Player Outlook: Anthony Thompson

[electricmayhem]

http://www.examiner.com/x-7020-Bradley-Braves-Examiner~y2009m8d3-200910-Player-Outlook-Anthony-Thompson

The last one will be Andrew Warren, due out tomorrow.

[Braves4Life]

We can only hope and pray that AT gives us more than the 2.3 ppg/1.5 rpg that you project Joe. And I'm not so sure I'd call AT a "fantastic prep player" since he wasn't even the best player on his high school team. I agree with the rest; good job!

[electricmayhem]

We can only hope and pray that AT gives us more than the 2.3 ppg/1.5 rpg that you project Joe. And I'm not so sure I'd call AT a "fantastic prep player" since he wasn't even the best player on his high school team. I agree with the rest; good job!

I can honestly say I didn't see him play high school ball. All I know is that he was a 3-star Rivals recruit, and listed amongst the top-200 HS players in the country after his senior year.

I know he had an offer from Texas A&M - does anyone know if he drew interest from any other big schools?

I hope he contributes more as well, but I don't see it right now.

[brocks]

I can honestly say I didn't see him play high school ball. All I know is that he was a 3-star Rivals recruit, and listed amongst the top-200 HS players in the country after his senior year.

I know he had an offer from Texas A&M - does anyone know if he drew interest from any other big schools?

I hope he contributes more as well, but I don't see it right now.

He came down to BU, Texas A&M and SMU. He almost cracked the top 100 on one recruiting service. It's fair to say he was a pretty big-time recruit. I wish he'd show it.

[leebiddlecome]

IMO, once a guy shows up on campus you can throw out all of the "recruit rankings" stuff. They are 100% completely irrelevant. It's how you perform at the college level that matters. So far, AT hasn't done that.

[Da Coach]

Some recruits get their ranking based on performance, and some get theirs based on potential. Often, with big men, it is more the potential that drives "experts" to rate them high. Such was the case with AT. He is still trying to live up to the potential. The only thing keeping him from his true potential is about 30 pounds of muscle development.

[SFP]

In the back of my mind there is a lot of hope but as I always say actions speak louder then words. I want to see some actions from this young man that will change my mind. At this level there needs to be desire because there is someone ready to take your job who will work their tail off to get a shot. We could use a nice surprise for once!

[real fan]

The biggest obstacle AT has to achieve is his work ethic, he needs to understand that you need to put in the extra time in the weight room and the gym plus he needs to work harder in practice if he ever expects to be the type of player that this staff expeted him to be, college ball is so much tougher then high school and too many players think that their high school skills will be good enough that they coast when they get to college and never work hard enough to improve.

[Braves4Life]

Has anyone seen AT as of late? Is he still a stick or has he put in the time over the summer?

[Da Coach]

He's put a little weight back on, but he still has more difficulty gaining weight than the other guys. Will Egolf is over 230 lbs, and Taylor Brown is at 215, on his way to 220.

[real fan]

As far as I am concerned the weight issue is small because Oakland came in with a center that was 6-11 and thin and he dominated us on the inside, it would be nice to see AT. weigh 225 to 230 but unless he gets more agressive the extra weight will not make him play better.

[Disturbed]

We've had this discussion at least three other times about AT. Him getting bigger has very little bearing on wether or not he will be a good player. If that was the case every big strong guy would be a good player. He needs to be a better basketball player. Plenty of thin guys have been really good players. I hope he has a great season, but really have my doubts that he will ever help BU much.

[leebiddlecome]

We've had this discussion at least three other times about AT. Him getting bigger has very little bearing on wether or not he will be a good player. If that was the case every big strong guy would be a good player. He needs to be a better basketball player. Plenty of thin guys have been really good players. I hope he has a great season, but really have my doubts that he will ever help BU much.

Good post Disturbed. I tried not to post on this topic for fear of being labeled a "Bradley hater" but you are dead on. I don't think adding weight is all that is keeping AT from being good.

He needs better basketball skills and development. He scored about 10 ppg in high school. That showed me he wasn't a complete player then.

I haven't given up hope for him but he needs to improve in a lot of areas to be a contributor.

[Braves4Life]

We've had this discussion at least three other times about AT. Him getting bigger has very little bearing on wether or not he will be a good player. If that was the case every big strong guy would be a good player. He needs to be a better basketball player. Plenty of thin guys have been really good players. I hope he has a great season, but really have my doubts that he will ever help BU much.

Good post Disturbed. I tried not to post on this topic for fear of being labeled a "Bradley hater" but you are dead on. I don't think adding weight is all that is keeping AT from being good.

He needs better basketball skills and development. He scored about 10 ppg in high school. That showed me he wasn't a complete player then.

I haven't given up hope for him but he needs to improve in a lot of areas to be a contributor.

Unfortunately, I have seen nothing from AT that would allow me to disagree with these statements.

[SFP]

I do not disagree with any the statement on this. I believe we are all in agreement. Let's just hope he proves us all wrong and is becomes our surprise player of the year! SPOY award! The prize goes to the player that gave us a bigger upside then anyone thought for the year. WE was going to be that player last year and I'd probably give the prize to CR! Who will it be this year?