qross1fan

Dunleavy DID say on the radio last night a handful teams asked about Thornton after the trade[AM570].

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yamaneko

Who cares if he is the most nba ready player, hes not the most ready nba player for our team. And if hes relaly top 7 talent, that means 7 other teams before us must have thought the same thing. Nick young is no ball distributor but still had twice the number of assists as thornton. Young could be a bust, who knows. You make the pick based on whats the best move for your franchise. Young was a local guy, played a position that we had need at. Brings NBA 3 point range. Brings someone with a handle, someone who can challenge for starting spot right away.

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity

leidout

We absolutely need to make a trade now, the way the team is set up at this moment can't work.

It's a bad situation to be in when other teams can obviously see how badly you need a trade. Whenever one does happen, we're probably gonna end up getting ripped off.

qross1fan

There still is free agency, so obviously teams don't try to make it solely work after the draft, kind of obvious. As far as other teams knowing how badly we need a trade, who's to say they know we need it, or we'll get ripped off? Remember, Clippers always seem to make a trade out of the blue, so speculating would be stupid in my opinon. Let's just sit back, welcome our great picks, and hope we can do the same good impact in free agency, or via trade.

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Showtime87

Once again, the voice of reason...

yamaneko

Well unless someone like francis gets bought out and is willing to play for the minimum, were not doing anything in free agency due to our cap situation. I wouldnt say great picks. Our first rounder doesnt fit a need, and dunleavvy said before the 2nd roudner would not make the team this year.

leidout is 100% right. to salvage this pick of thornton, we absolutely need to trade maggette or thomas for a guard or center or both. Otherwise thornton will rot on the bench, heaven knows dunleavvy wont send him to the D League. Our only other hope is that a top level guy gets bought out, and we can get him on the cheap. Clippers cant use MLE at this point due to luxury tax situation.

Hopefully a deal will present itself , but knowing the clippers im not too optimistic. How many trades have we missed out on the last two years? Artest, Mike Miller, iverson, pierce, ray allen, brandon wright, and more. Unfortunately for the clippers the cassell/jaric trade is the exception, not the rule as far as clippers making good trades.

Its times like this where i realize im a true fan. When i am utterly and consistently dissapointed by play, by moves, by coaching, by drafting, yet still am a die hard fan, you know youre not some fairweather bandwagon guy.

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity

matador1238

I dont think Thorton is a bad pick. He was the best available player left which could come in and play right away. Baylor never draft for needs.

leidout

Most of the sites i was watching had Young as the best available talent, including ESPN which we all were watching.

yamaneko

matador, yes hes ready to play in the nba, but tell me how is he ready to play in this lineup? who is he going to take minutes from

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity

matador1238

I wish I could tell u, yam. Thats why I am not the GM or Coach....haha They get to see all the players' workouts and we dont....so they should know more about the players than us. The fans just watch games and highlights. We just have to believe they make the right decision. My guess is:

Lineup:

PG: Cassell/Hart?/Jordan?/Diaz?/Conroy?
SG: Mobley/Ross/Maggette
SF: Maggette/Thorton/Ross
PF: Brand/Thomas
C: Kaman/Thomas/A. William

yamaneko

elgin never saw thornton work out as thornton didnt even work out for the clippers. They saw the same highlights we did. But regardless, im not knocking thornton as a player. What im saying is, he can play SF, MAYBE SOME minutes at PF, so if hes going to be a star on our team, how does he get playing time ahead of brand, ross, thomas, maggette? Just look at how the minutes were divied up last year, and tell me which of those players you are going to take away minutes from to give to thornton.

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity

matador1238

I believe Dunleavy saw him workout at Phoenix.

It looks like Maggette, Ross and Thorton will share duties on SF spot. Maggette and Ross will also play SG. Thomas will backup Brand at PF and play some C. If Thorton gets to play, he will probably take minutes from Ross. Dunleavy might even put him in his dog house like Singleton and Korolev.

With this roster, we will definitely play more Small Ball. There is also a possiblity that a trade will take place.

DaFranchise

But they did have dinner at the Pre draft camp in Orlando. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

yamaneko

I dont think thornton takes minutes from ross, because ross is there to guard cassell's man or someone he has to be really quick to guard. Thornton while does not have that much lateral quickness to guard guards. Just like singleton never took minutes from ross, i dont see thornton doing the same either.

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08-09 Clippers - One more piece away from relativity