Billy Thomas (born December 23, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and several other leagues. A 6'5" (1.96 m) tall

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

from

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

, he last played with the Maine Red Claws of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. Billy Thomas is now the basketball head coach of Rockhurst High School

College career

In his college career, Thomas set a KU record making 269 3-point field goals (that record was later broken by

Jeff Boschee Jeffrey Allen Boschee (; born on December 21, 1979) is an American former basketball player and current coach. He currently serves as head coach of the men's team at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was formerly the head coach ...

). He also holds the school record for 3-point field goals made in a conference game, connecting on eight of them in a game against Texas on January 10, 1998.

Professional career

Thomas went undrafted after graduating from the University of Kansas in 1998. In 2001, Thomas averaged 27.6 points in 10 games for the Tanduay Rhum Masters under coach Derick Pumaren in the Philippine Basketball Association. In 2002–03, Thomas won the NBDL Sportsmanship Award while playing for the Greenville Groove. He played for the Dakota Wizards of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) and was named the CBA Newcomer of the Year and a member of the All-CBA First Team in 2005. He began his

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

career during the 2004–2005 season by signing a 10-day contract with the New Jersey Nets on January 20, 2005. Thomas later signed a second 10-day contract and eventually was signed for the remainder of the season. He appeared in 25 games that year and averaged 3.7 points per game. On March 3, 2006, he signed a 10-day contract with the Washington Wizards. He played in 17 games and averaged 2.2 points per game. Thomas began the 2007–2008 season with the Colorado 14ers of the

D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. In 27 games (27 starts), prior to his second NBA call-up, Thomas averaged 15.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Thomas was selected to play in the 2008 D-League All-Star Game. On December 24, 2007, Thomas was signed to a ten-day contract with the New Jersey Nets. He played in four games with the Nets, scoring a total of two points. On February 22, 2008, Thomas was signed to a ten-day contract by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

so they would have enough players to face the Washington Wizards that night, due to a depleted roster because of a blockbuster trade the day prior. Thomas saw his first action as a Cavalier that very night, playing 19 minutes and scoring 9 points on three three-point shots. Thomas hoisted 11 three-point field goal attempts, his career high. On March 3, 2008, the Cavaliers signed Thomas to a second ten-day contract. His contract expired on March 13, 2008, allowing him to become a free agent. On March 20, 2008, Thomas returned to the Colorado 14ers. On April 16, 2008, the Cavaliers signed Thomas for the remainder of the season and the 2008 playoffs. He played in seven regular-season games for the Cavaliers scoring 12 total points (on four three-point field goals made) grabbed two rebounds and made one steal. Thomas logged eight minutes over three playoff games. He scored three points (on a three-point field goal) and had a rebound, an assist and a steal. Thomas played for the Cavaliers' 2008

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

team in Las Vegas. He started both games that he played and averaged five points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal and a half a block per game. Thomas has played in numerous other leagues during his professional basketball career: the USBL, the CBA, the IBL, the

, the Argentine League, the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

, the Serbian League, the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

, the Greek League and the ULEB Cup. On September 2, 2009, Thomas was drafted by the Maine Red Claws in the third round of the NBA Development League Expansion Draft.

Coaching career

Thomas is the owner of the "Billy Thomas Hoops Academy", located in Kansas City, Missouri. Beginning in the 2010–2011 season, Thomas is also the head coach of the boys' varsity basketball team at

The Barstow School The Barstow School, formerly called Miss Barstow’s School, is a secular, coeducational, independent school, independent university preparatory school, preparatory school in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, USA. It was co-founded in 1884 by ...

in Kansas City, Missouri. In the 2015–2016 season, the Barstow Boys' Basketball team was ranked first in the small school category by The Kansas City Star. Now he coaches the Rockhurst High School basketball team.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" , New Jersey , 25 , , 0 , , 14.2 , , .362 , , .304 , , .778 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , .6 , , .0 , , 3.7 , - , align="left" , 2005–06 , align="left" , Washington , 17 , , 0 , , 7.7 , , .325 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , .8 , , .5 , , .6 , , .1 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , 2007–08 , align="left" , New Jersey , 4 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , - , align="left" , 2007–08 , align="left" , Cleveland , 7 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .286 , , .308 , , .000 , , .3 , , .0 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 53 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .338 , , .304 , , .846 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.7

Playoffs

, - , align="left" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, align="left" , New Jersey , 2 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , - , align="left" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, align="left" , Washington , 3 , , 0 , , 4.7 , , .000 , , .000 , , .500 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .7 , - , align="left" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, align="left" , Cleveland , 3 , , 0 , , 2.7 , , .500 , , .500 , , .000 , , .3 , , .3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 8 , , 0 , , 3.0 , , .100 , , .167 , , .500 , , .3 , , .1 , , .1 , , .0 , , .6

Notes

External links

kuathletics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Billy 1975 births Living people ABA League players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Serbia American men's basketball players Basketball players from Shreveport, Louisiana Cincinnati Stuff players CBA All-Star Game players Cleveland Cavaliers players Colorado 14ers players Greek Basket League players Greenville Groove players Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Kavala B.C. players KK Crvena zvezda players Maine Red Claws players New Jersey Nets players Pallacanestro Trieste players Philippine Basketball Association imports Regatas Corrientes basketball players Shooting guards Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) players Tanduay Rhum Masters players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Washington Wizards players