"The Consensus? Fuck You And The Consensus @ZachLowe_NBA" - Cam Thomas Decided To Go After Zach Lowe For Suggesting He's Perceived Around The NBA As A Ball Hog

The beauty of the NBA offseason is that you never know what the day will bring. Yesterday, it was the surprising news that the Blazers decided to bring back Damian Lillard by forking over $42M and a no trade clause so that he could retire a Blazer. I'm not sure anyone saw that coming, especially at that price.

Today? While we don't have roster news, we do have current restricted free agent Cam Thomas basically telling Zach Lowe to go fuck himself

(pic if he ends up deleting it)

Now, there's a strong chance you're not an avid Brooklyn Nets watcher and might not have any idea who the hell Cam Thomas is. He's a 23 year old microwave scorer off the bench for BKN who just completed back to back 20+ point seasons, including a 24.0/3.3/3.8 campaign last year (25 games)

This summer, he entered the market as a RFA and unfortunately for Cam Thomas, he's learning what this new CBA world is doing for restricted free agents. Nobody is getting the money I'm sure they want. The offer sheets just aren't out there, and teams now need to be way smarter in how they split their cap space pie. It's why we haven't heard anything about Kuminga, Josh Giddey, Cam Thomas etc. The RFA market has never been more cooked.

Enter Zach Lowe, who might be the most universally loved basketball media personality on Earth. Who hates Zach Lowe? He's not in the hot take game, he actually watches the sport and knows what he's talking about, he never really attacks players in the name of going viral like we see so many basketball media personalities try and do, his podcast is awesome etc. 

As you can see, he had an opinion/take/whatever about what might be going on with Cam Thomas, which knowing who is saying it, tells you it's probably an informed opinion. And honestly, it's not even that bad? If you describe Cam Thomas as a player, he's a shoot first pass second type of guy. That's his role, and it's how he's played since he first entered the league. While his passing production has improved, it's hard to gauge his value/impact given that he's putting up big numbers on a team that doesn't win. Is that a Cam Thomas issue or a Nets issue? Probably a little bit of both, but it also helps explain his RFA market and what his overall market price is. 

In terms of his clap back, it's a mixed bag. On one hand, this is why social media is great. If a player sees something that pisses them off or that they disagree with, they can respond to it. I also give Thomas points for actually tagging Lowe. No subtweeting, he said it with his chest and stood on it. I respect that. Granted I'm not sure Zach Lowe of all people is someone who deserves that type of response, but at least he tagged him.

The not so great part is his response doesn't really address Lowe's point. There is no doubt that Cam Thomas is an elite scorer that defenses have to focus on. But that's not what Lowe was getting at. He wasn't calling him a bad scorer or even that he sucked. Just that he's a bit of an empty calorie ball hog, aka someone who is shoot first and doesn't really pass whose production hasn't really helped translate to wins. That is, objectively true. Again, it's not all Cam Thomas' fault that the Nets aren't winning, but nowhere is Lowe saying he's not good, just that the market has questions about his playstyle/impact. I'm not sure how that's debatable because if there weren't questions, wouldn't there be an offer sheet or at the very least an extension from the Nets? 

I'm not sure what I expected today when it came to NBA free agency, but I definitely did not have Cam Thomas picking a fight with Zach Lowe on my bingo card. If we're being honest, going this route probably doesn't do Cam Thomas any favors in the eyes of the "consensus", which isn't great considering that "consensus" is who determines his next deal.