If Thornton ends up sitting at the end of the bench when everyone comes back from injuries and such then that would mean this team would be firing on all cylinders....if he turns out being the weakest link the Rox will be a fantastic shape
Is not loyalty, you have to at least give your vets a chance. Brewer was basically the best player in preseason. McHale will give fare playing time is you play well, that's why he end up playing Capela in the playoff with basically no game played during the reg season. Parson as a rookie took the regular starting job. Troy Daniel was giving a chance, etc.
Brewer was trash the first few games...if McHale didnt play MC it's because he was being stubborn and playing the returning guys. It was a huge mistake on his part, given how bad we were getting beat. You can't leave a bullet in the chamber, when you're getting beat like that.
Corey was playing so stupid though. Gambling and getting the defense out of position, going 1 on 3 fast breaks, forcing extremely difficult shots to the basket, etc. Corey is a role player and those guys can be changed if you have another good player behind them. He should not have that long of a leash.
Which doesn't make sense if you think about it. Thornton should be the main backup behind Harden. Beverly behind Lawson. Brewer behind Ariza. It's McHale's love of small ball where Thornton backs up Jones and would not get PT if Jones is healthy. The back court of Lawson/Bev should only be used in special situations and matchups and it is this combo that was putting Thornton on the bench when Jones was healthy. I have no issue with Marcus and Corey being our main subs at SG/SF but since Mchale loves to go small he'll put two PGs out there and one SF and as such Thornton was the one losing out. We'll see though. With how he's playing it would be insane to just bench him
"The reason it works is because of Ariza, who is currently the acting 4 make no mistake about it. Ariza’s defense on the 4 position has been near masterful- Ariza likely should be our starting 4 even if we had both Jones and Dmo at our disposal. He couldn’t guard guys like Randolph, but he’s historically been our best option against Blake Griffin. And the Depth that gives us at the 4 position is amazing, regardless of which of the 2 are healthy. The question then is how is our depth at the 2/3 with ariza using minutes at 4. Harden is Harden, and Thornton who I thought was a scrub has instead been a pleasant surprise at the 3. And what was once unbelievable depth has been dismantled as Corey Brewer has been trainwreck and Mchale seems to have 0 trust for Mcdaniels. Unfortunately I think this ends up meaning a heavier load on Ariza because instead of resorting to our bench for a 3, we’ll just split his minutes between 4 and 3 and use Jones/Dmo/Thornton to give him a breather. This still leaves a gaping hole in who backs up harden but thats totally worth living with for a few minutes a night. Additionally since our 2 centers are elite rebounders and rim defenders, the problem caused by having a small 4 like Ariza is further minimized. Ariza himself is a decent rebounder anyway- but with Dwight and Capela at the rim either from PnR dives or as back line rim protectors with everyone else on the perimeter, it makes a ton of sense to go small at the other positions. by David Polega on Nov 7, 2015 | 2:23 AM reply"
McHale didn't play Thornton at all in first 2 games. Makes you question McHale's ability to rate players, based on practices.
dmo would have been glued to the bench, if not for tjones injury last year after the philly game who knows dekker or kj could be another gem that just needs some minutes
Thornton is great when he's not running the offense and instead focusing on catch and shoot or catch and drive.
This cat can ball. I always thought privately this signing was completely overlooked by everyone outside of clutchfans but even I'm impressed at this point. Going beyond even my expectations honestly.
I like Thornton a lot. The best thing is that he can shoot off the dribble and doesn't have to be set up. That's an important thing for our team to have and is in short supply for us. His game also fits our system really well.
