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Scoring the basketball is definitely not an issue for San Antonio Spurs 2013 NBA Draft pick Deshaun Thomas.
Let’s just take a look at his last Summer League game against the Hawks to get a small sample of the different kind of ways he can put the ball in the basket.
Pick and Pop
There were three instances that Thomas looked very comfortable shooting off the pick and pop. Twice he came off the pick and pop to knock down an open three-point look. The other time he came off, he was wide open but the pass was low so he comfortably took one dribble in and smoothly drained a jumper over the smaller defender.
Off The Ball
Thomas working off the ball is where he shows his complete scoring ability. One example is when he came curling around an Aron Baynes pick around the high elbow. His catch was at the top of the three-point line, but since he saw the opening and felt the defender trailing, he proceeded to take one dribble in and knock down the free-throw jumper.
His other finish off the ball came from a Cory Joseph assist. Thomas positioned himself down low and had to finish while being fouled after receiving the pass near the baseline. He took the contact to help keep his balance and finished in a small space. This wasn’t the first time this summer that the lefty has shown his ability to be crafty around the basket.
Isolation
On one occasion Thomas took the ball from the left side of the top of the key, put down two quick hard power dribbles going toward the basket, and finished with a lefty jump hook off a jump-stop while being fouled. All of that was against a bigger defender in Mike Scott. The other isolation finish came off a broken inbounds play with the shot-clock running down. Thomas caught the inbounds pass out past the three-point line while being tightly defended. With the shot-clock running down he took two dribbles in to take a pull-up jumper with a defender waiting in front of him and a defender on his side. There seemed to be no space to get it off but he calmly knocked it down as the shot-clock expired.
Thomas has a multitude of ways to score the basketball. People might not realize that this was a relatively quiet game for Thomas compared to his previous two games. His looks were far and few between, but that didn’t slow Thomas who finished with 17 points on the night.
The Spurs have a pure scorer on their hands and there’s always a job in the NBA for anyone with that kind of skill set. Let’s just hope for Thomas and Spurs fans that opportunity is here in San Antonio.
