helping hand in landing the next piece of the Celtics puzzle.

Brian Robb covers the Celtics for Bleacher Report.

Player moves courtesy of ESPN's tracker unless otherwise noted. All salary and statistical information from Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.