Bulls Need Transition D? Tyrus Thomas Just Became Available!

The Bulls are limping along trying to keep alive for a play-off berth because of injured frontline players. They need transition defense personnel desperately and Tyrus Thomas just became available again after leaving his Bundesliga team. If Captain Kirk Hinrich got another stint with the Bulls, why not Tyrus?

After a recent feature by the Chicago Tribune on a reformed and more mature Tyrus Thomas in January of this year, the enigmatic forward just got himself released from his Bundesliga team in Germany and might be available for NBA duty. As a former Bulls lottery pick and a fan favorite highlight film player, Tyrus has been much maligned by many for not living up to his potential especially by Jeff Van Gundy, who never fails to bring up the LaMarcus Aldridge’s bad trade joke whenever he pokes fun at the Bulls front office. It might be a good time to take a second look at Tyrus again.

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Not for old time’s sake but for what he can actually do for the 2016 Chicago Bulls.

Before he broke his arm in November of the 2009-2010 NBA season, Tyrus had a career season the previous year (10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.9 blocks in 79 games, 61 starts) including a game-winning shot versus Boston in the first round of the 2009 playoffs. At the time he was the Bulls, he was known to be a good defender when he zone in on stopping shots in the paint. To the point that he would even chase fastbreak attempts and block slamdunk attempts at the rim. He has a highlight reel all over You Tube showing his exploits as a shotblocking artist. He had 9 against the Wizards when he was playing for the Charlotte Bobcats after the Bulls traded him.

It seems like a misopportune moment that at the point when he was supposed to break out and prove himself the better of Lamarcus Aldridge (whom he beat in head-to-head Bulls match-ups with Portland and people forget that), Tyrus got injured and the Bulls made a trade that may have actually cost them a good player–former coach Tom Thibodeau, who came on as Tyrus was shipped out may have had a different run with the Bulls with a well-coached shotblocking monster like Tyrus Thomas being part of the Bench Mob.

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Another thing going in favor of Tyrus during his Bulls run: his playstyle is now what teams look for. In the past he was scolded for taking long jumpers and the occasional 3 when he was expected to play inside the paint more by his former coaches. This was at the time when the last of the heavyweight power forwards like Kendrick Perkins and Lamar Odom (2008-20010) were going to the NBA finals and strong low post play was more revered for bigs. Fast-forward to this year, power forwards like Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony-Towns have inside-outside games with long jumpers as a valued part of their offensive arsenal because it spaces the floor. Many stretch-four, Euro-players have entered the NBA, and plenty of them are 6-10 shooting long twos and threes and rarely posting up like Kendrick Perkins (who is a pale shadow of his former NBA champ, post defender wunderkind status). If anyone can play defense in the paint for the Chicago Bulls as a roaming shotblocker who can chase opponents down the floor and alter shots, it’s Tyrus. Even during his unfortunate and uneventful seasons in the D-league, Tyrus Thomas was still swatting away floaters and post ups by athletic D-league players.

Unlike Captain Kirk, who is too old to chase younger All-Star guards attacking the rim ( and even lost a match-up with Cleveland guard Matthew Delavadova in last year’s play-offs), Tyrus Thomas should still fit perfectly into his new Bulls role: as back-up defensive big with a focus on defending transition attacks by small ball opponents.

The Bulls can grab him for the remaining 16 games of the season. They can assign Cameron Bairstow to the D-league to accommodate the enigmatic former Bulls play-off veteran. Just comparing the more athletic and defensively skilled, Tyrus Thomas to Cameron Bairstow should give everyone perspective about this idea. Tyrus would spell Taj Gibson and Pau Gasol so they remain fresh for the Eastern play-off run for up to 20 precious minutes of workman defensive duty with Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio.

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On top of that, the Bulls get to have another explosive lob play target aside from Jimmy Butler. The Rockets got Michael Beasley’s career started again. Maybe it could work out too for a veteran defensive Bulls player too. Would you pick up Tyrus Thomas if he could be a good defensive role player for the Bulls for the remainder of the season?

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