KC provides some info with this answer: So there's our answer to why Tyrus is hanging out on the perimeter. He wants to and our coach doesn't seem to want to suggest anything else for fear of destroying his confidence. I don't know where to begin with this.
He needs to find something he can do on the court that he can call a success and build on that. If he did hang around the rim and do the Rodman thing and learned to do that well enough, then stepping a little bit further outside for his shots would make sense. As it is, he's not doing much successfully at all.
To his credit, TT has cut down a lot on the number of jumpers he has taken as the season has progressed. It's really sad and depressing at how poorly he is shooting because he isn't taking bad shots. They are mostly elbow jumpers. He just seems to be too jacked up and hits the back of the rim every time. The fact he hits the exact same spot every time leaves me a little hope. Really, if he hit his first one or two, the guy guarding him will take a step out and TT will be able to blow by him every time. It's so tantalizingly close that it just makes it that much more frustrating.
Hey, take a look-see at the NBA League Leaders in True FG%! http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2009/jh_ALL_TSP.htm Scroll down to #177 and commence weeping.
Speaking of depressing, I wonder if Thomas is clinically depressed or has some sort of issue like that. He really has had some of the worst body language and complete collapses in his game that I've seen. I don't think, at this point, it's purely a confidence issue. You can see confidence go with a shot, but on several occasions he just looks like he's completely sleepwalking out there when, in past times, he's hustled and at least had a clue about where to go.