Johnny Thomas’ Athleticism

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball67

There have been so many little blurbs in the media regarding high school basketball recruits over the last few weeks that we could have focused the entire attention of this blog on just recruiting nuggets. I ran across the following this weekend in the Charlotte Observer and just couldn’t pass on it. (Link)

In four years, after he’s done playing at N.C. State, Greensboro Day’s Johnny Thomas — who was the best thing about pregame warm-ups Saturday — should definitely be invited to the NCAA Final Four dunk contest. He would’ve won this year in Atlanta. Easy.

Thomas just high jumped 6-foot-10 in a prep track meet last week and his basketball coach, Freddie Johnson, said the 6-foot-6 Thomas doesn’t even really know what he’s doing. He’s an athletic freak.

All that said, can’t figure out why Thomas played, like, eight of 32 minutes Saturday.

We refer you to our entry on the day that Johnny committed to NC State.

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Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

67 Responses to Johnny Thomas’ Athleticism

  1. burnbarn 04/16/2007 at 10:43 AM #

    we had another high jumper at NCSU recently that was a freak of an athlete.

  2. bTHEredterror 04/16/2007 at 11:03 AM #

    And he’s a monster on the defensive end. We are gonna love him before he’s done.

  3. Dan 04/16/2007 at 11:14 AM #

    Maybe we’ll see a couple lineups that inlcude Fells, Thomas, and Hickson on the court at the same time. Dunk party.

  4. redfred2 04/16/2007 at 11:35 AM #

    burnbarn

    I started to say the exact same thing earlier, except for the fact that DT was so polished and complete when he arrived that the word “freak” didn’t quite seem to fit his description.

  5. CedarGroveWolf 04/16/2007 at 11:46 AM #

    another Cam wouldn’t be too bad by his jr year

  6. westwolf 04/16/2007 at 11:48 AM #

    ^Sidney won’t wait that long to get JT some playing time.

  7. StateFans 04/16/2007 at 12:00 PM #

    ^ “Some playing time” and “a lot of playing time” are two totally different things. There isn’t a lot of room for JT to play much his freshman year.

    I think that the fair expecation is that JT is prepared to be a mature, experienced contributor for his junior and senior seasons. Anything more than that is somewhat gravy.

  8. packbackr04 04/16/2007 at 12:07 PM #

    go pack! any word on smith yet?

  9. redfred2 04/16/2007 at 12:07 PM #

    Dan

    Degand or Javi pushing it relentlessly in transition with three or four available passing lanes, players with the ability to rise over and above the retreating defenses, that should make for some exciting WOLFPACK BBall down the road!!! The excitement of pure athleticism will be on display again, and that is something that’s been sorely missing for too long around here. NC State players will start to share the limelight that has been focused on other programs and players elsewhere for so long, and the kids/players will love it. We will play the game as it was meant to be played, competing with anyone, and we will have ACC, and ACCT MVP’s playing for the WOLFPACK in the not too distant future. It’s going be fun to play, and fun to watch, BASKETBALL, and that will ensure more great players to follow this great start on the recruiting trail!

  10. CedarGroveWolf 04/16/2007 at 12:21 PM #

    “Sidney won’t wait that long to get JT some playing time”

    JT won’t see much until his Jr season.

  11. ChuckAllYall 04/16/2007 at 12:27 PM #

    yeah packbackr, I thought he (Smith) said he was signing on the first or second day……maybe there are some “issues”. Wouldn’t be shocked if that was the case.

  12. packbackr04 04/16/2007 at 1:31 PM #

    right cedar, but the reason Thomas wont see much time is becuse there are better players in front of him. not beacuse his coach refuses to play freshman in anything but mop up minutes

  13. burnbarn 04/16/2007 at 1:35 PM #

    red.. i was thinking manny lawson.

  14. CedarGroveWolf 04/16/2007 at 2:00 PM #

    “not beacuse his coach refuses to play freshman in anything but mop up minutes”

    Inge
    Kelley
    Harrington
    Wilkins
    M. Williams
    Hodge
    Illian
    Atsur
    Brack
    Grant
    Costner

    all got much PT as frosh

  15. noah 04/16/2007 at 3:19 PM #

    I’ve never seen Thomas play, but I remember some people saying he wasn’t anywhere near as athletic as Cam Bennerman.

    Glad to hear that isn’t the case.

  16. statered 04/16/2007 at 3:49 PM #

    Noah – I have always heard that he is a taller version of Cam – same hops. A guy like JT, if he can expand his game just a bit, should pose some interesting match up problems for the other team. Sid has shown he likes to exploit match ups.

  17. noah 04/16/2007 at 4:18 PM #

    Hopefully, he can become as good a shooter as Cam.

    A guy I *have* seen and whose game I love is CJ Williams. That guy can do a little bit of everything on the floor.

  18. redfred2 04/16/2007 at 5:50 PM #

    barnburn

    That’s funny and kind of embarrassing. I had jumped back totally into another time and place there, but at least I was talking about the same SPORT!

  19. bTHEredterror 04/16/2007 at 6:03 PM #

    JT will see mop up as a frosh, and maybe some spots where his D is necessary if there’s foul trouble on the wings. But he will likely have some solid time as a soph, once Gavin leaves and he gets a year to work on his offensive skills. He is more like David Noel than Cam. Cam was kind of slight early on. Wolfpackers should expect a leaner Bryant Feggins. Never the main option, but knows how to play and will contribute.

  20. E-RO 04/16/2007 at 6:15 PM #

    I hope this guy is anywhere close to Cam. Cam was my favorite player while he was at State, because he had a nice shot, good handles, and was as athletic as anyone in the nation. With a better system (like that which we run now) he is a superstar.

  21. Jeremy Hyatt 04/16/2007 at 9:19 PM #

    not to be cynical, but I rather have a basketball player than just a leaper. athleticism is always good, but what current team needs most is someone with a handle on the ball. And Cam was a good player, but he didn’t really emerge until his senior year and was always kind of a role player, never really broke out.

  22. redfred2 04/16/2007 at 9:40 PM #

    Cameron Bennerman’s, and I could go on with a list, his worst mistake in basketball was simply commiting to an unadaptable NC State Wolfpack back then. I don’t know why, but I hated watching his talent go to waste more than any of the likewise players that were here during that dreaded decade.

  23. pakfanistan 04/17/2007 at 12:03 AM #

    Funny red, I feel the exact same way. Bennerman is my favorite Wolfpacker in a long, long, long time. Only Hodge rivals him for me, and that’s mostly for his quotability.

  24. Sw0rdf1sh 04/17/2007 at 7:23 AM #

    Andy Katz at ESPN has the Pack edging into the PreSeason top 25:

    NC State
    2006-07 Record: 20-16, 5-11
    The Wolfpack do lose Engin Atsur, but that’s it. The play of Brandon Costner, Gavin Grant, Ben McCauley and Courtney Fells was good enough to cause fits for teams in the ACC tournament. Now that Sidney Lowe has a season of experience behind him, expect the Wolfpack to be trouble from the start.

    Of course this is nothing new to us here, but I like to see the mindset spreading.

  25. Rochester 04/17/2007 at 11:43 AM #

    I would love to have seen what Cam could have done last year if he had one more season left. That would have been fun. I remember when he finally got to play as a sophomore after Scooter got hurt at the end of the year. He went off for about 17 points in his first game and Dick Vitale was shouting something like, “He’s a ringer. How could they hide this kid on the bench?”

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