Must-See TV: Jason Thompson Against the Blazers Tonight
JT1 will emerge in SacramentoIt’s a shame that you won’t actually be able to watch the Kings and Blazers at 10 PM tonight. (The Jazz and Lakers will be the NBA TV game aired at 10.) I don’t say that because of the usual suspects – in fact, Kevin Martin, Brad Miller, and Brandon Roy won’t be in action. Instead, Jason Thompson will get his first real NBA test tonight. And if he plays like he did all summer long, it could be a long 15-20 minutes of action for Greg Oden.
Though he’s also 6-11 and athletic, Thompson is nothing like Channing Frye, Oden’s crash-test dummy in summer workouts. He prefers attacking the front of the rim to hanging back for jumpshots. In fact, Thompson treats Spencer Hawes like Oden treats Frye in private workouts. Not that this is really something to brag about, but in a recent practice Thompson did Hawes so dirty in 1-v-1 that the 7-footer punted a basketball in frustration about 50 feet into the air.
“I’ve always sworn I could punt at least 50 yards,” Hawes said. “I don’t know what makes it so difficult. I always thought that would be a good second profession. You could play till you’re 45. You go to practice, and you just punt balls, so you don’t get hurt. That would be a nice second job if our seasons didn’t coincide.”
That’s pretty much been the norm for Thompson, who killed the summer league comp like Josh Childress in Greece. And now, there’s a chance that he can make that same type of impact on the Kings’ actual roster with Ron Artest now in Houston. Filling the void left by Ron-Ron at the three might actually be the perfect recipe for success as it will allow Jason to run the floor.
“He has the ability to be as good as anybody I’ve seen in that position running the floor,” says Reggie Theus. “[Karl Malone] was just so smart about the way he played. He had the ultimate giver in [John] Stockton, so he had a lot of reasons to run the floor. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Comparisons to Karl Malone already? It all starts tonight.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
David Brandon says:
yo i went to our little fandemonium thing we had at arco….and the fans here still LOVE bobby, kevin martin got love, reggie got love, reef got some too…but what surprised me was how much ppl were feelin JT. i think he’s a good pick up considering what the kings need. not every player fits into every system. but we needed a inside presence and by the time our pick came…lol! i honestly wanted jerryd bayless, but portland keeps ending up w/ every player thats young an can hoop now. so i guess we’re still rollin w/ guys that are 6′7″ an 125 lbs or guys who’s knees just lock up at the thought of running. i’m talkin to you shareef. you too, spencer hawes. apparently, problems with age and knees dont discriminate in sac…
October 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
smity far away says:
@ David Brandon
easy on Reef. lol. he’s been through a lot (a bunch of seasons of putting in work) and in his defense i thought (and probably he did too) that it would never be a question of who should start over him and kenny thomas and that he could get it done over there in sacramento…but time and its affect on his body (knees) had a different opinion. lol. (and at least ya’ll got a low post scoring beast to teach the youngsters as he assistant coaches your squad)
but spencer hawes is what? early 20 somethings? somebody must have beat dude up (nancy kerrigan style) and sworn him to secrecy…
October 7th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
s.bucketz says:
cood we get some streaming action on these games??
October 7th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
s.bucketz says:
ooh yea j-thompson jersey stand upppppp
October 7th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
David Brandon says:
smity,
hahaha, i’m just sayin! lol! shareef is like the hank hill’s dad. NO KNEES! he even walks like him…. hahaha! i’ve seen enough of that show in the past to remember that little grey headed dude. no, but i like reef. he’s a good guy who i always felt gave to the team. even when kenny’s ass was trippin! speakin of, i saw him that night and he looked hella skinny! he’s just this big ass head, a goatee and then….warm ups. it was a little weird.
spencer hawes needs to get a hold of tim grover for real. him or hit up frank gore. he’s playin football at the halfback spot and is makin it happen. spence has no excuse. lol guess the secrets out smity!
October 7th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
shakazulu12 says:
Oden is looking pretty heavy right now, its streaming on a few different web sites. Portland looks really out of sync as a whole. Aldridge looks like he really worked on his game this off-season though.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Three Stacks says:
Just saw the highlights to the Kings-Blazers game. Thompson fouled out in 19 minutes. And Rudy Fernandez is the man.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:00 am
David Brandon says:
damn…we’re gonna lose hella games this year. sigh…….
October 8th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Phil says:
thompson giving oden problems? that’s hilarious.