Tyrus Thomas Refuses to Shed Light on Missed Practice

Tyrus Thomas apologized to his Chicago teammates on Thursday for skipping practice on Wednesday but refused to tell the media what prompted his absence except to say it was for "personal reasons" and not about a lack of playing time. Whatever it was, it seems to have been premeditated -- the Chicago Tribune cites sources that say "Thomas laughingly told two teammates 'see you Thursday' when he left the locker room after Tuesday's victory over Memphis, during which Thomas played just nine foul-plagued minutes."

But while those teammates may have known what was up, the front office brass was so completely caught off guard that they actually dispatched police officers to Thomas' house to check up on him when they were unable to track him down. (Sadly, given the incidents involving Eddy Curry and Antoine Walker in Chicago suburbs this summer, that's actually a smart precautionary measure to take in a situation like this.)

If any good comes of this situation it's that Thomas and interim coach Jim Boylan are apparently now seeing eye to eye -- Thomas said their telephone conversation late Wednesday "broke some barriers." That right there certainly seems to suggest that this was in fact about playing time and basketball, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Thomas is 21 years old -- when I was his age I skipped more than my fair share of college classes without anything close to resembling a valid excuse. It happened, it's over and in a round-about way, team relations may be better for it.