Kenny Thomas, New Mexico

Name:	Kenny Thomas
College:	New Mexico
Height:	6'8"
Weight:	250
Class:	Senior
Position:	Power Forward
Other Position:	Center
NBA.com profile

Stats (Provided by JazzyJ)

                  G  MIN  FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA  REB  PF AST  TO BLK STL  PTS
95-96 New Mexico 33  981 170  294   0   3 144 203  256 118  53  98  50  21  484
96-97 New Mexico 32 1000 139  264  11  36 155 206  220  98  63  98  48  22  444
97-98 New Mexico 32 1047 195  385  27  72 122 159  297 101  95  97  79  28  539
98-99 New Mexico 26  903 162  297  27  73 113 154  259  66  51  68  62  41  464
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TOTALS          123 3931 666 1240  65 184 534 722 1032 383 262 361 239 112 1931

                  MIN   FG%   3P%   FT%  RPG  APG  TPG  BPG  SPG   PPG
95-96 New Mexico 29.7  57.8   0.0  70.9  7.8  1.6  3.0  1.5  0.6  14.7
96-97 New Mexico 31.3  52.7  30.6  75.2  6.9  2.0  3.1  1.5  0.7  13.9
97-98 New Mexico 32.7  50.6  37.5  76.7  9.3  3.0  3.0  2.5  0.9  16.8
98-99 New Mexico 34.7  54.5  37.0  73.4 10.0  2.0  2.6  2.4  1.6  17.8
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TOTALS           32.0  53.7  35.3  74.0  8.4  2.1  2.9  1.9  0.9  15.7

Scouting reports

Scout: James Gibson (jgibson@psu.edu)

Kenny Thomas came to New Mexico as the most heralded recruit since the days of Michael Cooper. He was expected to dominate the paint and carry the Lobos to the promised land. New Mexico did manage to win a first round game in the NCAA tournament in all four of Thomas's years (which they had not done since '74), but he failed to take them to a great stage nationally. Thomas had some great games and averaged both double figure points and rebounds for the Lobos, but he never cracked the 20 ppg mark. Many people account that to lackadaisical play, which will certainly hurt his draft stock. Also hurting Thomas's draft stock is that in eight NCAA tournament games, he only played well in one (vs. Missouri in 1999) and fouled out of five of them.
Although his attitude was often questioned, he pulled down several boards and was fairly effective in the paint. Some people said he didn't care in the UConn game (witness his 1 point), but he still pulled down 11 rebounds, which might suggest otherwise. In addition, he was suffering from a groin pull that held him out of the WAC tournament. In addition to being an excellent rebounder, Thomas was a great passer for a player playing his position and has a solid shooting range (37% on three-pointers in his SR year).

At 6-8 (or 6-7, depending on where you look), Thomas will not be able to play center in the NBA, as he did in college. Instead, he will have to move to one of the two forward positions. His shooting and passing suggest that small forward might be a reasonable position, but he is probably not fast enough to compete with other small forwards. He seems to be a little shorter and not quite as strong as most of the power forwards already in the NBA, but he was a great rebounder and his post-passing is definitely a strong point. He probably wouldn't be able to go up against Karl Malone, but who can?

Where Thomas will be drafted mostly depends on what scouts think of his attitude. Because of his groin pull, he had to turn down the invitation to the Desert Classic. Since his last game was the 1 point effort against UConn, he may not be looked upon favorably right now. Still, if a team wants a good rebounder who also has good shooting range and is an excellent post-passer, Thomas would be a good choice. My thought is that Thomas should be picked in the middle of the first round.