• VanPastorMan

    I hope he can get his degree in the future like Cody did. Good luck to you Thomas. Thanks for your time at IU.

  • inLinE6

    That’s serious commitment to get the degree eventually.

  • pcantidote

    All the best to TB. I wonder, do the agents front the cash for stuff like this? I assume some players and their families don’t have the cash to put up to pay for a training facility like that.

  • inLinE6

    They generally get paid when their players sign the contract. No contract no pay. It’s their responsibility to get the player a good contract.

  • pcantidote

    Yeah, but who pays for TB to attend this training facility in California?

  • inLinE6

    I doubt he’ll pay even he hasn’t signed with agent yet. Trying out with agents?

  • Indiana_Banners

    Agents generally front the money for these things and are repaid if their client signs a contract in the NBA or overseas. I’m sure agents get burned on rare, rare occasion but a prospect like Bryant is sure to catch on SOMEWHERE as a pro so he’s a safe bet.

  • Kelin Blab

    I have always thought he ran very stiff and wasn’t as mobile as he should be. Bryant never gave me the impression of a guy who plays above the rim….I am glad he is working towards that and wish him all the best.

  • VOXAC30

    Good luck big fella! I hope you become all ?!

  • John D Murphy

    His dribble looks good and the shot looks good but his feet are a problem. Especially on the outside shots. He has to shuffle his feet on about 3/4 outside shots in that video. Caught it out of bounds twice and stepped over the line shooting the ball. That needs to be corrected as much as possible before his individual workouts and the combine. He can shoot and he’s long enough to get the shot off but if it is slow (feet shuffling) or he just isn’t aware of where he is (catching out of bounds), that will cost him opportunities. I am really rooting for TB. I know he will be a great ambassador for IU and was a kid I was proud to call a Hoosier. Make it rain Thomas!

  • I’m guessing agents are like lawyers. There’s a risk in taking on a case (player), but the risk is spread out over cases (players) and they’re very good at managing which cases (players) they take on to make a profit in the end. For every case (player) that loses (washes out), there are two that are winners. It’s a risky business, but the rewards are massive.

  • iugradmark

    On the podcast this week, they talked about TB’s mobility problems and said it was a known issue going back to his Junior year in high school. For all the criticisms of Crean, I think he had a good team of people working on developing skills so I am sure they worked with him but I kind of think this is who TB is.

    I will continue to believe that the coaches and probably TB believe that to make it in the league, he needed to play outside. I think that is going to prove to be wrong. He has a long wingspan and even without great hops, he needed to develop and learn to shoot around the basket. He is not explosive but there are techniques of using your body, shooting over your shoulder, developing a jump hook, etc. that he is not very good at. He was often bothered, blocked, etc. by smaller players around the rim as a result. I wish him well and hope he has success. He seems like a really great young man.

  • Indiana_Banners

    If you follow the NBA you know that the back to the basket game you describe is largely a thing of the past. Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs, only 2 – the Spurs and the Grizzlies – play 2 traditional bigs. And that’s counting LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol as traditional back-to-the-basket bigs which truthfully neither of them are.

    Modern big men that impact their team offensively need to score facing the basket. There are vanishingly few exceptions, especially if you only look at good teams. Big men that can’t score facing the basket need to be elite defenders, rim protectors, and rebounders to stick in the league… Bryant has a better shot to be a top offensive big than an elite defensive big.

    If you DON’T watch the NBA… well, then, it’s might presumptuous of you to elevate your opinion over that of people that understand what the modern NBA game is about like the coaches that Bryant has interacted with.

  • iugradmark

    You added something that I didn’t say in your analysis. I never said he had to play with his back to the basket but spoke to needing to be able to finish or shoot around the basket. Nice analysis of the pros and cons of how bigs play but not something I was advocating. DON’T assume I don’t watch the NBA 😉

  • Indiana_Banners

    I didn’t assume; that’s why I said, “If.”

  • iugradmark

    Then I am really confused since you went into a lot of analysis that wasn’t mentioned. All good. I think in the end, you believe that TB’s best shot is to play face up. I don’t disagree on that.

  • SCHoosier

    :

    I think it will help TB to be in a totally different training environment. Hope he really surprises people ..gets the job done and is able to finish his degree at some point. Ahh..PS Thomas…you still have that great on camera personality..but practice eliminating the verbal crutch “you know” from your interviews. You know what I mean?:)

  • John D Murphy

    Agree with most of what you said except “I will continue to believe that the coaches and probably TB believe that to make it in the league, he needed to play outside. I think that is going to prove to be wrong. He has a long wingspan and even without great hops, he needed to develop and learn to shoot around the basket.” I don’t think the evaluators really care about the lack of inside skills because they know that by the time he sees any non-emergency action (2nd year at earliest more likely 3rd year) that will be long fixed. It is more relevant that he can get off a corner three and make it at a high enough pct that his man has to leave the rim. The analytics force today’s bigs with few exceptions to be shooters. Assistant coaches can fix the rim scoring. His margin of error to a make a team is pretty thin, so he needs to fix what can give him an advantage.

  • bball at nick’s

    I have no problem with TB’s game. It’s not because of him that we had a crappy season. He will be phenomenal with good coaching and fans that appreciate him.

  • sam

    Agencies usually have all this stuff in house. If you sign they believe you have a chance to play some where so they will invest in this training. They believe it’s a good investment with a good return. In most all cases.

  • Kyle Fuehne

    Lower level/new agents get burned a lot.

  • TomJameson

    Wish TB would have come back for one more year, but I most certainly hope for the best for him. He actually looked pretty good in the video. I think his game will transfer pretty well to the NBA. May have to spend a year or two developing, but I think that’s where we’ll see him eventually.

    I still think one of his determinants on leaving is the coaching change. I know most don’t agree, but I think TB fierce emotions and loyalty to Crean is being underestimated. Just an opinion, don’t call me names because of it please. 🙂

    I think TB will always speak well of his time at IU, and will be a good ambassador for the program.

  • vicbert caladipo

    I think the same thing, although the video shows him moving better albeit against 2 guys who aren’t really guarding him. He says he’s working on flexibility so that should help. We’ll see soon enough if he’s improved enough to see any floor time next year in the NBA. I like the point Draft Express made about there are a lot of big men coming out this year. Thomas does certainly sound very confident.

  • Craig Mitchell Ha’o.

    Only BEST WISHES to Thomas, OG and their Families moving Forward!! Keep Working..stay on the Grind and Keep IMPROVING your Game! GO GET IT!!#Represent!

  • Larry Brown

    All these self-styled “NBA” guys defended CTC, so I’d love to be able to ask them just went wrong this year. I mean, 4 NBA prospects yet 16 losses? I wonder if that contradiction ever crosses their minds.

  • Larry Brown

    It’s bizarre that Bryant goes and Happ stays. Happy is clearly so much better. And I bet Happ turns out to be underrated by NBA scouts

  • Larry Brown

    But Bryant lacks the athleticism to be more than a role player, if that, in the NBA. Just my opinion there , but I think he’ll have a lot of trouble guarding people and some issues with just getting shots off inside.
    Hope I’m wrong.

  • bball at nick’s

    Maybe you should tell us where other than in your own little imagined utopia are college kids allowed to freely and openly criticize a 3-million-dollar coach.