4 Nets on Thin Ice After Jacque Vaughn Firing

Cam Thomas

Nets fans love themselves some Cam Thomas and are probably excited about the opportunity to "Free Cam Thomas". Coach Vaughn was regularly criticized for not playing the 22-year-old shooting guard enough, especially when Thomas was in one of his scoring sprees. Yet, there isn't actually much of an argument for Thomas to get more minutes.

Yes, Cam Thomas can score in bunches. He is one of the best one-on-one scorers on this team. And he is young and has potential. However, he doesn't do anything else but score. He doesn't pass, play defense, or rebound the ball. And he isn't that good of a scorer right now, either.

In each of his three seasons in the league, Thomas has had below-league-average efficiency. This season his shooting splits are 43.9/36.4/83.9. For a player whose only skill is to score, those are unacceptable efficiency numbers. Plus, when Thomas is on the court, he dominates the ball, leading the Nets in usage rate with 30.6%.

The Nets are 6.6 points per 100 possessions better with Thomas off the floor than on this season. He needs to get much better on the defensive end or score the ball more efficiently to warrant more playing time.

Otherwise, the Nets might be better off moving on from him with only one year remaining on his rookie deal this offseason rather than giving him a lucrative long-term deal.