Bulls PF Tyrus Thomas has had a decent career thus far. But not good enough to justify trading him for Lamarcus Aldridge on draft night.
Going into a contract year I'm making the controversial prediction that Thomas will have a breakout season. The Bulls' success rides heavily on how well Thomas plays. In Ty's own words, "This is a huge year for me, I need to shut some of you damn critics up. No, seriously, I've had the best summer of my life as far as getting better on the court, strength-wise physically, mentally. I've put myself in mental shape to go through a long season and deal with adversity. It's going to be a good year for me."
I hope Ty can back up his words because if he can't he's going to be waving goodbye to the Windy City. This season could possibly decide how the rest of Thomas' career goes financially. If he has a good year then he'll get huge money (based on his potential), and most likely stay put in Chicago. If he has a bad year, he's going to get either a lot of money from a bottom feeder team or very little money from a good team. It doesn't help him that next summer is full of marquis free agents, and it especially doesn't help that almost all of them are better than him. I hope Tyrus likes Greece because he might be staying there for awhile. Oddly enough, the Greek Eurobasket team, the Olympiakos, have more money to offer Tyrus than most NBA teams.
With his athleticism there is no reason why Tyrus can't put up huge numbers. The one and only reason why he doesn't is because of his work ethic. Some weeks Thomas puts up numbers that make you wonder why he's not in the all star conversation. And then there are weeks where you forget that he's still in the NBA.
I hope Tyrus means what he said, because if he doesn't, it's very possible that Europe is in the future for the once high hoped PF.
