Al Thornton

[likwitdesi]

What does everyone think of him? I was not very enthused when we got him as my impression was that he was an inefficient no-D chucker. I had an image in my head of a better SF version of Nick Young.

While he is not a good passer, I am very impressed by his play. I love his intensity and aggressiveness in attacking the basket. He is a better defender than I expected and his man-on-man defense is really good. He is a better rebounder than advertised (it seems that he might not have gotten a lot of boards with the Clips because they have have/had very good rebounders in Kaman, Camby, and Brand). Furthermore, he is highly willing to play in the post and seems to get quite a few points off putbacks.

He's been a force offensively every game except for the Minnesota games, which is understandable, given that he was being guarded by one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders in Mbah a Moute.

His shot selection is a bit shaky but he is showing that he is getting better at it over time (look at how he has attempted fewer and fewer 3s with every season).

I think, for the long-term, he could be a good 6th man for us, especially if he can get that perimeter game going.

[Wizards2Lottery]

He needs to improve his outside shot. Otherwise he is totally worthless when he is not being featured on the offensive end. Right now he's not good enough to be a top 3 option on a good team.

[dangermouse]

moving forward, i personally think we should only keep one of either nick young or thornton. right now im more inclined to keep thornton. who we keep might depend on who we get in the draft as well, but id be happy if we ended up like this next year:

arenas/draft pick/thornton/blatche/mcgee

or

PG FA (Lowry? Trade for Collison?)/arenas/thornton/blatche/draft pick

[GoneShammGone]

He needs to improve his outside shot. Otherwise he is totally worthless when he is not being featured on the offensive end. Right now he's not good enough to be a top 3 option on a good team.

Calling him "totally worthless" is a bit harsh. I agree that he may not be a top-three option, but in the short time hes been here, he's shown the ability to be a solid man-on-man defender, he's shot the ball efficiently, and he's shown that he has the hops and energy to be a solid rebounder.

Code: Select all

Season    Age    Tm    G    MP    PER    TS%    eFG% ORB% DRB% TRB%     DRtg
2007-08    24    LAC    79    2158    12.7    .504    .454     5.2     14.0   9.6    110
2008-09    25    LAC    71    2654    12.6    .502    .456     5.2     11.0   8.0    114
2009-10    26    TOT    61    1732    12.6    .532    .492     6.9     10.0   8.4    112
2009-10    26    LAC    51    1405    11.8    .526    .484     7.0     8.9      8.0        112
2009-10    26    WAS    10    327    16.1    .560    .527     6.5     14.5  10.5    109


Note that since he came to DC his PER, TS%, and rebounding % are all up, and his DRtg is improved. Even if his outside shot never gets better, I could see him being a valuable energy guy off the bench. I mean remember, right now he's only making ~ $2 million, so he doesn't have to be a top three option to have value at that price.