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NBA.com has Tyrus listed at 6'8 and Deng at 6'9. Meaning, in that picture, Tyrus grew to about 6'11 or 7 feet. Doubtful. Especially considering no one grows like that at age 21, almost 22.

I'm sure Deng was always grossly "oversized" is all. NBA heights are always fudged.

well considering that Luol Deng Measured at 6'7 w/o shoes and 6'8 with shoes at the pre draft camp in 04 and "grew" that so called inch, he should be 6'9. TT measured at 6'7.25 w/o shoes and 6'8.25 with shoes at age 19 in 2006. Looking at that Pic, I really doubt hes 6'11. At most hes maybe, Maybe, 6'10.25. I mean its not uncommon for people to keep growing into their early 20's.

I wouldn't be surprised if Luol was rockin flip flops but to me judging from this picture, I think it would be a safe thing to say that Tyrus is atleast 6'10. Look at him, he's easily a good 2 inches taller than Deng, and yes you can grow in your early twenties, my uncle was 5'9 when he was 16 and when he got into college he grew 4 inches so its different with all people.

It's one picture. There is no way to tell. I highly doubt he's at least 6'10.

I think everyone had an uncle who got taller. I had an uncle who allegedly grew like 4-5 inches after a tour in Vietnam.

Isidro, is that Lord Littlebrook in your avatar?

Too bad they didn't show the legs in that picture too, I'm just curious as to what Luol is wearing but if the picture is legit (which there is no way of telling) wether Deng is 6'8 or 6'9 Tyrus has him by 2 inches which would obviously be good for him. I wonder if anything will come out in the papers, I remember when Deng grew his 1 inch the paper made an article about it so maybe they do the same for Tyrus..

hopefully he is taller, you never know he could have grown, good to see both of them working hard.

Forget how tall he is. Get that boy some beef. I don't care if he's a bit taller than Deng, I want him to be a lot thicker (stronger) than Deng and from that picture that doesn't appear to be the case. Unless he's going to be playing SF he needs a lot more time in the weight room.

As for the picture, don't let the angle deceive you. Plus Luol is kind of slouched over. Even if Tyrus is 6'9" it doesn't matter b/c he can jump out of the gym. Every inch helps but there comes a point where that doesn't matter.

You just can't help it when Tyrus is involved can you?

I was gonna say the same thing. Perhaps we should all pitch in and get him a gift card to Fuddruckers or something.

At BaB they got an email from David Thorp. He said that picture makes the difference look exaturated, but Tyrus is about an inch taller than Deng. If the story about Deng growing an inch to 6'9" in shoes that puts Tyrus at about 6'10" in shoes.

If this really is true, we might actually have a power forward. I definitely wouldn't say 6'10" is undersized, but I'd like if he grew like 2 more inches. Haha.

That is a good thing, but the key is for Tyrus to really improve his game. He has a lot of weaknesses although athletically we know he's incredibly strong. This is the year where Tyrus can show whether he has it or doesn't. We've seen potential flashed but at that same time, we've seen just horrid play as well so it really is hard to tell what the Bulls have.

The sad thing is there tends to be two camps, those that thing he's a super-star and those that think he sucks. The reality is that no one knows. He clearly has the physical ability to be great, but mentally he has not taken his game to the next level and if he doens't do that he'll never reach his potential.

Bottom line is, this will be the biggest season of Thomas' career and I'm glad the Bulls have made some changes to the staff which I think will help his development (I'm waiting to see whom they bring on as a big man coach).

Assuming he's not traded...the one thing I want to see the most out of him early in the season is minutes. I don't want to see the staff playing him 5 minutes a game one day, 2 the next day, then 25 the next day again. Even if he struggles, at least for the first part of the season, I want to see if he can play through it. If he's just not improving, if he's getting in foul trouble, making stupid play after stupid play, and so on, then fine, call it quits. But I just don't want to see him stuck behind Gooden for 35 minutes a game while people complain about how much he sucks any more. Either play him now as a full time player or dump him.

The biggest question is (Assuming Drew will still be here), can he beat out Drew Gooden for the starting power forward spot? I think he can and will.

You mean like how we thought he'd beat out Joe Smith?

Wow.

If Gooden and Tyrus are both on this team, I can guarantee you that Tyrus will not be starting over Gooden.

My Gooden-ness that's hilarious!

Thats a guarantee huh?

If Tyrus works hard as it looks like he's doing down at IMG, I'd give him a good chance at beating out Drew as the starting 4 on this team. This is his biggest year as a pro IMO, he's gotta make a major impact for us this season or he could be gone by next year.

My issue is...assuming Gooden is still here...I still want Tyrus to get more than a majority of those minutes for at least the first half of the season. I don't care if he struggles or costs us games, at least give him 41 games where he plays regularly, 30+ a game (except for foul trouble or injuries) and see if we can develop him.

If you don't do that with him, then you're just right back in to the screwing around with him boat where even if he is learning he'll never have a chance to show it and he'll never have a chance to learn from mistakes, just make them and get pulled.

Either trade him this offseason or play him 30+ mpg next year regardless of his performance. At this point, there's not going to be anything else he's going to learn while sitting on the bench.

I agree. Unless Tyrus improves substantially this summer (which I guess no one really knows if he has or not), then Gooden will be the starter. We'll play to win the game, and if Gooden continues to play like he did last year for us, we'll start the guy who averages 14 and 9.

That said, I'd love it if Tyrus came out playing like crazy and took the starting spot. A guy with his potential could do a lot more for this team if he plays to that potential. That said, I'm not sure how likely that is...

I don't think he can beat him out, but there is no reason you can't give Noah/Gooden/Tyrus Thomas 30 minutes a piece a night (if not more on certain nights) as those three guys shoudl get the vast majority of the minutes at the C/PF spot (with Nocioni ocassionally sliding down). This could obviously change depending on roster adjustments but as of now I see all three getting a good number of minutes and all being able to play various roles (in fact they all can contribute in there own unique way, Noah with his defense/rebounding/athletism; Thomas with a similar mold (but the ability to drive and hopefully flash a bit of a jumper); Gooden with his scoring ability (which is pretty good for a big).