BOOM: Tyrus Thomas OUT 2 months due to calf injury

Injury @bobcats update: Tyrus Thomas to miss approx. two months w/2nd degree Lt calf strain & tear of plantaris muscle. No surgery needed.

— B.J. Evans (@BobcatsBballPR) November 19, 2012

Yikes, didn’t see this coming for Tyrus, but who did…An MRI revealed a second-degree strain of his left calf muscle and a tear of the plantaris muscle. This muscle helps the calf and ankle operate on the same page, in short. The injury will not require surgery.

In Tyrus’ absence, newly acquired Hakim Warrick and Bismack Biyombo should both see increased minutes in the Bobcats rotation.

Part of me feels really bad for Tyrus and the other part of me believes this could actually be a good thing for the Bobcats. Make no mistake, Tyrus can be a very serviceable player on the defensive end and has been bringing very good energy to the floor this season. On the other hand, he can be detrimental to the team’s success on the offensive end and is pretty good at forcing shots. Ultimately, the Bobcats may finally be able to turn their backs and walk away from what has been an extremely rocky, see-saw like relationship since Charlotte sent a first round pick to Chicago for Thomas in 2010.

Again, Tyrus has shown some bright spots this season on the defensive end. He was averaging 1.4 blocks/game and 3.06 blocks/40 min (per hoopdata.com). Contrastingly, Tyrus was attempting more shots from 16-23 feet than any other player on the Bobcats roster- 8.9 attempts/40 min and was only making 34% of those shots. All this stat tells us is that he hasn’t evolved his offensive game one bit and further cements fact that Thomas forces long jumpers. Statistically, even worse than Byron Mullens does according to that stat.

Tyrus Thomas could certainly make a recovery and get back into the lineup for the Bobcats sometime in January, but one must ask themselves if Dunlap, Higgins & Cho will re-visit the experiment with him, or just throw the towel in and sit him until the amnesty clause can be exercised on Tyrus?

Twitter Reactions:

First few weeks of 2010-11 were nice. RT @rick_bonnell: Tyrus Thomas out 2 months or more with left calf injury (torn Plantaris muscle).

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) November 19, 2012

Hello Hakim Warrick…that trade looks better now with news of Thomas being out for a while.

— David Walker (@daviDBWalker) November 19, 2012