IT praises Celtics: 'I knew they were going to be good'

Isaiah Thomas was bitter about how his tenure with the Boston Celtics ended, but he wasn't going to overlook his former club.

Thomas admitted he was shocked the Celtics have won 10 straight (now 11), but gave Boston credit for having a strong coaching staff with plenty of talent.

"I knew they were going to be good. They won 10 in a row, that's definitely a surprise. That's hard to do." Thomas told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com with regards to the Celtics.

"Like, they've got good players, they've got a great coach. That was going to happen. It's not like they traded me and they were going to be a bad team. They were definitely going to be a good team no matter what. They've got good players on top of having a great coaching staff."

The Celtics hold the best record in the league after dropping their first two games of the season in the wake of Gordon Hayward's horrific ankle injury. Kyrie Irving, who came over in the Thomas trade, has led the way with a renewed defensive effort to go along with his typical wizardry on the ball.

Cleveland, meanwhile, has largely struggled. Thomas remains out with injury, and they're understandably battling apathy and fatigue following yet another Finals run. But the four-time reigning East champions have too much established talent to hold the third-worst record in the conference.

The early returns definitely suggest the Celtics were right to make the trade (a move that Thomas called a "mistake") but Thomas wants to see how everything shakes out in the playoffs.

"We'll see what happens toward the end of the year and once we get to the playoffs and things like that, but, I knew they were going to be good," he said.