Checking out the scene on Twitter while at a stop light, I saw this little news story go by. What should have struck me was that the unfortunately named Carleton-based Scrubb brothers got invites to a Raptors-organized free-agent camp, but then I remembered what became of Myck Kabongo and I suppressed my hopes.
There was a familiar NBA name on there, and it was Tyrus Thomas. You might remember Thomas from his days with the Bulls when he was drafted 4th overall by the Blazers, and then flipped to Chicago where he spent four years learning how to not shoot and frustrate everyone. He was a bit of a bruiser in his day, and you might even liken him to Tristan Thompson minus the effort, desire, agent, or…did I mention effort? Thomas was the 2000’s version of Keon Clark minus the bong and no jumper. That’s the key part, really, the jumper bit. He was an above-average rebounder, a below-average defender, and an above-average shot-blocker.
If you’re following me so far you might’ve guessed that he was a little hard for executives to pin down, because he had all the physical tools to be a very effective player, but never quite put it together, and rumour had the problem was between his ears (referring to his brain, not an ear infection).
And so here we are nine years after he was drafted and 28-year old Tyrus Thomas pops up on the Raptors free-agent camp roster. This after undergoing a serious-sounding problem of dealing with a cyst on his spinal cord that was compressing his nerves, and made him “not feel like myself.” He started his comeback in the D-League earlier this year, and still feels the sting of being amnestied, “After I was amnestied, I felt I was left for dead, as far as the NBA world was concerned,” Thomas said.
Here’s to Thomas being the Hassan Whiteside we don’t pass on.
Here’s the full roster courtesy Raptors.com (I swear, they put it up as an image and not a table). The camp is today and tomorrow.
