Update: Cam Thomas Appears To Be On A Linsanity-Esque Trajectory After His 3rd Straight 40-Point Game
Chill out Cam Thomas! For crying out loud man don't hurt 'em!!!
DAMN this guy. Human flamethrower and to-the-rim bulldozer apparently considering he attempted TWENTY free throws against the Suns on Tuesday night en route to 43 points. He only missed two from the foul line (one on purpose!) and for the second hard-fought loss in a row, led the efforts of an outmanned Brooklyn squad to hold their own against two playoff-caliber teams from the West.
Seriously this is the craziest thing I can recall in the NBA since Linsanity in terms of a player rising from relative obscurity to just all of a sudden ball out and look like a legit All-Star. While Jeremy Lin was far more obscure than Thomas and his run with the Knicks wound up being rather short-lived, it looks like the budding Nets star could have some serious staying power.
This is legit like those old NBA Showtime video games where you get on fire to the point where the basketball is aflame with a smoke trail and you torch the net every time you make a bucket. And you pretty much can't miss.
That's Cam Thomas at the minute more or less. Just playing out of his fucking brain.
It was pretty cool to see Thomas' fellow LSU alum Shaquille O'Neal break down his game and give him a shoutout after a 24-point first half.
Nets fans, I guess if some one-time LSU Tigers (AHEMBenSimmons) won't give you much of anything, at least you can count on another one of your own to help Brooklyn jell into a championship contender. Hilarious that Shaq also shoots a stray at Simmons due to his reluctance to, well, shoot.
All these positive Brooklyn vibes of course hinge on Kevin Durant getting back on the court and finishing the stretch run and postseason healthy. Soon, too, newly acquired vets Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith will be plugged into the rotation. Thomas' scoring explosion happens to be a happy accident from the Kyrie Irving trade, but now Nets coach Jacque Vaughn has some tricky lineup math to work out. Uptown problems, though, to be clear!
What Shaq says in the video above about all the aspiring hoopers who are in AAU or high school about capitalizing on your chance to "get your shine on" rings so true to Cam Thomas' whole situation. He was a volume scorer in college and for his whole life really until the NBA. Then he's drafted late first round, and has to sit a lot and learn on a star-studded team. What a testament to how hard Thomas must've been working behind the scenes to step up for a moment like this.
I thought I might've overreacted a tad when I wrote this previous blog:
Now I think I might've undersold that skyrocketing Cam Thomas stock.