Liberty point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. (11) is fouled by Durangos Tylen Riley (10) during the NIAA boys 5A state championship at the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | 2 a.m.
UNLV fans celebrated in May, when local prep star D.J. Thomas — the program’s top recruiting target for some time — officially committed to join the Scarlet and Gray.
Thomas then reclassified to the Class of 2023, putting him on track to graduate this summer and join UNLV in time for the beginning of the upcoming season, where he will presumably serve as the squad’s starting point guard.
It’s a lot to ask of a true freshman, but Thomas is no ordinary first-year newcomer. He is rated as a 4-star prospect by 247 Sports and checks in as the No. 33 player in the nation. Two years ago he led Liberty to a state championship, and this season he brought the Patriots back to the title game while averaging 22.8 points and 5.1 assists per game.
Can he have the same kind of impact for UNLV? And how can Kevin Kruger put him in a position to excel?
As you’d expect, Thomas had the ball in his hands at all times in high school. He is very strong with his dribble, with a confident handle and an ability to get downhill that proved unstoppable against high-school defenses, so Liberty gave him the keys to the offense.
Thomas makes a living by attacking the basket, but in the games I watched from last season, he didn’t do it by breaking down his defender with crossovers and isolation moves. Most often, he does it by driving around his defender and hitting another gear as he turns the corner. And once he gains that edge, he accelerates to the basket and extends for layups.
His favorite move is to get a defender on his right hip, then spinning back to a left-handed finish.
The combo of agility, acceleration and feel makes him a handful once he gets going toward the hoop:
Thomas has so many stops and starts and spins and other maneuvers in his arsenal that stringing them together sometimes precludes him from getting all the way to the rim. And at 6-foot-1, he’s not a casual above-the-rim finisher.
That means he’s got to have a bag when it comes to finishing. And he does.
Thomas approaches the basket from all angles and fires floaters, half-hooks and other in-between shots without a second thought. And he’s clever about carving out space; in the two games I watched, he attempted dozens of shots around the restricted area and didn’t get blocked once.
He’s also coordinated when he leaves his feet, allowing him to absorb contact and finish through the whistle:
Thomas may need some time to adjust to the increased physicality and size of college defenses, but once he gets it down he should continue to thrive around the rim.
On the perimeter, Thomas didn’t shoot 3-pointers at a huge volume. He attempted five in the two games I watched, connecting on three.
It’s understandable why his attempts were limited, as opponents focused on crowding him as soon as he crossed halfcourt. Catch-and-shoot 3’s were simply not available to him, so the vast majority of his tries had to be created off the dribble.
Thomas does appear to have a clean, confident stroke:
Thomas attempted 120 triples last year — only the third-most on the Liberty team — and hit 38, good for 31.7%, which is a respectable rate considering the difficulty of his shots.
While much of Thomas’ game is built around his ability to score, he is a point guard and therefore responsible for running the offense. He won’t shoot as often at the college level — he took 28.0% of Liberty’s field-goal attempts last year — so he’ll have to be able to function as a distributor in order to keep UNLV functioning.
He showed passing chops in the games I saw, especially when it came to making the simple play. Thomas excels at getting into the paint, locating the most open 3-point shooter, and delivering the ball:
Thomas is a clever passer, capable of anticipating the open man and inventing a passing lane that wasn’t there a beat before.
It’s difficult to get a handle on Thomas as a defender, as Liberty played zone and positioned him in the corner most of the time. He possesses the necessary quickness and length to hold up at that end of the floor, but we’ll have to wait and see how Kruger develops him.
Whether he’s a lockdown defender, a turnstile or, most likely, somewhere in between, Thomas is going to play a leading role for UNLV in 2023-24. His offensive game is so polished and dynamic, it will be nearly impossible to keep him off the floor.
Look for Kruger to pencil him in as the starting point guard early in the preseason and roll with the freshman phenom.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
