There's no ceiling for high-flying Thomas
Through five games, the Bulls have 1 win and two strong performances from Tyrus Thomas.
Whether those numbers grow together remains to be seen. So far, it's almost been all-or-nothing performances from Thomas.
He was the star of Thursday's 97-93 victory over Detroit, finishing with 19 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. In the home opener against Philadelphia last week, Thomas had 21 points and 12 boards.
In the other three games, the 6-foot-9 forward has averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds. The Bulls are hoping those quiet nights will start to disappear soon.
"He's improved dramatically in knowing the assignments, knowing what we're trying to do on a specific play," coach Scott Skiles said following Friday's practice at the Berto Center. "He's making a lot of progress."
The Bulls could probably do more to ensure that Thomas stays involved in the scoring. On offense, he sets plenty of screens, rolls to the basket and floats around looking for rebounds.
But the Bulls almost never run plays designed to throw Thomas lob passes that could result in easy baskets, since few NBA players can jump with the second-year LSU product. That's easier said than done, right?
"It isn't," Skiles answered. "I can diagram five alley-oop plays right now. Our problem has been somebody to pass the ball. We just threw one in Milwaukee (last Saturday) 15 feet short. Tyrus was open ahead of everybody and we threw it 15 feet short, literally.
"The old-fashioned way that any big guy can score is to go get the ball off the glass. That's what we're trying to encourage him to do."
Skiles agreed that having Thomas among the Bulls' scoring leaders would be a tremendous benefit. He's not always consistent, but Thomas is a versatile scorer. He's knocking down the midrange jumper with more frequency, is capable of driving to the basket, and has scored some in the post.
He's also been able to increase his minutes without hitting foul trouble. Thomas played 36 minutes Thursday and 43 in the Philadelphia game.
"He has, in some ways, the body of a '3' man playing the '4' position," Skiles said. "Sometimes he's overmatched down there from a strength standpoint, but if mentally he's sharp, with his athleticism he can make up for that, and he did that on several possessions (Thursday) night."
Detroit is probably a good matchup for Thomas because starting big men Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess are both 33 years old and relatively bound to the ground. Tonight's game against Toronto with 6-11 rising star Chris Bosh will be a different challenge.
The Bulls had a players association meeting following practice Friday, and Thomas was not immediately available. But Skiles acknowledged that the 21-year-old seems more comfortable with his surroundings in his second NBA season.
"Tyrus is a guy that just looks like he's getting better and better every day," teammate Ben Gordon said. "With his skill set and his athleticism and his talent. All he has to do is continue to learn the game and the sky's the limit for him."