FanHouse TyrusThomas

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Andrew Bynum earns obvious headlines in coming back from a bad knee injury suffered in January. Bynum looked decent on Thursday, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 21 minutes of work against the Nuggets. He wasn't the main factor in L.A. knocking off its closest challenger, though.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The magnetic pull between the rim and Carmelo Anthony's fingertips could not be stronger. A night after wallopping Dallas for 43 points, 'Melo poured in 31 points against Golden State. OK, 31 points, no big deal, right? Well, those came in 30 minutes on 21 FGAs. Quick work, man. Anthony also had six rebounds and five assists, and the Nuggets lead by 30 after three quarters.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Vinny Del Negro needs to stop watching X-Files before games. How little does the Notorious V.D.N. trust his bench? He basically played a six-man rotation Tuesday against the Pistons, with seventh man Lindsey Hunter and burning man Tim Thomas each getting four minutes off the bench beyond Brad Miller's 23.

Derrick Rose missed his first game of the season with a bruised wrist. Kirk Hinrich filled in well, scoring 24 points (on 23 FGAs) and totaling eight assists. Tyrus Thomas was a beast for Chicago, with 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal.

It appears All-Star Weekend will come and go without an official Amar'e Stoudemire trade. That's probably for the best; it'd just be weird to see an All-Star starter playing for the wrong conference in his own town.

But the apparent stay on Stoudemire's Phoenix career for a few more days hasn't limited the rumors. The big, flashing arrow this weekend points toward Chicago, with four independent reports mentioning the basic parts and another quoting a Chicago reporter as telling Amar'e he's heading to the Windy City.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Blog-a-Bull. Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas are not making the most of their opportunities.

2. Ball Don't Lie. Video of the next president's election day pick-up game.

3. Sports Illustrated. Steve Nash is upset the Suns don't run when Shaquille O'Neal is on the bench.

4. Washington Times, via BallHype. More JaVale "Epic Vale" McGee: "A strip on the size-18 Nikes of Washington Wizards rookie JaVale McGee bears a peculiar phrase, written neatly in black Sharpie. 'Kill + Mode = Cheese.'"

5. Boston Globe, via TrueHoop. Carmelo Anthony might lose his personal chef ... to the White House.

6. Los Angeles Daily News. Why doesn't Chris Kaman surf the internet? "I'm into other stuff, shooting my bow and arrow around in my backyard, flying helicopters around. I just do stupid stuff you wouldn't think I'd be doing, but I'm the one doing it."

Vinny Del Negro appeared to be about as blank a slate as you could find when the Bulls hired him. Since the announcement, V.D.N. has been food for the disgruntled Bulls fan's soul, talking about player development and a positive environment.

Trainer (and ESPN.com analyst) David Thorpe watched Tyrus Thomas and Luol Deng (among others) at his facility in Florida, and passed on some rave reviews to Blog-a-Bull, as well as a prediction of how the Tyrus-V.D.N. dynamic might work.

[Tyrus] is deeply sorry for the missed practice, but there were serious circumstances involved. It was a far more complicated issue than what was known publicly. As Luol told me, TT had never even been late to a practice or meeting one single time prior to that day. [...]

TT also shot very well, had his moves and fakes looking like a pro, and had such a positive disposition that afternoon. I told Kevin [Martin of the Kings] that TT is that way every day, as long as he is surrounded by like-minded guys. I believe Vinny will be great for TT, and I told that to Kevin, who responded with "then the Bulls are going to be really good again."

The practice Thorpe refers to came in March. The cause is still a mystery, though the punishment is not: it cost Tyrus two games when his playing time was already in a drought. (For the record, Bulls fans: Martin's the hardest working King of the last 10, 15 years. If he says Tyrus is working hard, then Tyrus is working really flippin' hard.)

First he was out. Then Steve Kerr wanted him to stick around.

Now it looks like he's on his way out again.

According to a report by KTAR in Phoenix, the Suns have granted head coach Mike D'Antoni permission to speak to other teams about their vacant head coaching positions, including the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks.

And so the drama begins anew.

ESPN reported on Friday that Chicago was the most likely destination for D'Antoni if the lunch planned for that day between owner Robert Sarver, General Manager Kerr and D'Antoni did not yield an acceptable resolution. It would appear that it did not.

What this means for former MVP Steve Nash, former MVP Shaquille O'Neal, and MVP hopeful Amare Stoudemire will of course be of heavy debate this summer, particularly considering the offensive fireworks D'Antoni's system provided Nash and Stoudemire. Avery Johnson is allegedly a leading candidate for the Suns' gig if D'Antoni does move on.

Chicago is a tremendous choice for D'Antoni if he takes it, who can implement his run and gun style into a team of young, athletic players who already have solid defensive instincts in place. With Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, and Andres Nocioni, he has a bevy of interior players that can get up and down the court, a serviceable point guard in Kirk Hinrich, scorers in Larry Hughes (well, kind of) and Ben Gordon (just go with me here), as well as a high draft pick, D'Antoni has the elements to build a winner from the wreckage.

The end of one era and the beginning of a new one in both Phoenix and ... somewhere else, yet to be decided.

I guess the phrase is ... "Don't let the depressingly unrealized potential hit you on the way out."

(HT: Bright Side of the Sun)

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.

When Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and Adrian Griffin were shipped off at the trade deadline, my colleague Tom Ziller (tongue-in-cheek) lamented the loss of the Veteran Discipline Committee to keep Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah in check. But maybe there was something to that ...

G.M. John Paxson suspened second-year forward Tyrus Thomas two games for an unexcused absence from Wednesday's practice.

Thomas will serve the suspension during Chicago's next two games, sitting out the game against Cleveland on Thursday at the United Center and Friday at Boston.

There was no explanation for why Thomas missed practice, but two games is harsh enough that I wonder if Paxson and Co. didn't think it was entirely an accident.

Might Thomas be irked that he's played fewer than 10 minutes in two of the last three games? It's possible; he probably figured the departure of the aforementioned veterans would lead to his coming out party. Instead, his PT is as unpredictable as ever. But if being ticked off about playing time really was his motivation (and to be fair, maybe these dots really don't connect), I'm not sure why giving the coach a reason to sit you is really the best solution.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
I recently added Robert Swift for $25 in a really, really deep league. Woo, me. No, seriously, what a nightmare. The Supersonics promised to give him some run because he was going to be a restricted FA and they wanted to know what they had. Instead, Swift is likely out for the season. Taking his place? Johan Petro (who I dropped for him, of course). Petro scored seven points, grabbed 10 boards and blocked two shots last night and in he's gonna be available in most leagues. He's not a total gamer, but hey, it's late in the season and if you're in a deep league and need a center, you could do worse. (Rasho NEST-er-o-VIC, anyone?) The other guy to watch? Mickael Gelabale. He's a youngster out of France and he scored 12 points two games ago and 21 with eight boards, an assist and a steal against the Lakers last night. Look, the Sonics are punting on this season. That doesn't mean you can't take advantage. If Gelabale continues to get run, scoop him.

Hot Cakes
Tyrus Thomas went for 18 points, six boards, five dimes, two blocks and a steal last night. Maybe we can stop calling him an "enigma" or some-such-honkey, and just admit that Scott Skiles didn't know how to use him. Everyone else fine with that? If your trade deadline hasn't passed, trade for him -- could be a monster second half.