Khyri Thomas saw limited playing time in his rookie season for the Detroit Pistons. Here’s what to expect in his sophomore year.
Khyri Thomas is a bit of a mystery to Detroit Pistons fans. We have seen what his fellow draft-mate, Bruce Brown, is capable of but Thomas got to play very few minutes last season with the Pistons. When he did, it was mostly during garbage time when his impact would not change the result of the game anymore.
Coming out of the University of Creighton, Thomas projects to be a solid three-and-D rotational piece in the future for the Pistons. At 6-foot-3, 199 pounds Thomas is slightly undersized for his shooting guard position.
The height deficiency is nothing major and Thomas more than makes up for it with his impressive 6-foot-10 wingspan. That wingspan helped him to be a defensive stopper in college and led to Thomas winning the big east defensive player of the year award in consecutive years during his sophomore and junior seasons at Creighton.
With the logjam at the shooting guard position it appears as if Thomas will be competing with Langston Galloway for the third shooting guard spot on the depth charts behind Brown and Luke Kennard. With the common consensus seeming to be that Galloway will be used as trade bait before the trade deadline this season, it would be nice to see Thomas absorbing more minutes in place of Galloway.
If there is any question at all between whether Galloway or Thomas is the better player to be on the floor, then Thomas should get the benefit of the doubt. Galloway can be a knockdown shooter for the Pistons but he can also bring them down when he gets on a cold streak. If he is not hitting shots he cannot contribute much to the team.
Thomas on the other hand has shown that he can score during his time with the Grand Rapids Drive last season and more recently in the Summer League. If his shot is not working that day then he will still be able to provide positive minutes for the team through his defense.