Tim Thomas (basketball)

Tim Thomas
Personal information
Born February 26, 1977
Paterson, New Jersey
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school Paterson Catholic
(Paterson, New Jersey)
College Villanova (1996–1997)
NBA draft 1997 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7th overall
Selected by the New Jersey Nets
Pro career 1997–2010
Position Small forward / Power forward
Career history
1997–1999 Philadelphia 76ers
1999–2004 Milwaukee Bucks
2004–2005 New York Knicks
2005–2006 Chicago Bulls
2006 Phoenix Suns
2006–2008 Los Angeles Clippers
2008–2009 New York Knicks
2009 Chicago Bulls
2009–2010 Dallas Mavericks
Career NBA statistics
Points 9,454 (11.5 ppg)
Rebounds 3,379 (4.1 rpg)
Assists 1,272 (1.5 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Timothy Mark "Tim" Thomas (born February 26, 1977) is a retired American professional basketball player.

High school and college

A versatile 6'10" forward with a soft shooting touch, Thomas was tabbed as a future NBA star when he was still in high school, and was selected to the McDonald's All-American team after averaging 25.3 points and 14.5 rebounds per game as a senior at Paterson Catholic High School. Following his freshman year at Villanova University, he was drafted seventh overall by the New Jersey Nets in the 1997 NBA Draft and was immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for the Sixers' draft pick (Keith Van Horn).

NBA

Philadelphia 76ers

Thomas enjoyed a solid rookie season, averaging 11.0 points per game, and was named to the NBA's All-Rookie 2nd Team. The Sixers would grow impatient with a sophomore slump from Thomas, though, and in 1999 he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee was enamored with Thomas' raw talent and versatility, and hoped he could blossom into a star with more seasoning. It looked like things were coming together for Thomas during the 2000–01 season, when he averaged a career-high 13.4 ppg for the Bucks. On January 5, 2001, Thomas connected on eight three-point field goals in the second half of Milwaukee's 119–115 victory over Portland. During his time with the Bucks, then-teammate Ray Allen was quoted as saying, "If he wanted to, Tim Thomas could be the best player in the league."[1] Nevertheless, after a strong playoff performance that year, Thomas signed a new deal worth roughly $66 million over six years.

New York Knicks

In 2004 he was traded for Van Horn again, this time to the New York Knicks. Thomas' 1st tour of duty with the Knicks was rather nondescript (his most notable incident was after a playoff game against the New Jersey Nets, when he referred to Kenyon Martin as "fugazy"[2][3]), and on the eve of training camp in 2005 he was traded to the Chicago Bulls (along with Michael Sweetney) in a package that brought Eddy Curry to New York.

Chicago Bulls

Rather than dealing with Thomas' questionable conditioning habits and locker-room presence, Chicago chose to send him home for good in late 2005 and officially waived him in March 2006; he would finish that year with Phoenix.

Phoenix Suns

After bouncing around from team to team, Thomas rejuvenated his career in the 2006 playoffs, playing alongside two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash. On May 4, 2006, at Los Angeles in game 6 of the first round of the Western Conference divisional playoffs, Thomas hit a crucial game-tying three pointer with 6 seconds left in regulation to spare the 2nd seeded Phoenix Suns from elimination against the 7th seeded Los Angeles Lakers. The Suns went on to win that game in the overtime period when Thomas hit another important three-pointer to force a game 7; a game which they won by 31 points to claim the series and complete the 3–1 series comeback. With the Suns, he became known as the one who helped knock both the Lakers and the Clippers out of the playoffs, before the team eventually lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.

Los Angeles Clippers

After his brilliant playoff performance, Thomas signed a four-year, $24 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers on July 13, 2006. He played solid (if unspectacular) basketball for the Clippers, but again failed to live up to his high playoff standards, and was subsequently traded to the New York Knicks again on November 21, 2008.

New York Knicks

Upon arriving in New York again, Thomas was reunited with Mike D'Antoni, who coached the Suns in 2006.

Chicago Bulls

On February 19, 2009, Tim was traded yet again to the Bulls along with center Jerome James and guard Anthony Roberson in exchange for guard Larry Hughes just before the trade deadline.[4]

On July 14, 2009, the Bulls negotiated a buyout of Thomas' $6.5 million contract.

Dallas Mavericks

On July 28, 2009, the Dallas Mavericks signed free agent Thomas. In late January, however, he left the team temporarily to take care of his wife, who had an undisclosed illness.

In August 2010 Thomas agreed to a one-year deal with the Mavericks worth the veteran minimum. In September of that year, however, he told the club that he would not report to the team so that he could care for his sick wife.[5]

Awards

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1997–98 Philadelphia 77 48 23.1 .447 .363 .740 3.7 1.2 .7 .2 11.0
1998–99 Philadelphia 17 0 11.1 .403 .263 .792 1.9 .9 .2 .2 4.6
1998–99 Milwaukee 33 26 18.9 .495 .327 .614 2.8 .9 .7 .3 8.5
1999–00 Milwaukee 80 1 26.2 .461 .346 .774 4.2 1.4 .7 .4 11.8
2000–01 Milwaukee 76 16 27.4 .430 .412 .771 4.1 1.8 1.0 .6 12.6
2001–02 Milwaukee 74 22 26.9 .420 .326 .793 4.1 1.4 .9 .4 11.7
2002–03 Milwaukee 80 70 29.5 .443 .366 .780 4.9 1.3 .9 .6 13.3
2003–04 Milwaukee 42 42 32.0 .443 .362 .762 4.9 2.1 1.0 .4 14.1
2003–04 New York 24 23 31.1 .452 .406 .813 4.8 1.4 1.0 .2 15.8
2004–05 New York 71 68 27.3 .439 .409 .786 3.3 1.5 .6 .2 12.0
2005–06 Chicago 3 0 10.7 .375 .167 .000 1.3 .7 .0 .3 4.3
2005–06 Phoenix 26 10 24.4 .435 .429 .667 4.9 .7 .6 .2 11.0
2006–07 L.A. Clippers 76 24 27.0 .414 .382 .708 5.0 2.3 .7 .4 11.0
2007–08 L.A. Clippers 63 51 30.8 .413 .306 .752 5.1 2.7 .6 .5 12.4
2008–09 L.A. Clippers 10 5 22.0 .378 .300 .618 4.6 1.0 .3 .1 9.5
2008–09 New York 36 1 21.5 .461 .421 .806 3.1 1.3 .6 .3 9.6
2008–09 Chicago 18 0 14.1 .400 .442 .700 2.3 .7 .3 .0 5.8
2009–10 Dallas 18 1 15.8 .462 .372 .875 2.3 .8 .6 .1 7.5
Career 824 408 25.9 .437 .369 .758 4.1 1.5 .7 .4 11.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1999 Philadelphia 3 3 20.0 .444 .000 .583 4.0 .3 .3 .3 7.7
2000 Milwaukee 5 0 28.4 .492 .333 .824 4.8 2.0 .2 .8 15.4
2001 Milwaukee 18 0 26.6 .448 .431 .815 4.5 1.6 .5 .6 11.3
2003 Milwaukee 6 5 31.8 .462 .571 .719 4.8 1.3 .5 1.0 17.8
2004 New York 1 1 22.0 .400 .000 .800 5.0 3.0 .0 .0 12.0
2006 Phoenix 20 14 31.8 .491 .444 .776 6.3 1.3 .9 .4 15.1
2009 Chicago 2 0 7.5 .300 .250 .000 1.5 .0 .0 .0 3.5
Career 55 23 28.1 .468 .436 .772 5.1 1.4 .6 .5 13.3

References

  1. ↑ "There is no doubting Thomas will fill a void". Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2007.
  2. ↑ Thomas: K-Mart's act is phony. Sports.espn.go.com (2004-04-22). Retrieved on 2012-06-03.
  3. ↑ K-Mart: Thomas' words mean nothing. Sports.espn.go.com (2004-04-22). Retrieved on 2012-06-03.
  4. ↑ "Sources: Knicks trade for Bulls' Hughes". Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  5. ↑ Tim Thomas won't play for Mavericks. Sports.espn.go.com (2010-09-15). Retrieved on 2012-06-03.
  6. ↑ " HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL;Top Schoolboy Prospect Pressed About the Pros", The New York Times, December 6, 1995. Accessed December 3, 2007.

External links