Kenny Thomas vs Jason Thompson

[ESP47]

My friend used to always beat on my Kings with his Nuggets in 2k some years back.

One game though, one game I heaved a 3/4 court shot at the end of the fourth down 2 using Kenny Thomas just because I had no choice. He nailed it and victory was mine.

Gotta go with Kenny.

This is as good a reason as any.

 

[itzcoatl]

Gonna go with JT. I loved that he always worked hard even if he wasn’t skilled. JT has the size to be a decent PF, so I had the expectation early in his career that he could become a good player. With K9 i just couldn’t get over that he had been part of that terrible Webber package. And he was way undersized so I never had any fun watching him because there was never an illusion that he could become better, for me at least.

 

[bajaden]

When healthy, Kenny Thomas was by far the better player, but unfortunately, he was seldom healthy while a King. If you want to include durability as one of the factors, then JT was the better player. But on talent alone, I'd have to go with Kenny.

 

[Kangztillidie]

Wait... what about c-webb? I also dont count a 12th overall pick as a long shot thats a lottery pick. His career was also practically over as soon as we traded him.

JT out of Rider at 12 was a long shot, yes.

If JT didnt have hands of stone he would have been the next Carlos Boozer. However JT had hands of a stone gargoyle so he was never able to be a threat on the break or around the rim.

 

[King-Da-Yah]

JT out of Rider at 12 was a long shot, yes.

If JT didnt have hands of stone he would have been the next Carlos Boozer. However JT had hands of a stone gargoyle so he was never able to be a threat on the break or around the rim.

And he liked to dribble........a lot...........this can’t be overstated enough.....it used to drive me absolutely insane...

 

[upinsmoke]

Playing JT next to Cuz for all those years was a big reason why we sucked.

 

[bajaden]

Playing JT next to Cuz for all those years was a big reason why we sucked.

Well, I think there were a lot of reasons why the Kings weren't a good team, but I'll agree with you on this point. I think JT's best position was at center, as was Cousins. JT didn't have much if any game away from the basket, and for quite a while, neither did Cuz. So having them on the floor together just totally clogged up the lane, making it difficult to run P&R's etc. I don't think that was JT's or Cuz's fault, it's just who the kings had to play at the time. It seemed like every year the Kings either signed, or drafted someone to replace JT, but by the time the season started, JT had won his job back.

 

[Kingz19]

Easy. Jason Thompson.

I still remember that game in Orlando where JT absolutely owned the undersized Tobias Harris. To the point where the helpless Magic send Glen Davis to double team JT, leaving an amused Demarcus Cousins wide open for the easiest hoop of his life. It was such a defining moment that I made my avatar based on the aftermath reaction. I guarantee you that KT has never, ever been so dominant that a team decided to leave an All-Star wide open to go double team him.

Also, how often do you see a 6'11" small forward? Thanks Paul Westphal.

.

There was a memorable game vs The Lakers i attended back in K9’s first or second year with the Kings where he completely took over the game and finished with a triple double. He iced the game in over time after Lamar Odom fouled out and they had to put Luke Walton on him. Kenny abused him.

Kenny at his best was better than JT. His game really fell apart after his pretty reliable midrange jumper vanished out of nowhere. He was never that good finishing around the hoop.

JT also has a case of disappearing mid range jumper. It was actually decent his rookie year but also vanished. His problem was ultimately that his strengths like post defense become less needed and his rebounding wasn’t good enough to compensate for his terrible offense.

 

[gunks]

I love that this thread got bumped.

But I hate that my dude JT is down in the polls!

 

[Chupacabra]

kenny thomas was actually pretty solid for us that first year , he could knock down the midrange J. I think after that though he didn't really do much. JT was always a solid rebounder, I think that was his main skill.

Man defense. Towards the end of his SAC tenure he was a very good 1v1 defender in the post.

 

[NewArena]

Never in my life did I expect to see a thread headlining these guys!

Really really made my head hurt. I’ll go with K9, though. Because i truly don’t remember ever liking, or having confidence in Jason Thompson

 

[NewArena]

JT out of Rider at 12 was a long shot, yes.

If JT didnt have hands of stone he would have been the next Carlos Boozer. However JT had hands of a stone gargoyle so he was never able to be a threat on the break or around the rim.

He also wasn’t a very smart player at all, if we’re being honest. My God he used to frustrate the hell outta me

 

[jellyfish]

I have never seen a a more average to below average player get defended so relentlessly as JT was on here, other than his 15 games stretch of really good defense under Malone in his first or 2nd season he was underwhelming. The moment we let him go two other teams looked at him and cut him straight away and last I saw of him a couple seasons ago he was a bench player on really good Euroleague teams.

K9 all day the fact he was the size of a big SG height wise and more productive at his best and actually had basketball skills other than being massive.

 

[bajaden]

I have never seen a a more average to below average player get defended so relentlessly as JT was on here, other than his 15 games stretch of really good defense under Malone in his first or 2nd season he was underwhelming. The moment we let him go two other teams looked at him and cut him straight away and last I saw of him a couple seasons ago he was a bench player on really good Euroleague teams.

K9 all day the fact he was the size of a big SG height wise and more productive at his best and actually had basketball skills other than being massive.

I was a fan of JT in college, and thought he had a lot of upside. He was a late bloomer who shot up from 6'4" to 6'11" in one offseason at Rider. Unfortunately, he never reached that potential. To be fair to JT, he happened to be on the kings when the team had a revolving door for coaches and players. He was jerked around between two positions, and a constantly changing game plan. None of that helped his progression to becoming a good player.

If you looked up the word "almost" in the dictionary, you might find JT's picture under it. He always seemed on the verge of having that break out year. But it never happened.