Northern Colorado's Saint Thomas Is Ready for the NBA Draft
Despite what one might think, often times in the evaluation process, not enough emphasis is always put on simple numbers.
The nature of scouting in general is intrinsically based upon projection, so what a player can do at that given moment isn't always paramount.
Sometimes a player can also produce at a high level, but clearly lack the skills it takes for his level of play to blend in with a newer, higher-speed style with better athletes. It's the difference between a good college player and a good pro prospect.
Sometimes though, an evaluator gets lucky, and the player on the court pops even more than the stat sheet does. And when the stat sheet looks as good as this one does, that on-court prowess really means something.
Saint Thomas, a transfer from Loyola-Chicago who now stars for the Northern Colorado Bears, has absolutely blitzed the Big Sky Conference in his sole season competing, using a skillset that looks it will translate very easily to the professional level.
Thomas is the type that can do it all – an athletic 6-foot-7 menace, he hits threes (32.9% on 6.3 attempts per game), gets downhill attacking the rim, resulting in drawn fouls and free throws (87.5% on 4.6 attempts per game), rebounds the ball as a physical forward (10.1 boards), distributes the ball (3.5 assists), and defends really well (1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks recorded a night).
Seriously, he does it all. And while the level of play in the Big Sky isn't on the level of a Big 12 or Big Ten, or even a Mountain West Conference, the combo of abilities that drive his game show beyond a reasonable doubt that he would be able to hang in any conference.
After all, look at last season's Northern Colorado star, who is now a National Player of the Year Candidate at Tennessee: Dalton Knecht. His game translated to the SEC, and now he's considered by many to be a lottery pick.
While Thomas likely isn't a lottery pick, he is worthy of a selection in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Through 26 games this year, Thomas has established himself as a leading scorer, and the best player on a team tied for second in the conference (interestingly enough, the school with whom they share second place is Weber State, whose leading scorer is a fringe first-round player himself in Dillon Jones).
A legitimate triple-double threat, Thomas was just shy of one by two assists against Idaho on Jan. 27, recording 20 points, 13 rebounds, and eight dimes.
Earlier on in the year, against a much more talented Colorado Buffaloes team and their top wing prospect Cody Williams, Thomas put up 27 points and snagged nine boards, despite a 22-point loss in Boulder.
Williams is a solid defender, so nearly 30 points (albeit on 22 attempts) is still a very legitimate outing, especially given the circumstances of the mismatch between rosters.
The advanced stats are congruent with Thomas' on-court performances as well, as Synergy Sports has Thomas ranked "Very Good" in the Points Per Possession metric at 73rd percentile, 0.992 PPP.
When looking more closely at individual shots, the strengths really start to emerge. He's fantastic finishing at the rim, which meets the eye when watching him play. He cuts well, he gets in good position to score, which definitely contribute to the efficiency.
He's also very strong and can complete plays through contact, which the numbers reflect: 84th percentile at 1.34 points per shot when within a few feet of the basket.
As rock-solid a profile as Thomas has for a guy who can contribute at some level for an NBA team, he is not obviously a flawless prospect.
The first obstacle is the 3-point shooting, which hasn't been putrid, but hasn't been quite ideal, either. Of course, part of the issue is a massive volume of shots – as previously mentioned, he's taking over six per game, and hitting usually two of those.
Again, not bad. But he won't be given this kind of leash in the NBA as far as attempts, so he'll have to take advantage of the shots he does get. Additionally, his catch-and-shoot in particular is not particularly great, especially from deep.
It's something that, considering he projects as a role player, he'll absolutely need improvement on as a wing at the next level.
Beyond the shooting flaws, the question remains: what is Thomas' primary function at the next level? Which of his seemingly many skills is the one upon which he'll be able to rely consistently?
He has the free throw shooting numbers to indicate he can improve his shooting from beyond the arc. If he's able to do that, his ceiling raises exponentially.
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