With Tyrus Thomas being amnestied by the Charlotte Bobcats, he is now available for signing to any team with some cap space, and if not, to everyone else in the NBA, as both the New York Knicks and the New Orleans Pelicans have taken an interest.
Thomas played only 26 games last season for the Bobcats, as he never really got along with the head coaches over the last couple of seasons, and not showing too much will to try and get his career out of the slump it has turned into. He averaged only 4.8 points per game in 13.8 minutes a night.
He was still owed $18 million when the Bobcats decided enough is enough and used the amnesty clause on him, making the 4th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft unemployed, without too much interest around the NBA.
It’s obvious Thomas has an attitude problem. He’s a good defender when he wants to, especially when it comes to shot blocking, but his offense isn’t going to be very impressive no matter how much he works on it, although the big question is if he has what it takes to actually work on it.
What he can do is rebound and block, fill two spots in the frontcourt off the bench. At the moment, the New York Knicks only have Tyson Chandler, Andrea Bargnani and Amare Stoudemire as their “bigs”, with the last two not being particularly known for their defensive abilities.
The Pelicans are in the same situation, with Anthony Davis and nothing much else in terms of rebounding and defense in the frontcourt. Thomas isn’t going to get anything beyond a minimum deal, but with the money he’s making from the Bobcats it really doesn’t matter. If he wants to save his NBA career, he’ll take the low offer given to him, while the team he’s on hopes that Thomas is willing to change his ways in order to stay in the league a little while longer.