In the first of our series profiling of some new member of the Hornets training camp roster, we turn our attention toward Lance Thomas, the former Duke forward who went undrafted after four solid years mostly in the background in college. He stands at 6-8 and weights 225 pounds, and therefore is a bit of a tweener by NBA standards. His most noteworthy performance since leaving college was probably his performance on the 2011 Pan-Am games team.

His Twitter (@SlangMagic) describes him as the “most driven person you will ever meet”, which will likely be tested for accuracy over the next few weeks of camp by Monty Williams and the assistants. He doesn’t have much of a basketball injury history, but he did suffer a seizure on the court in March. 

As for his game, he’s been known as a high energy/glue guy, which just about everyone competing for an end-of-the-bench spot needs to be. Monty Williams said specifically that he would be searching for glue guys among the nine late training camp additions.

Thomas comes directly from the D-League, and was averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds a game in four contests prior to his camp invite from the Hornets. In 2010-2011 D-League action, he averaged 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 46 games, while shooting 50 percent from the floor.

He’s pretty good defender who struggles on the defensive boards, but excels on the offensive side. Judging from that alone, I’d say he needs to get better at locating his man and boxing out on the glass, as typically that’s the case when someone does well on on the offensive side, but not on the defensive side.

Honestly there isn’t much about his game online, especially considering he was a starter at Duke, so if you know anything about him particular about him on the court (Duke fans, anyone?), please do tell. If I know anything about our readers, it’s that they are all about helping each other get smarter. I’ll give you my two cents from watching him throughout camp, but I’m far from an expert scout.

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