It might just be the strangest story of the postseason, this Tim Thomas affair. The Chicago Bulls told him to get lost after a grand total of three games, didn't even want him in the building, happy to pay him his $14 million salary to sit at home from November to March and do nothing. The Phoenix Suns, admittedly desperate for a healthy big body, put him in the starting lineup and told him he'd get all the minutes he could handle.
So here we are, on the eve of Monday night's Game 7 between the Suns and Los Angeles Clippers here, and Thomas has done more than handle his minutes; he's made himself indispensable. One man's junk is another man's treasure, apparently. The Suns don't merely need Thomas; they probably won't advance if they don't get a major contribution from him Monday night.
It's a stunning turnaround. Thomas, in 13 playoff games, has averaged 15 points and seven rebounds, shot 49 percent and made 43 percent of his three-point attempts. He opened the playoffs, against the Lakers, by recording 22 points and 15 rebounds. He saved the Suns' season in Game 6 of that series by going for 21 and 10, and hitting the three-point shot with six seconds left in regulation that sent the game into overtime and ultimately lifted Phoenix to a critical victory in an elimination road game. And in the Game 5 victory over the Clippers, Thomas scored 25 points and hit 5 of 8 three-point shots. And, if all that wasn't enough, he has been assigned to guard the Clippers' beast of a power forward, Elton Brand, in a matchup that likely will continue through Game 7.
"He's a really good fit for us, a three-point shooter and a small forward who can play some center," Suns teammate and MVP Steve Nash said of Thomas's rare and diverse set of skills. "We'd like to have a big, athletic defender in there. But how many of them are there out there? There aren't a lot of Duncans and Rasheeds, Ben Wallaces and Dirk Nowitzkis out there. Tim's got length, he's got range, he's got guts. . . . It works for us. Would I have thought he'd produce at this level? No way. I think most people would have had much more conservative predictions than that."
Thomas didn't really make any predictions when the Bulls tossed him in early November — not long after coming over from the Knicks — other than that he would use the time off productively. The Nets had called him, so had the Spurs. He worked out twice a day, often played pick-up games at his alma mater, Villanova. "At the last second, Phoenix called and I thought, 'Perfect,' " he said.
Suns Coach Mike D'Antoni told Thomas he would have to play out of position, at center and power forward, but not small forward which he prefers. Thomas thought, "I had just gone to heaven."
Chicago was anything but. The two clubs, the Bulls and Suns, are as different as the weather in Chicago and Phoenix. The Suns, while they have a very distinctive style and system, run and shoot freely. The Bulls are grinders. Coach Scott Skiles puts a premium on defense and discipline, and there seems to be great structure to what the Bulls do. D'Antoni wasn't interested in what Thomas couldn't do, according to Suns veterans, only in what he could.
"I thought I was going to become the player I always wanted to become in Chicago," Thomas said of his nine-year NBA odyssey from Philadelphia to Milwaukee to New York to Chicago to Phoenix. "I had one conversation with Skiles that lasted less than five minutes. I asked him, 'Do you think I'm dogging it in practice?' And he said no. But from then on, nothing. . . .
"Nobody told me what they expected of me. I understand that, as a free agent making $14 million, I was going to come off the books at the end of the season. I understood that. . . . But man, I started hearing I was a bad influence on the young kids and that I didn't practice. Ask the players in Chicago. I went through the same practices they did . . . well, for three games. You get a rep from nothing. A bad year becomes, 'He doesn't work hard.' Chicago tried to put that label on me."
Thomas knows the rep he has in some quarters: self-absorbed, uncooperative, underachieving.
D'Antoni knows all about reputations NBA-style.
"Sometimes," he said, "you can catch guys at the right time in their careers. Sometimes, it's the wrong time. Sometimes, they're ready to be helped; sometimes they're not. I do know that in general the NBA is good at putting labels on people very quickly that can stick a long time."
Thomas is the first to talk about benefiting from D'Antoni's system that so naturally incorporates his running and shooting skills and is quick to realize how Nash facilitates what he wants to do.
"From being on the opposing team you knew how he could control the game," Thomas said, "but I didn't know it would be so easy to play with him. He's definitely the MVP. It's unbelievable to be on the same side with the guy."
The Suns also are giddy over Thomas's willingness to take on difficult defensive assignments. At 6 feet 10 and 235 pounds, he is easily the Suns' biggest and strongest player who sees any minutes.
"I didn't think he could guard Elton Brand as well as he can," D'Antoni said.
The Pistons like to talk about being a band of castoffs, from Chauncey Billups (whom Rick Pitino traded as a rookie) to Rip Hamilton to Rasheed and Ben Wallace. But not one of the key Pistons resurfaced the same season he was dumped by another team. There's no shocker among the Spurs' or Mavericks' top eight players, a guy who came literally from working out in the gym to crack the lineup and make himself invaluable in the playoffs the way Thomas has for the Suns.
"I knew I could score and rebound," he said. "I knew I'd play with energy and play good post defense. And you know playing with Steve, you'll get your shots."
Players such as Thomas often become journeymen, here for the playoffs and then gone to the highest bidder as a free agent, which Thomas will be in another month. In the days before Game 7, he professed his desire to put down roots in the desert. The return of center Amare Stoudemire and forward Kurt Thomas (who could play Monday night) is no mirage. You add all that size and talent to the smurfish Suns and what might you get next year?
"I'm looking forward to next year," Thomas said. "Just imagine next year with everybody in this lineup."
That's probably easier to imagine, especially if you're with the Bulls, than tuning into Game 7 late Monday night and finding a guy your team had no use for doing all the things you thought he couldn't do in the effort to help his team to the conference finals.