Former Grand Valley player James Thomas could get pro opportunity close to home
August 8, 2012 in Professional
Last week, I wrote about former Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State standout James Thomas and his attempts to catch the eye of professional scouts of overseas teams. Turns out, he’s also working on domestic opportunities — he recently tried out for the Grand Rapids Cyclones ABA franchise. From Steve Ungrey of the Grand Rapids Press:
Thomas, a 6-foot-2 standout, played guard for the Eagles and Grand Rapids Community College and finished his college career with a two-year stint at Grand Valley State. He was among 12 who tried out Saturday at LifeQuest Ministries for the upcoming season of the ABA. Players from as far away as Detroit, New York and Wisconsin were among those in attendance.
“I would definitely like to play in Grand Rapids the first year,” Thomas said. “You always want to take your skills overseas if possible because that’s considered close to the level of the NBA, but it would be fun to play for the Cyclones and see how it goes there.”
Nothing against the ABA at all — an opportunity to play professionally is always great — but as someone who averaged nearly 15 points per game last season at Grand Valley in the always tough GLIAC, I wouldn’t be surprised for him to have other options with overseas teams that materialize as well.
Great job at the tryouts JT. Look forward to seeing you in a Cyclones uniform soon!
James Thomas
[...] The Cyclones are currently lining up games against teams in the Chicago area, Northern Indiana and Detroit. The team is still in the process of hiring coaches and filling out the roster, but expect a heavy local influence on the team. They already held a tryout in the area that attracted some prominent area players. [...]