Tyrus Thomas

[cdash]

Just wanted to see what everyone thought of him. He has loads of talent, but seems to be kind of a knucklehead. I read in David Thorpe's chat that he believes the marriage between Thomas and Chicago might be about over, citing trust issues between Tyrus and Vinny del Negro. I'm not sure what we could offer Chicago for him, but I like the idea of adding someone like him, if he can keep his attitude in check.

[cdash]

Kenny (Bloomington, IN): Thorpedo, do you think the Pacers should try to swing a deal for Tyrus Thomas? They desperately need some athleticism on the frontline, and they play a style that suits TT.

SportsNation David Thorpe: (12:32 PM ET ) Not likely between two rivals.

Probably true.

[APerna]

I like Thomas, but he's not as imposing as I'd like.

[Miller4ever]

A young jump-shooting PF who blocks shots? We had a guy like that once. Then he got injured and didn't care about rebounding anymore.

Tyrus Thomas is more athletic, but also comes with some attitude problems. He does deliver, though. So far.

[APerna]

A young jump-shooting PF who blocks shots? We had a guy like that once. Then he got injured and didn't care about rebounding anymore.

Tyrus Thomas is more athletic, but also comes with some attitude problems. He does deliver, though. So far.

Nice comparison, although I'd say that Thomas is better...not just more athletic. I'd honestly prefer something like Channing Frye, Chris Wilcox or Melvin Ely.

[Donerik]

Attitude is the one thing we can't afford.

If Tyrus were to come tothe pacers, I think his style would fit in. Lets be honest these two teams have a history of making trades between them, Ronald Artest and Bradley Miller? We gave them what Jalen Rose? Additional Side not Paxson is a horrible GM, He'll wreck this good thing yet. Proof of Paxson's total incompetance can be seen in how Tyrus and a nobody were acquired, for the right to Lamarcus Aldridge .

He is 22 years old, and a terrific defender, Obbie knows how to deal with attitude guys as he had productive time with AI and Paul Pierce.

If he becomes availible I am sure a call would be made, we have assets to move, and I think that between Obbie and Larry they could figure out whether his attitude comes from being stuck under vinny and skiles, as an employee of paxson or because he's a moron.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

If anyone remembers, I was pushing hard(tehehehe) for him last year when we were shopping JO. I think he'd be a great PF next to Granger, especially if Hibbert becomes the player we think he will. Trades don't happen between divison rivals too often, especially when involving potential players who could take off.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Attitude is the one thing we can't afford.

If Tyrus were to come tothe pacers, I think his style would fit in. Lets be honest these two teams have a history of making trades between them, Ronald Artest and Bradley Miller? We gave them what Jalen Rose? Additional Side not Paxson is a horrible GM, He'll wreck this good thing yet. Proof of Paxson's total incompetance can be seen in how Tyrus and a nobody were acquired, for the right to Lamarcus Aldridge .

He is 22 years old, and a terrific defender, Obbie knows how to deal with attitude guys as he had productive time with AI and Paul Pierce.

If he becomes availible I am sure a call would be made, we have assets to move, and I think that between Obbie and Larry they could figure out whether his attitude comes from being stuck under vinny and skiles, as an employee of paxson or because he's a moron.

We don't have enough pieces to get the Bulls to trade him. Granger, Hibbert, and Rush won't be moved for him - they don't need a PG so count off Ford and Jack, they have a younger Foster in Noah and a young center with Gray. They are set on the wings, so an injured Dunleavy won't entice them. The only thing we could really offer would be our pick, pick up Daniels' contract and trade him for Thomas and a contract they don't like.

[Dunthreevy]

Personally I think that Tyrus would excel in our offense and would make Roy Hibbert much better (keep him out of foul trouble). As far as help-side defense Tyrus Thomas is a beast, and that's the main thing that gets Roy in foul trouble because our perimeter D is so shoddy. I think his personal issues are something that he's starting to put that behind him. His athleticism is far beyond any player that we've had in recent years, so I could see him thriving in an open, fast paced offense like ours.

[granger05]

Proof of Paxson's total incompetance can be seen in how Tyrus and a nobody were acquired, for the right to Lamarcus Aldridge.

Is Thomas really a lot worse than Aldridge? I think that there's a significant Portland hype machine for all their players. I like most of them, but I think things get overblown. I was looking back at Thomas versus Aldridge just the other day. Thomas is a year younger, and he gets fewer minutes than Aldridge. They're different players because Aldridge doesn't seem interested in D, and Thomas gets most of his value there. Anyway, here's a comparison from basketball-reference.com LINK. I threw 3rd year JO in there as well for fun. These stats are just for their 3rd year (this year for LA and TT). If you look at Aldridge, his numbers haven't really changed much from last year to this year. Thomas has improved some, but a lot of that is an increase in minutes.

I'd really like to get Tyrus Thomas. He's not a post scorer, but he does the things that we need. I do agree with the earlier poster who said that he'll likely get overpaid sometime soon, but I do think he'll be a useful player.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Yes, Aldridge is better, but they are better at different things, kinda like comparing Chris Bosh and Josh Smith to take it to a different level. If you want defense and athleticism, you go with Smith, if you want the much better player, but kinda one dimensional, you go with Bosh.

[granger05]

There's 18 pages of posts discussing Tyrus' playoff performance against Boston. LINK

[PR07]

If the price was right, I'd do it, but I'm not overly enamored with Tyrus Thomas. I hate to throw out the term "low basketball IQ", but he fits the definition. Still, you can't deny his athleticism and shotblocking ability, and he has shown flashes of being great. In the end, I don't see him as a guy who has enough of a solid backing of fundamentals to be great, as he more so just relies on his superior athleticism. Still, he's a good player, and he'd be a huge upgrade to the athleticism of our frontcourt, and a definite fit in our slightly uptempo system.

[chatard5]

Just wanted to see what everyone thought of him. He has loads of talent, but seems to be kind of a knucklehead. I read in David Thorpe's chat that he believes the marriage between Thomas and Chicago might be about over, citing trust issues between Tyrus and Vinny del Negro. I'm not sure what we could offer Chicago for him, but I like the idea of adding someone like him, if he can keep his attitude in check.

I was thinking about this last week (there was one game where Thomas really impressed me. It wasn't the one early in the series. Sorry, I am of no help, really). I was going to post about it, but I have so many random scenarios I decided to pass on that one.

[cdash]

He's not the first guy I'd go after by any means, but as far as guys who fill a need that may be attainable, he's one of the more attractive options.

[chatard5]

He's not the first guy I'd go after by any means, but as far as guys who fill a need that may be attainable, he's one of the more attractive options.

My thoughts exactly. I thought be would turn out to be a bust, but he has looked good. The Bulls are STACKED with young guys, and there is now way to keep all of them. Maybe we could get Hinrich in a trade as well. His contract isn't great for a team like the Bulls since they have Rose.

I just looked up the Bulls salaries. Brad Miller expires next year. I want him, and I remember him saying he wants to retire as a Pacer. So he may sign with us after next year anyways. If they want to sign Gordon they will have to make some moves. They have Deng signed through a huge contract. They've got Derrick Rose for what, like 3 more years? Then they have to give him max money. They also will have to give Noah a decent amount of money in 2 or 3 years if they want to keep him. I forgot about Salmons. He has been good on their team. He expires after 2010/11. Oh yeah, I guess they don't need him if Deng is healthy.

I can't think of a trade off the top of my head. What does Chicago want/need? Some vets that can produce but expire before they need to sign Rose to a long extension?

[cdash]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Chicago and Portland discuss a trade involving something like Deng/Hinrich for some combination of Outlaw/Webster/Blake/Bayless/Frye/picks.

[chatard5]

I used to like Deng and thought he'd be a good player. Right now his contract is too long and high for me. If he is healthy and actually lives up to his potential the Blazers would be unstoppable.

[cdash]

Deng would make them pretty damn scary. He is a puzzling player. One year he looks like he's headed for superstardom, and the Bulls won't part with him in a Kobe Bryant deal. The next, he digressed and starts getting nagging injuries and people are starting to think he's overpaid.

[Tommy Udo 6]

A few comments:

Tyrus is still a project, but he's only 24 & not at the peak of his abilities. He's going to improve.

Tyrus does NOT have an attitude problem. When he arrived in Chicago, he was unused to the big city glare. He's a country boy from Louisiana. Tyrus was shy and did not talk to reporters. He especially avoided Sam Smith. When Tyrus wouldnt talk to Sam, Sam wrote columns saying how egotistical & rotten the kid was. Since Sam is a national reporter, the columns were published all over the country.

Both Ben Wallace & Kirk Hinrich apparently spoke to Sam & told him that Tyrus is nothing like the person he is writing about. the beat reporters from 2 other Chicago papers wrote columns saying that Sam is totally wrong on the kid. Sam has since written more positive things about Tyrus, although he clearly dislikes the kid. However, the other writers & his teammates apparently do not share the view. I havent heard anything negative about Tyrus since Sam was fired by the Tribune. Sam writes now on bulls.com

Tyrus was being hounded with questions by a reporter about the Slam Dunk contest. Tyrus made his "free money" comment. He thought the reporter would leave him alone now that he had a quote. It was a naive thing to say for the young kid to say (Tyrus was 20) and he will probably never live it down. However, his high school principal in Louisiana responded by saying that when Tyrus was named to the Dunk Contest, he pledged all his Dunk contest money to the school for their gymnasium. Somehow that was not reported as much as the free money comment.

If the Bulls can acquire a scoring PF, Tyrus would probably be traded in that deal since the new guy would be the starter. (Is Murphy available?) Otherwise, it is very doubtful the Bulls move him. They knew he was a project when they drafted him & he has improved every year.

The bulls did Portland a favor with the Aldridge trade. Bulls had pick # 2 & were going to take tyrus. They made the trade as a favor to portland so that Charlotte couldnt take Aldridge with pick # 3.

As for Deng, there never was a Kobe trade scenario. Paxson called LA but was told that Kobe isnt being traded. End of discussion. Yet, ESPN created and "reported" so many trade scenarios because that is what ESPN does. People still believe that a trade was discussed although both GM denied it & reporters covering both clubs have denied it. Believe me - the Bulls would have traded their entire team for Kobe if Kobe was available.

Deng was offered twice to minnesota in KG trades, but minnesota didnt want to trade KG to Chicago. McHale only seemed to want to deal with boston.

Bulls did refuse to trade deng to memphis for Gasol.