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Devin Thomas

Obviously comparisons to Timmy D are unfair for us to pin on any frosh. HOWEVER, for someone who was a sophomore in '94 and got to see every one of Tim's games up close and personal, it's not a stretch to say that Tim Duncan was a DREADFUL offensive player as a freshman. He was all defense, rebounding and shot-blocking. So many times, he had no clue what to do with the ball on the offensive end of the floor early in his freshman campaign. He used to travel a lot and had difficulty pivoting to his strong hand.

At that point in time, he seemed like a project with some potential to become a serviceable offensive player and a routine 10/10/3 guy. I don't think anyone saw him becoming one of the best ACC players of all time. But then he worked his tail off before his sophomore year and became a completely different player. That kind of progression is unheard of in sports for someone who barely played the game growing up. It is a remarkable feat that Tim Duncan transformed himself into not only one of the best college players of all time, but perhaps one of the best 3 power forwards to ever lace 'em up in the NBA.

As for Devin, assuming he can avoid a devastating injury, and he continues to work on his footwork and quickness (albeit big man quickness), I think the sky's the limit for him. Plus, we don't even know if he's done growing yet, n'est-ce pas?
 
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Why the Deac Not said:
Obviously comparisons to Timmy D are unfair for us to pin on any frosh. HOWEVER, for someone who was a sophomore in '94 and got to see every one of Tim's games up close and personal, it's not a stretch to say that Tim Duncan was a DREADFUL offensive player as a freshman. He was all defense, rebounding and shot-blocking. So many times, he had no clue what to do with the ball on the offensive end of the floor early in his freshman campaign. He used to travel a lot and had difficulty pivoting to his strong hand.

At that point in time, he seemed like a project with some potential to become a serviceable offensive player and a routine 10/10/3 guy. I don't think anyone saw him becoming when of the best ACC players of all time. But then he worked his tail off before his sophomore year and became a completely different player. That kind of progression is unheard of in sports for someone who barely played the game growing up. It is a remarkable feat that Tim Duncan not only transformed himself into one of the best college players of all time but perhaps one of the best 3 power forwards to ever lace 'em up in the NBA.

As for Devin, assuming he can avoid a devastating injury, and he continues to work on his footwork and quickness (albeit big man quickness), I think the sky's the limit for him. Plus, we don't even know if he's done growing yet, n'est-ce pas?
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Your use of the word "perhaps" makes me discredit everything else you say.
 
I think about comparing to E-Rex.

Same height, a lot less bulk.

Better game at both ends and higher ceiling.
 
TwentyONE said:
We've always been a team that draws a lot of fouls. Cj in particular, also Travis. But now it seems like CMM, Moto, and Thomas are getting more aggressive and confident taking it to the hole. And even if they dont convert at an adequate clip yet, they draw the foul.

BTW, anyone see that reverse angle on the Moto's baseline drive and attempted dunk? Oh man, that would have brought the house down. I see him coverting that in the near future and REALLY sparking the team.
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I thought the same thing. It won't be too much longer before Moto starts throwing it down on people.
 
I didn't want to oversell Duncan's status as an NBA great, but I certainly see him as the best forward ever. Just thought I'd leave it open to debate, but honestly I can't think of any PF in his class. The comparisons are all C. And he used to school Alonzo, Shaq and others regularly. Gotta love it!
 
Not going to find much debate about that on this forum.
 
The assertion that we can't be consistently good with Devin as our center is laughable.
 
Not much debate in NBA circles to, as the 2nd and 3rd best PFs are generally regarded to be Malone and Barkley, and they are both ring-less.
 
I think McHale is generally regarded to be the best or 2nd best PF and he has many rings. Barkley and Malone are in the 3rd conversation.
 
Funny I try to not be a blind homer for fear of y'all getting on me for not considering other players, and instead I get jumped on for not treating it as fact that Timmy is the best evah! Love it! Tough crowd. But hey, we can all agree on Timmy's greatness, at least there's that.

But more importantly, Devin is so much better already than a Kyle Visser or even a Darius Songaila (well, not shooting the ball) at this point his freshman year when you consider his rebounding and shot-blocking. Hopefully he can continue to avoid disastrous foul trouble the rest of this season.
 
I think McHale, Malone, and Barkley all have a fair claim to the #2 spot. Not sure why McHale seems to get bumped from this conversation. I guess more younger people are entering the conversation and writing about it.
 
jaybone said:
I think McHale is generally regarded to be the best or 2nd best PF and he has many rings. Barkley and Malone are in the 3rd conversation.
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Ah yes, I knew there was someone obvious I would leave out if I even dared to mention other former NBA PF. And like Timmy, didn't Moses Malone have to play a lot of C, which really wasn't his natural position. And Moses has a ring, he was a vital cog on the '83 Sixers.
 
Otis Thorpe anyone? Thurl Bailey? A couple of underrated guys for their era. Not as good as Barkley or McHale, but certainly very good.
 
Karl Malone. Not Moses Malone. Moses was a center his whole career.

And get out with Otis Thorpe and Thurl Bailey. For one, Bailey didn't start, he was a 6th man. And neither made all-star teams. Thorpe may have made a few, but to be considered one of the best power forwards to ever play the game, you probably need to start and make all-star games.

The other two we left out are KGarnett and of course Nowitski, who has probably moved ahead of Barkley. I'd go:

Duncan
McHale
Malone
Nowitski
Barkley
Garnett
Elvin Hayes
Bob Petit
 
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Any suggestion that Tim Duncan isn't the PF GOAT will result in instant thread derailment.
 
Why the Deac Not said:
I didn't want to oversell Duncan's status as an NBA great, but I certainly see him as the best forward ever. Just thought I'd leave it open to debate, but honestly I can't think of any PF in his class. The comparisons are all C. And he used to school Alonzo, Shaq and others regularly. Gotta love it!
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That's not overselling it. That's just the gospel truth.
 
Come on, Moses was listed as both a PF and a C on many resources. I'm pretty sure he played PF for the Hawks, not C as that was the great Jon Koncak IIRC.

I was messing around with Thorpe and Bailey, but my mind was drawing blanks on great PF's. Obviously KG and Dirk, not to mention honorable mention to C-Webb, but I was thinking more pre-1997. Just couldn't rattle my brain. Was Mark Aguirre considered a PF? Of course there's Dennis Rodman!! LOL
 
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