Tyrus Thomas is starting to really come into his own. In the month of February he is averaging 16.9 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 2.1 BPG, 1.7 SPG. On the season, he is now averaging 9.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.8 BPG, 1.2 SPG in 26 MPG. Keep in mind when reading this, Aldridge plays out what is rounded to 37 minutes per game. If you compare him to Aldridge, here is what you get: Scoring: LaMarcus Aldridge 17.7 PPG on 52.4 TS% Tyrus Thomas: 9.9 PPG on 52.6 TS% What you see here, is that Aldridge scores nearly double what Thomas does, but Thomas has the higher scoring efficiency. Both are below average efficiency wise. Aldridge is obviously better offensively at this point, because he has a similar efficiency while nearly double the volume. But neither are what you would consider a good scorer with those efficiencies. Rebounding: Tyrus Thomas: 6.1 RPG LaMarcus Aldridge: 6.9 RPG Tyrus Thomas is the better rebounder. Aldridge only gets more rebounds than Thomas because he plays more minutes. If you gave Thomas the extra 11 minutes to get equal in Aldridge's time, he's certainly grab that 1 rebound to bridge the gap, and then some. Aldridge is a really poor rebounder. Maybe Eddy Curry bad. Passing: Tyrus Thomas: 1.1 APG LaMarcus Aldridge: 1.9 APG LaMarcus Aldridge is a bit better passer, better than the box score shows. Thomas is a good interior passer, but that's it. Where Aldridge really is better than Thomas is his ability to kick a pass out of the post to the perimeter. Thomas has a complete inability to do this. Defense: Tyrus Thomas:1.8 BPG 1.2 SPG LaMarcus Aldridge: 1.0 BPG 0.9 SPG Tyrus Thomas is the far superior defender. He is a better shot blocker and alterer than Aldridge, while getting in the passing lanes. So where do these players stack up late in their third years in the league? Tyrus Thomas: -Low volume, inefficient scorer. -Solid rebounder. -Average Passer. -Very good defender. LaMarcus Aldridge: -Semi-high volume, inefficient scorer. -Poor rebunder -Above average passer. -Average defender. Aldridge is definitely still in the lead, but Thomas is younger, and closing the gap. Paxson might have just made the right decision with that pick after all. We'll have to wait and see, but the February Tyrus Thomas is a better player than LaMarcus Aldridge. The question though, is whether Thomas can keep it up or not.
LMA is older, more mature and has been playing with better players pretty much the whole time. Tyrus is growing up and finally getting his head right. It also helps that the bulls don't have anybody better on the team.
I hate to see all of Tryrus' potential and athleticism go to waste. Tyrus has not much of any post game and not that great of shot. It is either a dunk with Tyrus or a lucky shot. His defending defense is not that great either. Tyrus easily gets pushed around by bigger Forwards. Blocks and steals hardly make a good defender. Dennis Rodman was a fantastic defender though his stats didn't show that. With that said, opposing teams do have to worry about getting their shots blocked or passes stolen. I guess fear in the opposing team makes him a good defender. Tryrus has shown a lot of promise this year. I'd love to see Tyrus average 15points, 10-12 rebounds and 2-3 blocks next year while getting 35-38 minutes.
Tyrus' play has been encouraging the last two months. Given his track record up to this point, I think there is a danger in over-concluding based on his recent performance. Even though he's trending up, there's no guarantee that things will stay that way. Young players don't always trend up as consistently as people assume IMO. Also, I think an LA/Noah frontcourt is more effective than a Tyrus/Noah frontcourt, even with Tyrus playing well.
