Love and Hate Are Not Mutually Exclusive Regarding Tyrus Thomas
Here we are in 2010. Tyrus Thomas has shown flashes of greatness and the ability to change a game, but has never found any level of consistency. When Pax traded picks with Portland back in 2006 to draft Tyrus Thomas, everyone was really excited for this athletic, raw young talent with a ton of upside potential.
Is the lack of consistency his own fault or the fault of a Bulls organization that has tried to screw Tyrus at every turn? On fanatical sites like Blog-a-Bull, you will get roasted for even implying that Tyrus is not the future of the Bulls. Others like my father feel like he is an unmotivated, unfocused head case that can never make the jump. Now that Taj Gibson is around, the issue gets complicated even further. Gibson has been steady and reliable, though lacking the explosiveness that Tyrus can bring.
That brings me to something I read this morning from Hardwood Paroxysm, analyzing the Taj-Tyrus situation:
I wish nothing but the best for Thomas and hope he becomes a productive player. But I do have some questions which Bulls fans are a little too close to home to answer.
Why is it that two different coaching staffs over four years have elected to keep Thomas’ ass chained to the bench? Okay, Scott Skiles is a wackaloon that’s too much of a hardass and hates puppies. I get that. I watch Luke Ridnour play tons of minutes. I understand. But then for VDN’s crew to do the exact same thing? Oh, VDN sucks. Well, that’s fine, but you’re telling me with Del Harris on the bench last year, with all those assistants, and in such desperate times, that there’s no reason that Thomas hasn’t escaped the bench’s gravitational pull? There’s got to be a reason. Misunderstood by two different coaching staffs?
The component with Taj Gibson is frightening to me, in that I can see why they’re opting for him. He plays hard, he does what they want, he efforts towards doing what they’re looking to do. Thomas is the superior talent, but he doesn’t play well with the others. They’re role players, and Gibson knows his role. I can understand Bulls fans dismissing this, because the team’s not winning. It just seems to me that there’s got to be a point where you let him go and pray it doesn’t come back to haunt you. Because Thomas could turn into an explosive Josh Smith Jr. clone. Or he could go elsewhere and be stuck on the bench all the same.
We’re so far into Thomas’ pro career, and we still know almost nothing about him other than “he can jump really high.”
I agree with him completely. I’m not saying Tyrus won’t turn into Josh Smith Jr., I just feel like it isn’t going to happen in Chicago. It just isn’t. A great comparison for this in my mind is the Cedric Benson situation. We all hated him and wanted to get rid of him, and now he is successful in Cincy. While it’s annoying, does anyone truly feel like if we had given him just one more chance he would have become a star in Chicago? No. I feel the same about Tyrus. He may have the upside and even eventually pan out, but I am very skeptical that it could happen here. Get something now for Tyrus while you still can.
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