One mistake, one step wrong, I was eliminated by the NBA at the age of 27, and I really shouldn t have left the Lakers

One step is wrong, and in just two years, he has gone from the Lakers' inside hope to the NBA abandoned player.

What did Thomas Bryant do wrong? I left the league sadly at the age of 28. Next, let’s take advantage of Tobu’s case to talk about the survival difficulties of NBA players. Without absolute strength, don’t influence the team’s development and construction.

Torbu is a center forward with a height of 2.08 meters. Although he is not tall, his wingspan is 2.28 meters, which can make up for the lack of height to a certain extent. In addition, he has strong mobility, not weak strength, solid basic skills, and can dribble and shoot. With these advantages, Tobu always has a place among the 17th rookies. He was finally selected by the Lakers at the 42nd pick in the second round. Later, he became a Wizards and played at the peak of his career here.

In the 19-20 season, Tobble scored 13.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, a shooting percentage of 58.1%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 40%. His style of play is very consistent with the current era. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2021, Tobble suffered a cruciate ligament torn while competing for rebounds, and his growth was forced to press the pause button. During the long recovery process, his fate with the Wizards also came to an end.

For the sake of the future, Tobu rejected the invitation from multiple teams and chose to sign a one-year short-term contract with the Lakers. He hoped that he could complete the "gilding" here, return to the peak of his career, and return to the public's attention. In fact, he did. In the second game after his comeback, Tob made 5 of 5 shots, 5 of 8 free throws, scored 15 points, and had a quasi-double double-double with 9 rebounds. His amazing performance made Lakers fans exclaim "satisfaction". Although he didn't play much, Tob always creates surprises and became the "X factor" that matters the game. In the year-end game with the Hawks, he made 8 of 10 shots, scored 19 points, and had a double-double with 17 rebounds. With the injury of the main inside Anthony Davis, Tob took the lead and delivered a report card with an average of 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, a shooting percentage of 65.4%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 44%.

Yes, in just 3 months, Tobu was successfully gilded. His inside finishing rate was extremely high, reaching 70.4%, pick-and-roll down, empty cut, and space attributes perfectly adapted to the team's tactical system. Although the offense is outstanding, Bryant's defensive defects always exist, with slow lateral movement speed and low basket protection efficiency (the opponent's shooting rate at the basket will increase by 4%), poor defense ability leads to frequent targeting by opponents, and his defensive efficiency (116.7) is far lower than the offensive efficiency (112.1). High-level data such as EPM and real defense positive and negative values ​​show that he is a "strong offense and weak defense" center. During the Lakers period, the team relied on regional joint defense to make up for its loopholes, but this hidden danger lays the groundwork for his subsequent decline.

With Davis' return, Tobu returned to the bench, and his playing time dropped sharply to less than 15 minutes. He was even DNP many times. The layer of gold that had just been plated on was slowly fading, which also made him feel dissatisfied, and began to treat training negatively, cut off communication with his teammates, etc. Afterwards, Tobu submitted an application to the management for departure. The disappointed Lakers did not retain anything. They felt guilty that they finalized a deal and sent Tobu to another Western Conference championship team, the Nuggets, and were lucky enough to follow the team to win the O'Brien Cup, but to Tobu, he was not happy at all.

Because in this team with a fixed lineup and a neat lineup, Tobu, as a new player, cannot find any entry point, and as Jokic's substitute, he does not have the support ability like the former, so the Nuggets will not allow Jokic to rest easily. Even if he takes a moment, he will not leave opportunities for Tobu. His playing time has dropped from 11.4 minutes per game to only 4.6 minutes, and in the playoffs, he only scored 29 seconds.

During the offseason, Tobu, who spent the gold medal in the Lakers and won the championship in the Nuggets, had a very dismal market reaction, especially the "forced palace" behavior, which made him labeled as a thorny head. He only received a quotation of $5.4 million from the Heat for two years. Unlike the Lakers and the Nuggets, the Heat can be a disciplined iron army, and his playing time depends entirely on personal efforts. Once his performance is not good, he will be immediately DNP. Here, Tobu's defensive problems are infinitely magnified, and not long after, his main position was replaced by Dunro.

In the middle of last season, Tob was abandoned again and sent to the Pacers by the team. Indiana, which lacks inside, should have been a great place for Tob. He did seize some opportunities to win the trust of coach Carlisle. Especially in the playoffs, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Tob was ordered to throw three priceless three-pointers in 13 minutes to help the Pacers secure the victory. He reached the finals for the second time in the team's history, but in the following game, Tob exposed problems such as poor game condition, unstable shooting, and poor defense, which were criticized by fans.

This summer, Tob's market plummeted and no teams contacted him, and eventually he chose to go to Europe to sign with Panasinaikos in Greece.

Looking back at Tobu's entire career, leaving the Lakers was undoubtedly the most failed decision he had ever made, and it was also the turning point that led to his career going downhill. As a role player, he should wait for an opportunity to act. You should know that Davis's health problems will not disappear, and sooner or later will be important. On the other hand, he can also continue to strengthen the offensive threat with the bonus of the system. Look at Vanderbilt, who later received a four-year, $48 million contract renewal.

For future generations, Tobu's experience warns: second-round picks/bassive players need to clarify their "puzzle" positioning, carefully weigh the trade-offs between exposure and stability, especially avoiding actions that undermine the team's trust in the contract year. After all, in the NBA survival game, patience and adaptability are often more critical than talent.