Thomas Gardner (born February 8, 1985) is a 6'5' guard who played three seasons of college basketball at the University of Missouri and he was averaging 19.7 points per game in 28 games in his senior season. Before joining the Chicago Bulls in 2007, he played professionally in Belgium.

Gardner made his NBA debut on November 15, 2007, playing against the Phoenix Suns. On November 20, 2007, in what would be his last game as a Bull, Gardner scored a career-high 14 points against Denver Nuggets. He left Chicago Bulls on December 7, 2007 and joined Russian club Lokomotiv-Rostov.

Eurobasket reporter Max Brodsky spoke with Thomas Gardner regarding his Russian season. So read on!

Thomas Gardner:
Adjusting to European basketball was a little tougher this year because I came to Lokomotive in the middle of their season. So it was tough getting adjusted to my teammates and the style of basketball the coach wanted to play. Overall basketball is basketball and its pretty much the same where ever you go. except it takes awhile to get a feel for your teammates and adjust to the pace of the game especially coming from the NBA. The russian super league is very competitve. I think alot of young players who are in their first year or so overseas can sometime under estimate the competition level of being overseas. The russian league has a good bunch of talented players. Daniel Ewing, Trajon Langdon, Junior Harrington, Lee Nailon, Joseph Blair, J.R Holden, J.R Bremer, Alex Scales, Marquee Perry and not just good americans; it has Lampe from Khimky, Loncar from Lokomotiv, Terrance Kingsey from Unics, the point guard from CKSA from greece etc. The league is very competitive and it makes you give your best every night.

This season has been good for me and I have had some great experiences. Starting way back in July in playing summer league with the Chicago Bulls and leading that team in scoring and then getting invited to camp and experiencing vet camp and really getting a chance to see where I was as a NBA player. Summer league is filled with a bunch of rookies and 2nd year players so camp is a big step and seeing how good you really are when your playing against the starting five of an NBA team. I was challenged everyday by Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Lual Deng etc. and I think it really helped me out. Coach Scott Skiles also never let anything pass him and the staff did a great job and staying on me and helping me improve. I would say Lokomotive was a good experience from a basketball stand point. The competition was good and I was able to make some good frienships with other players.

Max Brodsky: As for college, and leaving college early, how much would staying an extra year in school have helped your NBA career?

Thomas Gardner: Its hard to say if I wouldve stayed in college another year would I have been drafted or would I have ben in the same situation. I dont at all regret my decision to leave college early. It was a choice that I made and I stand by it. I think not getting drafted, not getting invited to the pre draft camp, getting cut from my first summer league team with the Spurs, etc. made me alot hungrier and was nothing but motivation. So thats why when I got an opportunity with the bulls I made the best of it and too full advantage. I told myself going in that Im going to make it hard for the bulls to not invite me to camp and not to keep me after camp.

Max Brodsky: What do you think, why did Bulls choose Demetris Nichols instead of you? Do you think that it was a mistake?
Thomas Gardner: The situation with the bulls letting me go for Nichols was a business decision and was something that I couldnt control. Yeah it was tough to hear that I was getting waived but I am thankful for the opportunity John Paxson and Scott Skiles gave me. Im not the first and im not the last player who is ever going to get waived from a NBA team. You can either let it kill you and be pissed of everyday or you can turn a negative into a postive and use it as motivation.

I decided to leave Lokomotive bacause they failed to follow my contract and didn't want to pay me the money that they had signed in my contract. On arrival to Lokomotiv I was suppose to recieve a large sum of my contract after passing my physical. I played in our first 2 FIBA cup games which were very tough for me because I was still tired from the flight and the time difference, plus I didnt know any plays or how my teammates played. The sponsors said they was not going to give me the money they owed me upfront because of my performance in those two games. They never gave me a chance and I guess they wanted results right away. So the president said he wanted me to stay because I had not practice and sat out the Samara game because of no pay. He paid me my salary for january and then when february came around they wanted to pay me half of my moths salary for the rest of they year and pay me based on my performance. They wanted to throw my contract out and create their own. I refused to do that but kept playing and practcing with the team because the president had agreed they would pay me my regualr salary and then at the end of the month of february they gave me half again. So I didn't practice again for a week and sat out of the Unics game. My agent repeatedly talk to them and told me to get as much money as I could from them and try to have good games so we could put pressure on them to pay. So after I scored 21 against triumph and helped us beat dynamo we called and told them either they payed me everything they owed me or I wanted out of my contract. They siad they wouldnt pay so I left. They never gave me a reason and why they wouldnt follow my contract so maybe you can get that answer out of them.

Once is not enough for Atholton's girls basketball team.

The five senior starters want to add a second state title to the one they earned in Class 2A last season, and they will get their chance tomorrow. Now in Class 3A, they all contributed to an effort that upset No. 5 Western, 60-56, last night in overtime in the state semifinals at UMBC's RAC Arena.

Julianne Conroy, Brittany Coughlan and Taylor Chapman all scored in the final two minutes as the No. 11 Raiders (22-5) rallied from three points down with two minutes to go. Lorri Toler also grabbed a key rebound. Elie Snyder led the team with 17 points before fouling out early in overtime.

'Us five seniors have been together for four years, so we definitely know where each other are on the floor and what we had to do,' Snyder said. 'Even when Brittany was off the floor [with four fouls], we knew that we had to step it up. We knew each person had to do their part and take it a little farther.'

Coach Maureen Shacreaw's Raiders, who will meet Paint Branch, a 69-58 winner over Great Mills, on Saturday at 9 p.m. at RAC Arena, played solid, fundamental basketball throughout the game.

Western coach Tiffany Silver said her team did not, and that was a big difference, especially on the boards, where Atholton had a 58-50 edge.

'We're so much taller than every last one of them down bottom,' Silver said. 'For them to out-rebound us is very heartbreaking right now. We couldn't get any clean fast breaks because we couldn't get any clean rebounds because we did not box out.'

The Raiders dominated the boards, led by the 5-foot-10 Chapman with 22 rebounds. They hit 22 of 30 free throws. They played a strong zone defense that kept the Doves' floor leader, All-Metro guard Akeema Richards, from driving and limited her to two field goals.

Still, Richards finished with a triple double - 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals - and she gave the Raiders trouble with her defensive quickness late in regulation that helped the Doves rally from eight points down. Jenesis Jones tied it with a follow shot with six seconds left.

In overtime, the Doves (23-4) pulled ahead 54-52 on a layup by Ashle Craig and two free throws.

Conroy then hit a 12-footer, and Coughlan, who survived with four fouls, made a 21-foot jumper for 56-54.