Tim Thomas came into the NBA at a time when there was really no such thing as small ball. Thomas came in as a prototypical 3, but his game was tailor made to be a stretch 4 playing small ball. He played well for the Sixers and shot it well from deep his rookie season at 36%, but the Sixers wanted to clear any skilled offensive players so that Allen Iverson could shoot 30 times a game and they traded him to the Bucks. The Bucks were Tim Thomas' best seasons in the NBA. George Karl unleashed him as a small power forward and the Bucks became one of the best offenses in the league.
The Bucks were eliminated by the Pacers in 99 and 2000 from the playoffs, but in 2001 the team clicked behind Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, Sam Cassell, and Tim Thomas who enjoyed a career year from three shooting 41% from deep. While Thomas did not start the majority of those games, he played as a power forward for a lot of his minutes with a center and Allen, Robinson, and Cassell. The Bucks made it to the Conference Finals before losing in seven to the Sixers in what many consider to be one of the worst officiated series in history.
Tim Thomas bounced around the league for the rest of his career turning up on various teams and playing well, but never for a long period of time. His skill set at the time was not something that teams necessarily needed or wanted. He was not a post up power forward, he was a shooter that could also dribble and shoot. As the game has changed it is interesting to look at players like Tim Thomas and wonder how their careers may have been different had they played in this era of the NBA. I could see Thomas having the opportunity to play big minutes as a center out on the perimeter for a team. He would thrive in today's drive and kick NBA. Unfortunately, he played in the NBA at a time where they were still thinking that big guys should not play on the perimeter and that two pointers were better shots than three pointers because it was closer.
Tim Thomas is part of a bigger conversation that I want to have on this blog and it deals with the argument that somehow the basketball of the 90's is superior to today's game, which is laughable. Players like Tim Thomas did well during that time in the NBA, but would've done great in today's game. On the contrary, taking some of those guys from the 90's and sticking them in the NBA today would result in them out of the league.