yamaneko

Thornton tonight showed what he needs to do to get on dunleavvys good side in the second half. In the first half he was still doing poor shot selection like usual, and suspect defense. If he plays 75% as well as he did in the second half dunleavvy has no reason to keep him on the bench. No way am i ready to annoint him SF of the future based on this game, but he showed progress for sure. He needs more lateral quickness though to beat people off of the dribble. Not necessarily maggette first step quickness..not many have that. But beating vince carter off of the dribble is not exactly impossible. What worried me was when he really couldnt get past the taller center, sean williams. Got bailed out on one of the calls i believe.

The problem is, hes too slow and big to be substitutited for Q Ross. Q Ross is starting lately because of cassell im assuming, and q ross is doing almost nothing. Thornton is worlds better than ross on offense, but worlds worse on defense, so dunleavvy couldnt substitute the two. (nor move maggette to SG, and him to SF...maggette couldnt guard anyone ross does).

About 3-4 weeks ago there was zero chance for thornton to make it on the all rookie squad for the all star game. But with davis, thomas and maggette injuries, patterson being let go, and all the PT he has had lately and games like tonight make him a lock IMO for it.

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity