The Oklahoma City Thunder aren't just getting a backup center in Etan Thomas, they are getting a much-needed bodyguard for rising star Kevin Durant. And that's a good thing.According to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman, the Thunder are close to acquiring Thomas from Minnesota in a trade for reserve guards Damien Wilkins and Chucky Atkins, neither of whom were expected to help Durant very much. The Thunder also will be getting a second-round pick in 2010.
Thomas went to Minnesota earlier this summer from Washington, along with the No 5 pick in the draft, as part of the deal that sent Mike Miller and Randy Foye to the Wizards.
Thomas is well known as the center who returned last season after being struck by a serious illness that required open heart surgery in 2007. Before that illness, though, Thomas often provided the inside toughness that the Wizards needed with a mostly offensive-minded lineup.
Thomas, a 6-9, 260-pounder who was born in Harlem, N.Y., isn't all that athletic or basketball skilled, but his role with the Wizards often was to help toughen up more talented center Brendan Haywood. More than once, he and Haywood came to blows in practice.
As the Thunder try and build a team around Durant, a superstar in the making, they are beginning to understand they can't allow teams to get too physical defending Durant without providing him with some physical protection, which explains the need for Thomas.
The Thunder already have penciled in Nenad Krstic as their starting center, but he is far from a banger who can take or deliver much physical play. Before getting Thomas, they would have had to use power forward Nick Collison as Krstic's backup. They drafted Ohio State center B.J. Mullens, but he is s few years ago from providing serious support.
Thomas is scheduled to make $7.35 million in the final year of his contract. For the Wolves, the trade may be more of a salary dump than anything. Wilkins has one year remaining at $3.3 million, while Atkins has only $760,000 of his $3.48 million contract guaranteed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-27-2009 @ 7:16PM
krmagley said...
i like thomas, not a great player but a good dude. i'm glad to see he may be doing something important, even if he's not competing for a title.
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7-27-2009 @ 7:28PM
Giles said...
Interior toughness counts. That is why Jungle Jim Loscutoff`s name hangs in the rafters in Boston. At 6`5, 220, he was drafted when Wilt Chamberlain, the guy Boston really wanted, chose not to enter the nba straight out of high school. Loscy was the hatchet man, who, while shorter, slightly out weighed the more talented Russell and Heinsohn. He isn`t in the Hall of Fame yet, and may never be, but started on twice as many nba championship teams as Chamberlain. Want the team which scores most, or the team which wins most? Evaluations should be similar for athletes. Scoring isn`t everthing, winning is. Etan Thomas should maybe a formidable bench decoration, watching Colison rebound and defend. And if he becomes healthy enough to get back into the games, so much the better.
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7-28-2009 @ 9:06AM
richcantwell109 said...
Jim Loscutoff was drafted in 1955. Reggie Harding was the first high schooler drafted by the NBA in 1962. High schoolers were not eligible when Chamberlain graduated high school.
7-28-2009 @ 3:21PM
Giles said...
While it may not sound like it, actually both Rich and I are more or less right. Harding was a 7`0 Detroit center, gradauted `61, drafted `62, signed `63, first to have not played college ball. Auerbach wanted Wilt in `55, when Wilt live in Philadelphia, so he would have had to move to Boston to have been made a regional pick, as Auerbach hoped, Auerbach knew he could not get him thru the regular draft. Wilt always wanted to play in Rich`s beloved NYC, lived there the second time he played for Philly, and as I have posted before, probably made a mistake not playing for the Rucker summer `55, and becoming a Knick regional pick. New York had a 6`6, HOF center, Harry Gallatin, at the time. As for the legalistic fine point, I don`t know why Auerbach hoped he could pull off the aquisition, don`t know if Rich is right he`d have needed to get around the rules, but that is what Auerbach has stated wanted to do. If it was against the rules, maybe that is why Chamberlain didn`t go for it, may Auerbach couldn`t get around the rule as he admitted he hoped he could get Wilt. And yes, that was a year before Auerbach traded to get Russell, so Wilt, if he had been signed, would have played with HOF Ed McCauley in Boston.
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