2015 G Khyri Thomas (Signed)

[Chicagojayfan]

I think Nevin was the guy to make us forget Bryce

Khyri has a better skill game in my opinion. . He can handle well for a 2 and shoots midrange well, and I think his 3 will develop nicely. Maybe a better shooting, longer Brooks with a full 4 years of development

[JacobPadilla]

I think Nevin was the guy to make us forget Bryce

Khyri has a better skill game in my opinion. . He can handle well for a 2 and shoots midrange well, and I think his 3 will develop nicely. Maybe a better shooting, longer Brooks with a full 4 years of development

I don't think they're comparable players at all. He hasn't proven he's a better shooter yet, for one. Two, he has a completely different type of body type. Three, he's not the ball-handler or passer that Dev is. Four, he knows that he's supposed to play defense.

[Chicagojayfan]

I think Nevin was the guy to make us forget Bryce

Khyri has a better skill game in my opinion. . He can handle well for a 2 and shoots midrange well, and I think his 3 will develop nicely. Maybe a better shooting, longer Brooks with a full 4 years of development

I don't think they're comparable players at all. He hasn't proven he's a better shooter yet, for one. Two, he has a completely different type of body type. Three, he's not the ball-handler or passer that Dev is. Four, he knows that he's supposed to play defense.

He's not the ball handler and passer Dev was, but he can get to the rim and finish off the dribble (one of the few guys on our roster who can do so), and to be fair, I don't think Dev was a real 1 either.. more of a need given he was one of the few guys who could get a shot by himself when nobody else on the court could. True that he hasn't proven he is a better shooter yet, but given how Devin shot, I suspect some full development with the staff will put Thomas ahead by the time he's done (as I said, with a full 4 years of development.. not the 2 years that Dev got after JUCO).

But the comparison is probably that he looks a lot like some of the guys that Lavin used to stock up on at St. Johns... hopefully with more skill upside, but the athleticism and length are there.

[CU10S93]

Mac said on Bluejay Banter that Khyri is "the kid that people are not talking about enough" which sounds encouraging. I really hope the staff can develop his game.

[Dundee Hipster]

It wouldn't surprise me if in 2-3 years we are looking back and saying "Thomas was the best recruit of this season."

He has the potential. I just don't want him to fall by the wayside and be a role player forever, ala Dingman.

[HandDownManDown]

Dingman's problem was that he was a marginal talent who became a waste of space once he lost all confidence in his shot.

Khyri does not lack talent as far as I can tell.

[Chicagojayfan]

Dingman's problem was that he was a marginal talent who became a waste of space once he lost all confidence in his shot.

Khyri does not lack talent as far as I can tell.

I think that's an unfair and mean-spirited shot against Dingman. Dingman did lose confidence in his shot and that was a huge problem (I would think partly because he spent most of his career letting other guys take shots and never just shooting his way out of it as he might of on a Valley team without guys like Wragge and Doug running around with him), but he was probably our best defender pretty much both of the last two years and was tough and played hard. In terms of "talent" many associate that with athletic ability, well.. if you can play D, you are pretty athletic.

Khyri has better athletic ability, and while not as tall is longer. He appears to also have a better handle, but does not have the shot Dingman had coming out of HS. I'm very high on Khyri's potential, but that doesn't make me want to bash the guys who were here before.

[FereJay]

but he was probably our best defender pretty much both of the last two years and was tough and played hard. In terms of "talent" many associate that with athletic ability, well.. if you can play D, you are pretty athletic.

This is a joke right?

Exhibit A and B- and watching him play D for 4 years is exhibit C-Z. Just cause someone calls you the "hustle guy" or "D Stopper" doesn't make it the case.

[HandDownManDown]

Dingman's problem was that he was a marginal talent who became a waste of space once he lost all confidence in his shot.

Khyri does not lack talent as far as I can tell.

I think that's an unfair and mean-spirited shot against Dingman. Dingman did lose confidence in his shot and that was a huge problem (I would think partly because he spent most of his career letting other guys take shots and never just shooting his way out of it as he might of on a Valley team without guys like Wragge and Doug running around with him), but he was probably our best defender pretty much both of the last two years and was tough and played hard. In terms of "talent" many associate that with athletic ability, well.. if you can play D, you are pretty athletic.

Khyri has better athletic ability, and while not as tall is longer. He appears to also have a better handle, but does not have the shot Dingman had coming out of HS. I'm very high on Khyri's potential, but that doesn't make me want to bash the guys who were here before.

Whoa, time out. I totally disagree on both accounts.

First, as far as acting respectful, I probably could have used a different term than waste of space; however I'd like to just have everyone recall what happened last month. We are out of scholarships and we're still recruiting. It's obvious that someone is out the door, yet there were a LOT of people on here who were just gaga over every single name that popped up. You had to figure it was Leon who would be going based on what had been bandied about on the boards and during Overtime on the radio. And of course his mom was a regular poster. And by all accounts a TERRIFIC kid. But no, the overwhelming response on here was that of a Pavlovian dog when hearing a ringing bell every time a new name popped up. I was one of the few who was saying hey, we're dumping someone here, might want to chillax a bit until things play out, but that wasn't heeded, even when Goodman (who as Mac's good friend was obviously in the know) let it slip. Backflips continued, Leon got bounced while both he and his mother were left in the dark, and everyone was like, well, thanks Leon, but BRING ON Trent/Mulder/Foster/Whomever!

If you ask me that was an embarrassing moment, both in light of how the whole thing went down with it leaking out before the family was even really aware, as well as our behavior on here. But it's bigtime NCAA basketball, and you need your big boy pants, so it's water under the bridge. But that whole episode was in my eyes 10X more disrespectful than pointing out Dingman was atrocious, so let's quit that.

As far as Dingman's play goes, um, the kid was not a BE player. Period. The whole idea that he was a good defender stems from the fact that we were so freaking atrocious at D that he was OUR best defender, and the thinking goes, ergo he was pretty good - which is not true. On his good days he was pretty serviceable, on his bad we got burned. Ferejay got it right, he blew all kinds of plays. It's funny that he has gotten a 2 1/2 year pass with people on here; I'm guessing it was due to him looking great for the first 1 1/2 and everyone was still hoping for him to be Ron Baker, which I think after his start was what many on here were hoping for. Remember the NBA talk that was associated with his name by a couple of posters (which was silly even then but nevertheless occurred)?

I'm going to sum up my opinion of our season in one sentence - you might think it also too harsh but I figure at least I can show exactly the way I see it. Our biggest problem last season was playing guys like Will and Avery (who really have no business being on a BE roster) far, far too many minutes due to circumstances. If you ask me, that's what killed us the most. Again you might disagree, but I am of the opinion that one of the things that caused Chatman to collapse was the realization that if it wasn't him doing it, it wasn't going to get done, so he took on way more than he was capable of. Even bumping Dingman up to a Kreklowesque player would have been tremendous. He was maybe average height for what he was asked to do, playing against guys faster, stronger, and who could jump higher. Definitely below average athleticism.

But hey, Avery was who he was, and we were what we were. From what I've heard he's a great guy, and I'm glad he came, because the player that you and many on here think he actually was (but wasn't) would have been the player he would have in reality been had we stayed in the Valley, and it's not his fault that we were in last year's situation and in a different conference. Will too - he had better moments last season than Avery but still soooo maddening - and is a CU guy to the bone. I appreciate the hell out of the both of them.

But if we ever wind up playing players with their limitations the minutes that we played those two, then I'm on the "Mac has some recruiting questions that had better be answered soon" train.

Khyri does not have me seeing those limitations. He might not wind up being a world beater but at least he has what I consider to be the necessary strength/quickness/skill set to NOT be a guy who has a non-BE ceiling.

[cujaysfan]

so it's ok to bash will and avery (and that's not embarrassing)?