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**qross1fan** · 01-20-2008, 11:16 AM

BLOCK PARTY! Oh man, did Kaman make Williams sit, and had a nice jam on Boone if I recall.

Thornton is our future SF, no doubt about it. So far, all we got for sure for our future is our C and our SF. We don't know what's going to be up with EB.

I'm sort of disappointed Diaz didn't play, I was at the game and wanted to see Guillermo.

**yamaneko** · 01-20-2008, 11:36 AM

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.

hobojoe · 01-20-2008, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Just like Al is making progress, I commend you for making (some) progress and coming around on him a bit. You're still saying some pretty ridiculous things about Thornton, like he needs more lateral quickness or he's too slow and big to play a wing position. How can you say that about such an athletically gifted guy? He's too slow for the Olympics, that's about it.

PAIDNFULL23 · 01-20-2008, 01:48 PM

Al has plenty of laternal quickness, but his ball handling and his confidence in his handle isn't were it needs to be so he can be fully effective in his dribble drive moves.

Maggette, on the other hand, doesn't have a great handle either, but he has it in his mind that he is getting to the rim no matter what, so he puts his head down and he runs over anybody that's in his way, which half the time results in a blocking foul and the other half in a charging call.

ElMarroAfamado · 01-20-2008, 01:50 PM

it would be pretty cool if Al made that rookie sophmore game and as far as Q ross, well he is having a horrible offensive stretch, but i mean he is still our guy on defense and you cant ignore the job he did on Vince cARter yesterday, i know he is a huge bargain right now but i think the Clippers should offer him atleast 2-maaaybe 4 mil to keep him long term, he can be our Bruce Bowen, and i think he has more offensive game than Bruce Bowen, if he would only shoot the ball more or get some of the wide open looks bruce bowen gets, he also showed he developed a 3 pt shot, so more than ever he can be our defensive guy>
and Al was great offensively yesterday and he was ok on defense, he challenges shots, the only thing i noticed that he bobbles the ball too much and sometimes when he tries to drive he loses the handle, he needs to get some better ball handling skills before he decides to try to drive by people

**yamaneko** · 01-21-2008, 12:53 AM

Quote:

I commend you for making (some) progress and coming around on him a bit.

Not at all. I only call it as it is. I called his game b4 the season as it stood and accurately predicted his role in the strange dunleavvy offense. From the beggining i had always said i hoped he would change a little so as to solidify his role in the offense more. I certainly dont want another lottery pick rotting away. Actually i thought this turnaround would come a LONG time ago (I had even said that with all the injuries at the beg. of the year, al might have a chance to compete for ROY, if he did turn things around).

Quote:

like he needs more lateral quickness or he's too slow and big to play a wing position. How can you say that about such an athletically gifted guy?

He does need more lateral quickness on both sides of the ball to please the coach. His defensive lateral movement has improved from the beginning (he doesnt end up 5 feet away from the guy hes guarding as often). However, he still is not even as quick on his feet on the defensive side of the ball, as maggette is, and we all know what dunleavvy thinks about maggette's defense. On offense, he doesnt seem to be able to get around quick guys. Im not saying that he does need to be a star in that field, but another guy who takes poor shots (maggette) is given a pass by dunleavvy sometimes because of his ability to get by even the quickest wing defenders.

How is saying he is too slow and big to be substituted in the starting lineup for Q Ross in accurate? That is about as 100% accurate as you can get. Ross ONLY reason to be in the starting lineup is to guard whoever cassell cant, namely a PG. Do you really think that thornton can cover PG's? Now, if this was last year, and ross would have been assigned kobe, lebron, etc, and cassell wasnt starting, then yes, you could put thornton in there. He wouldnt do as good a job obviously as ross defending, but would be worlds better on offense. But to say that thornton is NOT too big and slow enough to guard a PG, is wishful thinking.

I wouldnt mind offering ross 2 million dollars. not much more though.

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