On Monday, May 24, LA Thieves announced that they would be bringing Thomas ‘TJHaly’ Haly back to the starting CDL roster in place of new star Cuyler ‘Huke’ Garland, in a move that shocked just about everyone.
Huke was brought in to add even more star power to the LA Thieves roster, a dominant SMG that could open doors for the team to really compete with the very best.
While he didn’t spend long on the starting roster, Huke struggled to have an immediate impact on the squad, and they’ve brought TJ back in to try and continue the improvement they saw prior to the acquisition of Huke.
While many fans and critics have their own opinions on the decision, Reverse Sweep hosts Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt and Jonathan ‘Pacman’ Tucker believe TJHaly has the power to turn LA Thieves’ season in the right direction.
While this show was recorded prior to Huke’s benching, the message remains the same: TJHaly is an incredibly important factor in the Thieves’ success.
“Drazah and Venom are two new kids in the scene and I wonder, if things don’t go so well at this LAN, if maybe they bring TJ back,” said Enable. “Hold on to Teej until after the Major… [Then] you have that kind of safety net, because you don’t want to go into Champs with no confidence in your team.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Pacman echoes Enable’s sentiment, adding that TJHaly is an accomplished LAN player and is especially good at Champs, which could play a role in LA Thieves’ decision making when the tail end of the year hits.
Of course, when this topic came up on the CDL preview show, Enable and Pacman thought the obvious move was TJ in to replace Venom.
With Huke being moved to the bench, the Thieves have some serious talent on the sidelines, and they clearly plan on utilizing it whenever and wherever they think it is most needed.
Stage 4 kicks off on Thursday, May 27, and we’ll have to wait to see how TJHaly performs throughout the Stage; it could have huge implications on the roster going forward, and the team’s championship hopes.