after asking Del Negro directly if it wouldn’t be smarter for Thomas to concentrate on hovering right near the rim, maybe play like a poor man’s Rodman. Del Negro answered that Thomas worked hard on his jumper during the offseason and didn’t want to take that aspect away from him and/or affect his confidence.

Survey says . . . wrong answer. (Also in honor of Sam, I’ll drop obscure references to dated concepts like the Richard Dawson-hosted “Family Feud.”) If I coached, I’d have a rule that Thomas can’t shoot anything outside of 15 feet unless a) the shot clock is about to expire; b) he’s ridiculously wide open c); everybody else on the team had fouled out. For good measure, I’d add this rule: He never can shoot anything outside the paint if he had dribbled first.

There’s a relevant question answered.