Vinny Del Negro Isn’t a Big Tyrus Thomas Fan

by Marcel Mutoni

The Chicago press cornered rookie coach Vinny Del Negro and asked about why Tyrus Thomas didn’t see a nanosecond of playing time in the Tuesday night victory against the Knicks.

Del Negro wasn’t exactly diplomatic in his response, and basically described Thomas as being selfish, lazy, and worst of all, a bad son.

Oh, alright, so I may have made that last part up. But Vinny’s assessment of the third-year forward was pretty brutal nonetheless. Observe, via the Sun-Times:

“I can handle mistakes, but I can’t handle lack of effort and I can’t handle lack of commitment to the team,” Del Negro said Wednesday. “It’s always a work in progress when you have a young team. When you’re on the court, you have to value those minutes.”

”My [meaning] of commitment to the team is coming in with energy every day, with a focus, trying to get better,” Del Negro said. ”Lifting weights. Being on time. Paying attention in meetings. Being ready to play at nights. Knowing what your role is, who you’re guarding, what their strengths and weaknesses are. How you can affect the team in a positive way. The commitment to the team is being a professional.”

So, yeah, it’s pretty much safe to assume that Thomas shouldn’t be expecting a Christmas card from his coach this year.

Could you imagine just how depressing things would be in the Chi right now without the nightly magic from Derrick Rose? Yikes.