Tim Thomas is one of the greatest high school players to come out of the Garden State, and now he’s returning home as the new head basketball coach at Paramus Catholic High School in Bergen County, NJ.
The 3x high school All-American for Paterson Catholic played collegiately at Villanova, where he made he was named to the All-Big East and All-Big East Tournament teams. He also won the Big East Rookie of the Year award while averaging 17 points and 6 rebounds per game.
After one season with the Wildcats, Thomas was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the New Jersey Nets in the 1997 NBA Draft. But he was traded immediately to the 76ers in exchange for Keith Van Horn, and he responded by making second-team All-Rookie in his first season in Philadelphia.
Thomas spent 13 years in the NBA, playing for the 76ers, Bucks, Knicks, Bulls, Suns, Clippers and Mavericks before finally retiring in 2010.
After coaching at Faith Baptist high school in California and with AAU teams, Thomas, 46, returns home as the Paladins’ new head basketball coach.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to give back and I’m looking forward to it,” said Thomas.
While he’s happy to return back to the state where he averaged 25.3 points and 14.5 rebounds per game as a senior, he knows the challenge he faces.
The Paladins are coming off of a 13-15 season and the state’s largest parochial school plays in the Big North Conference United Division, the toughest division in New Jersey.
But it’s a challenge Thomas is ready to tackle for he knows what he brings to the table.
“There are a lot of great coaches, obviously, in the state of New Jersey,” said Thomas. “But you rarely find guys that played at the highest level, and played at almost every level. That experience alone is going to draw kids into Paramus Catholic and to play for me.”
He also put the job into perspective.
“My vision is to get kids and see them grow and develop, week by week, month by month, year by year. And obviously help those kids reach their goal of playing college basketball,” said Thomas. “The winning and losing, those things are going to happen naturally, it’s organic, but the end goal for me is to make sure these young men are growing and developing.”
Some of his players will have to develop quickly if they want to compete against the likes of Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco and DePaul and St. Joseph.
Being a former top high school player, facing the toughest competition doesn’t scare Tim Thomas.
And that’s just one of the qualities he will look to instill in his players later this year.
