Unofficial Al Thornton Thread

hands11 · Post #1 » by **hands11** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 3:56 am

I looked around and didn't see one of these. Al lost 20 lbs so he should be quicker than we saw last year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03854.html

Growing up in Perry, Ga., Thornton once drew comparisons to Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins because of his similar build and aggressive, attacking nature on the floor. Wilkins, now a commentator for Hawks broadcasts, said he has observed Thornton since he was in high school and always thought highly of his game.

"He's a flat-out scorer, athletic, explosive," Wilkins said about Thornton. "You see his progress. I thought he was going to be a great player in L.A., but certain situations don't work out for certain guys. So you have to start over somewhere else. Maybe this is the spot for him, but it's up to him to see how far he goes."

Only three game but things are looking decent so far for Al. 3rd in scoring. First is rebounding for us. .528 shooting.

http://espn.go.com/nba/team/stats/_/nam ... on-wizards

game log http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/g ... yerId=3237

Wizards2Lottery · Post #2 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:01 am

Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Post #3 » by **montestewart** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:22 am

He's looking a lot like he looked when he first got here last year, before injuries slowed him down. Considering Yi, McGee and Blatche coming up short and the absence of Howard and Arenas, Thornton's contribution has been that much more important.

I'm montestewart, and I endorse this thread.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #4 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:38 am

Wizards2Lottery · Post #5 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:38 am

montestewart wrote:
I'm montestewart, and I endorse this thread.

Wizardspride · Post #6 » by **Wizardspride** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:39 am

Wizards2Lottery wrote:Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Gotta disagree with there.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #7 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 4:41 am

Alright, which mod decided to merge my thread with this UNOFFICIAL BS.

Mine was official dammit!!! In the real world Official > Unofficial.

Post #8 » by **montestewart** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 6:35 am

Wizardspride wrote:
Wizards2Lottery wrote:Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Gotta disagree with there.

Yeah, this team needs scorers and depth. If Thornton keeps this up, it might not matter much which one starts, especially with Arenas in the rotation, but this team needs them both. I just like giving Thornton credit for a fine job so far.

Post #9 » by **penbeast0** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 10:36 am

Wizards2Lottery wrote:Alright, which mod decided to merge my thread with this UNOFFICIAL BS.

Mine was official dammit!!! In the real world Official > Unofficial.

Official player threads on this site must either having the words "amazingly sucky" or "shrine" in the title 8-)

verbal8 · Post #10 » by **verbal8** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 11:25 am

Wizardspride wrote:
Wizards2Lottery wrote:Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Gotta disagree with there.

If Josh Howard comes back and plays well, I think he and Thornton could both be very helpful. I think Thornton could see some spot duty at PF and Howard could play some SG.

hands11 · Post #11 » by **hands11** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 1:23 pm

montestewart wrote:
Wizardspride wrote:
Wizards2Lottery wrote:Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Gotta disagree with there.

Yeah, this team needs scorers and depth. If Thornton keeps this up, it might not matter much which one starts, especially with Arenas in the rotation, but this team needs them both. I just like giving Thornton credit for a fine job so far.

Interesting how quickly we went from looking very weak and short of depth at SF to looking like we could have options and depth.

If AT is reborn after dropping 20 pounds. Looking good so far.
If Howard comes back healed and ahead of schedule. We don't even need to start him right now.
If Flip is already playing Booker he is ahead of sch. That added mass to go along with AT
And since we kept Martin who is just a mature tough strong bodied player with ice in his vain "dagger 3 pointer"

Plus you can go big with Yi if you really wanted and Nick and Kirk can play some SF if you needed.

We may not have one legit established stud young star at SF but we have a platoon of options and as a group they look viable and not the weakest link of the team.

So we have

Stud Star PG in Wall who has hit the ground running.
Stud scoring SG in Gil with sometimes hot Nick behind him and Martin/Hudson tweaners and Kirk
Platoon SF with AT, Howard, Booker, Martin, Kirk, Yi, etc
Dray who is a solid PF still looking to find his grove from outside like he had last year. Kid can still be a great player. I think it will come. He is just rusty from the foot injury.

Then it is down to center again. We just need to see some progress there from our platoon of centers. McGee, Armstrong, Yi, Seraphin, Hamady with Dray backing them up. You can even add Booker for small ball.

That look like playoff potential. We just have to pull for that center platoon to make some progress. Any progress from any of them at center will help the team a ton.

Still a lot of ifs on this team but at least I can see how it gets better and works out. I like the 15 players we keep and our cap. Strong line up for rebuilding and maybe winning our share this year. I laugh at the so called experts that say we are a lottery team again.

Winning early in the season will add well needed confidence and help Flip to coach them up.

Post #12 » by **Ruzious** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 2:46 pm

I like that Thornton has taken some 3's in the first 3 games. The next step is actually making them! He's played well, and I think there's still room for him to improve. And Dray - look for Al before forcing off-balanced jumpers.

Post #13 » by **nate33** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 2:55 pm

I'd like to see Thornton in the post a bit more. He's had the opportunity a couple of times so far, and he scores every time. With Blatche able to stretch the D from the PF position, it shouldn't be too hard to work it into the offense.

verbal8 · Post #14 » by **verbal8** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 3:22 pm

There is a break down of Blatche's shot selection and eFG in the Blatche thread. Does anyone have one for Thornton or a good resource. I don't think 82games has 2010-11 stats yet.

no D in Hibachi · Post #15 » by **no D in Hibachi** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 3:27 pm

If Thornton keeps up his strong play he's a reliable 3-point shot away from becoming a very good SF option going forward. With Wall the Wiz need their SF to stretch the defense with a good deep jumper. I'm most impressed by his tough defense.

I've always kind of thought of Thornton as a CB type player who has skill and toughness but never really got it going with his other teams before coming to Washington.

Nivek · Post #16 » by **Nivek** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 5:01 pm

verbal8 wrote:There is a break down of Blatche's shot selection and eFG in the Blatche thread. Does anyone have one for Thornton or a good resource. I don't think 82games has 2010-11 stats yet.

www.HoopData.com has the shot location breakdowns.

For Thornton, 53% of his FGA this season are from 10 feet or more from the hoop. His efg on those attempts: .368. On shots inside of 10 feet that aren't "at the rim" (meaning a layup or a dunk), he's 1-4. He's 11-13 (.846) on shots at the rim. Meaning, he's 8-23 on shot attempts away from the basket -- an efg of .348.

Looking at last season, 54% of his FGA were 10 feet or more from the hoop, with an efg of .375. His "at the rim" percentage was .635. He's not going to shoot 85% at the rim this season, so expect his shooting percentage to drop.

By the way, 37% of his FGA were **** shots last season (16-23 feet). He shot .355 from that range. This season, only 22% of his FGA have been **** shots -- and he's shooting .625. I'd anticipate more **** shot FGA from Thornton and a lower percentage on them going forward.

dobrojim · Post #17 » by **dobrojim** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 5:18 pm

montestewart wrote:
Wizardspride wrote:
Wizards2Lottery wrote:Didn't see an Official thread for AT14 so I decided to start one for him. I'm pleasantly surprised by his play so far. Maybe Josh Howard isn't that valuable to this team.

Gotta disagree with there.

Yeah, this team needs scorers and depth. If Thornton keeps this up, it might not matter much which one starts, especially with Arenas in the rotation, but this team needs them both. I just like giving Thornton credit for a fine job so far.

+1

I like what I've seen from AT so far. That said, the real test will come when
he matches up with the top SFs on the top teams. PP, Queen, Melo etc.

DCZards · Post #18 » by **DCZards** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 5:38 pm

Great to see AT getting some love. I posted on the Atlanta game thread that I thought Al might be finding his niche now that he's expected to be a role player and not a star, as was the case when the Clips drafted him. It also doesn't hurt that AT's athleticism makes him a good fit with Wall. But the best part might be that AT's lost weight and is in great shape. He also believes he has something to prove.

I think AT will have a solid season....but I'm still looking forward to seeing Josh Howard healthy and playing.

20MexicanosIn1Van · Post #19 » by **20MexicanosIn1Van** » Thu Nov 4, 2010 6:55 pm

I'm wondering how Thorton will do once Josh Howard comes back and he has to go to the bench. I like Thorton in the starting role because he provides something the rest of the starters don't - toughness. It'll be interesting to see how he does in a bench role.

tontoz · Post #20 » by **tontoz** » Fri Nov 5, 2010 1:13 am

If he could turn into a solid two way role player that would be a major plus. He averaged 17 ppg in his second season so he can obviously score, but i wonder about him between the ears.

i watched him drop 33 on the Hawks in Atlanta in his rookie year, mostly on Josh Smiths head. But way too often his just seems to drift through games. Maybe it is just an issue of finding the right team.

His range definitely needs to improve. A guy like Wall who loves to drive really needs to have some shooters around him for spacing.