Tim Thomas Bolts Suns For Clippers
July 2, 2006 by Angelo Fernandez
Filed under Player Movement
Considered an underachiever and an inconsistent player all his career, Tim Thomas seemed to have found his soul with the Phoenix Suns with their run and gun style of offense and MVP Steve Nash running it. He was a midseason acquisition off the waivers when the Bulls decided to get rid of him and he provided instant offense for the Suns that helped them a lot in the playoffs especially since they were undermanned with Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas out.
This looks like a perfect situation for Tim Thomas to be in going into next season but money talked to him louder. NBA sources have confirmed that Tim Thomas will sign with the L.A. Clippers who offered him almost double what the Suns could afford to give him. This is quite a blow to the Suns roster especially since they didn’t draft anyone this year. Instead they traded away their picks. This means they will have to rely on the free agent market to bulk up their roster, which doesn’t seem to offer anyone much to replace Thomas. Trading players doesn’t look like an option either considering they’re undermanned and they really want to keep the core intact. This means good news for forward James Jones then, who might be able to provide the same kind of scoring spark Thomas did.
I don’t know exactly what Thomas’ intentions are, but hasn’t he learned from the recent success of Payton, Walker, et al?