John Thomas Helps Fellow Players In Retirement

Playing high school basketball less than five minutes away from the University of Minnesota, former first round pick John Thomas had the opportunity to fulfill a dream that not many are able to pursue.

In an interview with Nothin’ But Nets, Thomas notes that though he would eventually grow into a 6’9 big man that would spend a half-decade in the NBA, it took him time to get to that point.

“I started playing basketball late, so it was really kind of my senior year when there a rapid flurry of offers. I started getting letters from smaller schools and then I went to a few exposure camps and it took off from there. By my senior year, I had stacks of letters from places like Minnesota, Kansas, Arizona and California,” Thomas said.

When Minnesota, a team he had watched throughout his entire childhood, came calling, Thomas knew that his decision would be a quick one.

“I’m a relationship guy and it’s funny because my former assistant coach was just down here a couple of days ago and he kind of talked about how tough it was to get me. They spent a ton of time with me on unofficial visits and I was able to see the character on the coaching staff even when the other big schools started knocking on my door, I didn’t even waste time going on other visits.”

While the opportunity to play for the college in his hometown was a great one, it provided a unique set of challenges that he may not have faced had he chosen to go elsewhere for school.

“As a player, one of the things that I come to realize now that I’ve retired, I wasn’t comfortable just because I hadn’t gotten enough reps. When you get reps, that’s how you gain confidence. I was still trying to find myself, I put pressure on myself to perform and I had doubts about myself, I think sometimes when you start playing when you’re younger you’re able to build a proper foundation, but I started playing when I was 15 solely because people told me that I couldn’t do it, so I turned that anger into energy on the court. I had some great coaches that mentored me, but the process was a journey”

As the years went on with the Golden Gophers, Thomas slowly but surely worked his way into a consistent role and before long he was one of the team’s biggest interior presences.

His role continued to expand as he reached his senior year and while his level of personal success was at an all-time high, the team was doing better than ever, too. They eventually went on to reach the Final Four, a mark which still stands as the best finish in school history.

“After my freshman year, the only reason I played that year was because Trevor Winter broke his wrist. As I went through those years, I tried to figure out how to get more playing time and how to get in shape and really established my work ethic. During our Final Four run in ’97 just how close we were as a team was special, that’s one thing that’s really lacking in college sports today is the real relationships and you can see it. Even though we lost, the amount of love and support we received from the fans was insane and people still talk about it.”

With his college career coming to a close, Thomas was unsure of the next step in his basketball playing days. He had averaged respectable numbers in college, but his statistics didn’t jump off of the page like many top prospects.

“I didn’t really expect to get drafted. If you look at my statistics, I think I was the lowest of anyone out of the top prospects as far as points. Once I was let out of the system at Minnesota, Coach Haskins told me that I was a pro now and a lightbulb went off that I needed to work on my game and showcase my talents throughout the summer.”

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A flip had switched within Thomas and before long he was one of the biggest standouts of the pre-draft process, drawing attention from scouts all across the league.

“I was MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational, I was on the top team in Phoenix when I had the chance to play against Magic Johnson and Harlem Globetrotters, then Chicago at the combine was really just a proving ground. I ran the max time on the treadmill test.”

As draft day neared, Thomas was still relatively in the dark regarding his standing in the draft even though he had done so well in the months leading up to it.

“I didn’t know where I was going to go because I was hearing everything. I heard un-drafted, then I heard second round, but I had really good workouts before the draft. Jeff Van Gudy pulled me into his office during one of the workouts I was at and asked questions about my character and that was a big moment for me.”

Once the day of the draft had arrived, Thomas was prepared for any outcome and chose to head down to North Carolina to watch the draft in person.

“I decided to go out to Charlotte and take in the experience regardless of what happened. It was myself, Bobby Jackson, our agents and a few friends of ours and we sat up in the stands. He was drafted 23rd to Seattle and I was overly ecstatic for him. He got up and left, then a few guys started making their way towards me and I was kind of in amazement, and Brian Davis winked at me with a Knicks hat and I stood up and shook his hand, I walked onto stage in my cheesy olive suit and David Stern said, ‘Congratulations, this is going to be a great ride for you.”

Though the Knicks had made him the 25th overall pick, his time in New York was very brief. Just four months after selecting him, the team shipped him off to Boston before he even had the chance to play in a game.

“That was really heartbreaking for me because again, I’m a real relationship guy. The only time I was home in the summer was for my birthday, because I was spending time in the gym with Tom Thibodeau and Brendan Malone and they were kicking my tail. Having those two on your team are invaluable from a player development standpoint and I was really getting my shot down and because I was agile, Malone was telling Van Gundy that he may have to play me at the 3. I was super motivated and I thought I could play in the league, but as we were going through training camp I ended up pulling my groin so I was injured for the last preseason game.”

He continued, “We were playing against Boston and Van Gundy knocked on my door and asked to talk to me and I thought he just wanted to talk. He told me that I was traded to the Boston Celtics and said it was out of his control and he looked really disappointed to tell me the news. He said it was a privilege to coach me and wished me good luck. As soon as he closed the door, I cried because I had given my heart and soul into the organization in that short time. I was completely bought in; I was Patrick Ewing’s rookie and I had true vets like Larry Johnson and Buck Williams that I could look up to, so I was heartbroken.”

He was crushed to have been moved in the first place, but there were still more challenges on the horizon as he moved to play with the Celtics.

“I moved to Pitino’s system where they were pressing in the NBA, which is just kind of unheard of. I was a bruiser throughout my career, but they wanted me to lose 15 pounds to play in their system. I lost my confidence as a player too, because they didn’t have the type of player development in place that the Knicks did at the time.”

While he wasn’t at the happiest point in his career, he still felt that the team had potential to succeed. With Chauncey Billups, Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, Bruce Bowen and others, the roster was loaded with talent but unfortunately only won 36 games.

“The coaching style of the systems that those players flourished in wasn’t the same coaching style that Pitino had. These teams have all the resources in the world, so you need to find coaches that understand who each of their players are. Even with the talent that team had, if that team stuck together, they wouldn’t have the same success because the culture and playing style was much different than what ended up working for them.”

His stay in Boston only lasted 33 games, as within a year of being drafted in the first round he was traded for the second time, this time to the Toronto Raptors. While he had been upset by the move to Boston, this one was welcomed.

“I was happy about the trade. We weren’t really winning and Pitino ruled with a bit of an iron hand and at the NBA level, you have so much talent that as a coach it’s basically relationship management and you need to understand what makes each guy tick to move in a positive direction. Initially the move was weird for me, but Butch Carter was a player’s coach so that helped.”

Having the opportunity to spend a couple of years getting comfortable in Toronto, Thomas began to improve by leaps and bounds. With veterans like Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis to learn from, he began to live up to some of the bright potential that helped him be selected in the first round.

Despite carving out a role as a reliable defender against opposing big men, Thomas took the opportunity to play in both the Dominican Republic and China over the course of the next couple of years to further establish himself in the eyes of NBA teams.

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“This was before the Chinese Basketball Association and literally it was like playing in the third world. I played in the far northwest corner of China and when you’re used to playing a certain style or certain way, you get used to it. In the NBA, they give you everything and it’s even worse now. Simple things like having a clean floor or getting your paycheck on time, your gym is warm, you don’t have to do your own laundry, your meals are catered, you take these perks for granted. I was used to being in different cultures, but China was very smoggy and dirty and very different and they were trying to figure out a way to figure out who i was and i was trying to get into a culture that I didn’t understand.”

Before long, Thomas chose to return to the United States and play in the Continental Basketball Association for the Dakota Wizards, who at the time were coached by current Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger.

“I went to play in the CBA with Dave Joerger and he was one of my favorite coaches because he understands that you shouldn’t be overbearing or a dictator. I ended up hurting my knee though, so I left the team and eventually went on to play in Spain.”

His time in Spain, fortunately, was much better than the time that he spent in China.

“It was a little bit of an adjustment, but not too much of a culture shock. I had a good year there and I didn’t have money issues or anything, but I made up my mind that I was going to get back to the league. I remember watching the Western Conference Finals with the Timberwolves and I felt the energy and the electricity of the arena, and then I connected with the assistant coaches and told them that they needed to see me work out.”

His initiative paid off, as his hometown Timberwolves signed him to a contract as an insurance policy to fellow big man Michael Olowakandi.

“It was a dream come true for me because now it was simple and home was home. The team was pretty close to a championship, but I felt terrible for Kevin Garnett that we weren’t able to win won. He would give his soul for his teammates, but not everyone bought in the way that he did. Overall though, the experience was a good one.”

After spending a year with Minnesota, Thomas moved to the Memphis Grizzlies, followed by a quick stint with the Atlanta Hawks and then a season-ending stay with the New Jersey Nets.

“I was in LA working out at UCLA after I had been waived by the Hawks and slowly my mindset started to deteriorate and wonder if this was it. I remember Rod Thorn calling me and saying that they had seen what I had done and that they’d be facing Jermaine O’Neal in the first round and potentially Shaq in the second.”

Once he had made the roster after what essentially amounted to a two-game tryout, Thomas was able to crack the postseason roster as the team hoped to capture a championship.

“The playoff experience was awesome. You’re going city to city and playing the same guys and it’s intense. When we faced Miami, in the first game I had to guard Shaq and he’s just a house. I didn’t do play all that well in that first matchup, so the reporters started to hype it up and ask what my secret was, but from there on out him, Alonzo Mourning and D-Wade decided that it was their series.”

The team wound up going down in six games to the eventual NBA Champions, but that series produced one of the better moments of his NBA career and the highlight of his time with the Nets.

“When we were playing against Shaq, I was next to him while someone was shooting free throws and he asked if I was John Thompson Jr. and I said no, so he said, ‘Oh my bad, you light skin so I just assumed you were his son.’ We had a laugh and I ended up mishandling a rebound, but throughout the whole playoffs we would be in our huddles during timeouts and I would see Shaq looking over to me and mouthing ‘John Thompson.’ It was a hilarious moment for me and I’ve always appreciated how he realizes his platform and doesn’t take things too seriously.”

That was his last stop in the NBA, but he would go on to play seven more years professionally with stops in the D-Leauge, Israel, Greece and even South Korea. In his late 30’s, Thomas decided to call it a career.

“It got to a point where I was hanging onto the experience. What happens when you get older in basketball is teams are constantly looking at their return on investment. I was still producing at a high clip, but they see your age and they just think, ‘Nope.’ It just became a point where I was tired of preparing to prove myself. I still miss the game and all the fringe benefits are nice, but relationships are first and thats what this is all about”

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Thomas has made a successful transition into his post-playing career and has found a role that perfectly pairs his love of basketball with his passion for building relationships. Now the National Manager of Training at Ultimate Hoops, Thomas gets to spend time working on both passions on a daily basis.

“Ultimate Hoops in essence is adult leagues focused on treating everyone like a professional, that’s our brand promise. It’s the largest recreational basketball league in the country and offers full statistics and media that give it a very professional feel. I’ve had tons of ups and downs throughout my life, especially when it comes to basketball and I feel that I can impart that on the people that come through our program.”

In addition to the work that he’s personally doing with Ultimate Hoops, he’s working to make the organization one that provides an option for fellow players once they choose to retire from their playing career.

“We’ve recently partnered with the NBA Retired Players Association which allows us to provide those guys with a platform since they’re retired. It’s like the gladiator putting up their shoes, they never get to hear the cheers anymore and you don’t even realize the psychological effect. We allow them to become trainers and use our centers for speaking engagements and we’re really excited about it. It allows me to never really retire and also reconnect with that group and provide them with opportunities. We have a lot of fun stuff and this journey is going to do some wonderful things and I’m fortunate to be a part of it.”

Once told that he couldn’t and shouldn’t play basketball, John Thomas is making a real difference in the lives of basketball players and everyday people, all across the country.

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Quick Questions

Who was the toughest player that you’ve had to defend?
Shaq.

Why #12?
I had #12 in a tournament in Germany that I played in with Tim Duncan. It was a pretty defining experience for me and we all shared some found memories with tons of laughs. I picked #12 at Minnesota because of that and it just stuck with me.

Who is your all-time starting five?
PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Karl Malone
C: Shaquille O’Neal

Favorite player growing up?
It has to be Michael Jordan, he was such an impactful player and really transcendent. When I got traded to the Celtics, our first game was against the Bulls and it was on TNT. I blocked MJ’s shot and I hit him with a screen and he hit me back and the strength that he had made me realize that I didn’t want to mess with him.