The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Thomas now getting it right
Former lefty star thriving since switching shooting hands
UNCASVILLE — The whistle blew and as Alyssa Thomas slowly made her way to the foul line during Friday’s WNBA showdown, Chicago Sky color commentator Stephen Bardo proclaimed the Connecticut Sun forward was lefthanded. Thomas stepped to the line and launched the two shots using her right hand. Bardo quickly corrected himself and declared Thomas was indeed righthanded.
Bardo was correct in both of his statements. Thomas became the alltime leading scorer and rebounder in University of Maryland women’s basketball history while playing left-handed. After becoming a lottery selection, she continued to show off her multi-faceted game as a lefty in her first four WNBA seasons. However, watching her foul shooting percentage dip during each of her seasons, Thomas considered switching her shooting hand. After some tinkering a season ago during down times in practice, Thomas went all in on her transformation while playing in Korea.
“When I went overseas, I made the decision to switch to my right hand,” Thomas said. “I am not shooting too well with the left and it can’t get any worse so I might as well.
“When I decided to make that switch, I committed a whole week and I wasn’t playing any games and really worked on the form of it. It has kind of been natural for me, I haven’t thought about using my left hand.”
Thomas shot 75.7 percent from the foul line as a rookie and 69.2 percent in her second season. It wasn’t lost on Thomas that her percentage last season was nearly 20 points lower than it was during her rookie season. More recently she has been playing with torn labrums in both shoulders. The injury has limited her range of motion in her left arm, but not in her right so Thomas, who is naturally right-handed, is now proceeding forward
as a righty.
“It just feels more natural and comfortable,” Thomas said. “When I was shooting lefty it just wasn’t smooth and it just wasn’t feeling well for me, so right now I already feel better.”
Her free-throw percentage is actually down from 56.7 to 55.6 percent through the first five games of the season. The numbers do not indicate how much more range she has on her jump shot. While she still does most of her scoring within the shadow of the basket, she has demonstrated the ability and willingness to take and make shots from the perimeter. Thomas is confident her percentages from the foul
line will eventually start to increase.
Thomas has been rather matter of fact about the switch in shooting hands, even though it would be hard to list successful professional athletes who switched shooting hands in the middle of their careers.
“I can’t imagine doing it but AT has,” Connecticut Sun forward Morgan Tuck said. “AT is one of a kind, I could never imagine trying to switch to my left, that would be terrible but she does it well.”
Thomas posted career highs in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals per game during the 2017 season, helping the Sun reach the playoffs for the first time since 2012. Still, she wasn’t about to rest on her laurels especially after her first WNBA playoff appearance
ended with a home loss to Phoenix.
“Every year you have to come back better and bring something new,” Thomas said. “For me, I’ve been leaving a lot of points at the free throw line and it is kind of one of the reasons why I have decided to switch over. It is kind of new to me and it is a process, but the more I rep it and the more shots I get up, they’ll start going in.”
Thomas has scored in double figures in each game during the Sun’s 5-0 start, including a pair of double-doubles, with at least four assists in four of the five games. She is the only WNBA player currently in the top 10 in both rebounding and assists and while there’s a lot of basketball left to be played, Thomas is currently averaging 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. The only WNBA players to average at least 9 points and 4 assists in a season are Candace Parker in 2015 and Tamika Catchings in 2007.
“That is her personality,” Tuck said. “It is not like she is a 10-year vet in the league, she is still relatively young in the league. it shows that she is a hard worker and she wants to get better.”
The Sun, fresh off road wins over Chicago and Washington, continue the road trip on Tuesday in Atlanta and Thursday in New York, before playing host to defending champion Minnesota on Saturday at 2 p.m.