Could of just drafted him, but in all honesty they see something in him i assume, yet what they see is probably Elite Vipers bench warmer. lol
Seems like we picked him a little high but there is so much variance on second round draft boards that it’s really impossible to say. I wonder if part of the strategy of locking up the 31st pick was buying time to negotiate with agents to ensure the exact contract structure we want. I’m not a cba expert, but I think there is a salary cap exception for 2d rounders but the figures still count toward apron calculations
He's a 22yr old combo guard on offense and undersized but supposedly stout enough on defense. So his middle projection would be a backup PG/SG in the NBA from the general profile. Players like him even when they break out like FVV or Brunson are generally late bloomers, so can't expect too much from the beginning. I don't have an issue with the pick in of itself. He does look like a player the Rockets can use as a backup in a position of need. And if you can get a Carl Landry or Chandler Parsons type with an early 2nd round pick you are already counting that as huge win. So I don't have huge expectations here. But the issue is that I don't have confidence in Stone's drafting in this range. Josh Christopher, TyTy, Cam, all the guards he drafted lower in the draft have been pure busts. Not even just underachiving but actual busts. Hopefully he's gotten better since, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Since he was a senior, he should at least be capable of giving us decent minutes from the start. (That was also the case for Brunson and Fred which is why they stuck in the league.) If he can't do that, he'll just be a bust, which is the case for the majority of 2nd rounders, so no major loss. Right now I 'm viewing him as the Aaron Holiday replacement and that's the over/under, can he be better than Holiday was.
Brunson was absolutely terrible as a rookie even on a last place team that had rookie Luka. He wouldn't have played if he was on a serious team at that point. We shouldn't expect Thornton to play much at all his rookie season, if ever.
He is, but the question is if it'll translate to the NBA. Will a 6 foot tall wing who isn't terribly athletic and can't play above the rim be able to shoot 70%+ at the rim in the NBA based on strength alone? I'm thinking probably not. We'll see.
