Between now and the June 28 NBA Draft, SUPERSONICS.COM will break down one of the top 15 prospects in the draft per day, getting audio analysis from Sonics Director of Basketball Operations Dave Pendergraft and commentary from Sonics play-by-play broadcaster David Locke and SUPERSONICS.COM's Kevin Pelton. Today, LSU forward Tyrus Thomas.
Pendergraft's take:
Click here
Locke's take: More and more it looks like Tyrus Thomas is going to add his athleticism to the Chicago Bulls with the #2 pick of the draft. Coupled with Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Tyson Chandler and the rest of the baby Bulls, this will be quite the athletic group.
Thomas is pure athlete. In fact, he may be the best athlete in the entire draft.
Athletes don’t make basketball players, but Thomas is an amazing rebounder and sick shot blocker. Both of those skills display an understanding of the game and an understanding of the defensive side of the ball.
Realize Thomas was just a freshman last year at LSU. He didn’t have to be the man, playing just 26 minutes a night. Yet his late season development was as integral to the Tigers run to the Final Four.
On seven occasions he grabbed at least 13 rebounds in a game.
One game made Thomas the prospect he is today. In the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight he had 21 points and 13 rebounds to complement his three blocks. One game earlier, his five blocks shook the #1 seed Duke completely out of their game plan.
In the college game, he often slipped away into irrelevance. However, with maturity and an understanding of his skills, this is a player ready to ripen at the NBA level.
Pelton's take: Thomas is an interesting case study. During the college season, I talked him up as a potential Sonics pick on a couple of occasions. (This was, of course, before Chris Wilcox filled the team's need for an athletic power forward.) Then, with great back-to-back games against Duke and Texas to propel LSU to the Final Four, Thomas also moved himself into the discussion of the top three picks.
Is that too much too soon? Maybe. Thomas has a long ways to go to become an impact NBA player at the offensive end of the court. Defensively, he might be already there. Per 40 minutes, Thomas blocked the most shots (4.8) of any of the top prospects in this Draft, and his rebound average per 40 minutes (14.2) also tops the group we've looked at. That's awesome, and particularly impressive because these two attributes tend to carry over very well from the NCAA to the NBA.
Lately, there's been much talk of Thomas playing small forward. He told ESPN Insider that he sees himself as a small forward and then measured in at 6-7 ¼ at the Pre-Draft Camp. Last week, Pendergraft named small forward Gerald Wallace as a comparison (a worst-case scenario, actually) for Thomas. However, keep in mind that Thomas has already gone through a post-high school growth spurt that turned him into a star in the first place, and it's reasonable to believe he'll continue growing. That's also true of his game; Thomas has, as the saying goes, tremendous upside potential.
