Draft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other notes

[Ralphb07]

After taking some time off to recover from the bumps and bruises of the season, Thornton said he's refreshed and ready to get down to business. He finished his last exam Tuesday and is in Chicago to work out under Josh Oppenheimer, a trainer who also works with former Tigers standout Tyrus Thomas and his Chicago Bulls teammate Ben Gordon.

Elfus said the consensus is that Thornton could go anywhere from the 18th to the 30th pick. Dallas, Chicago, Washington, Milwaukee and Minnesota, which has three first-round picks, have inquired.

Here's the scouting report from Drat Express

Thornton ranks fourth in possessions used per game 20.6, and his overall PPP of 1 is indicative of how well he played despite his high usage. More so than some of the players ahead of him, Thornton does a little bit of everything. He gets almost 7.2 Pos/G as a finisher, and though his PPP isn’t off the charts at 1.12, it is still above average. Thornton ranks third in catch and shoot possessions per game, but displayed questionable shot selection in shooting 3.6 guarded jumpers in comparison to just 2.2 unguarded shots. Fortunately for Thornton, his guarded PPP of 1.09 ranks third overall. That ability to make shots with a hand in his face should translate itself nicely to the NBA, where open looks are harder to come by.

Only a decent scorer on isolations, off of pull ups, and on the pick and roll, Thornton got more shots off of cuts than any other shooting guard and took the second most shots off of screens. His coach obviously loved running plays for him in the half-court, and his ability to play without the ball should make him a big asset from day one in the NBA. Something of a jack of all trades, Thornton even got a whole possession per game in the post, and is the type of player that can contribute for almost any type of team. He can do so many different things that he’s a good fit in most systems, so long as he doesn’t have to put the ball on the floor a great deal in half court settings to create offense

 

[Ralphb07]

Re:NBA Draft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton

Looks like he could be a nice pick up at 26th and regardless if we pick him or not IMO it's nice to see Paxson has a good feel for what type of players to put around Rose

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

Chad Ford on Blair

He's probably going to be a better offensive rebounder and a better scorer than Perkins. He's been working out at IMG in Florida and I'm told he's already lost a lot of weight. If he comes into draft camp in great shape, that will really boost his stock

 

[pyobuttah]

Thornton reminds me of Vernon Maxwell w/ out the crazy. If we can draft him at 26, you do it! He is not blazing fast, but is quick, needs little room to get off a shot, and can shoot fade-a-ways and step backs! He is going to be a consistent 15 ppg scorer w/ big games! You can take a chance on a player such as Jermaine Taylor or Koufas, but this kid is going to be a Courtney Lee and that is a solid player that could be really good.

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

pyobuttah wrote:

Thornton reminds me of Vernon Maxwell w/ out the crazy. If we can draft him at 26, you do it! He is not blazing fast, but is quick, needs little room to get off a shot, and can shoot fade-a-ways and step backs! He is going to be a consistent 15 ppg scorer w/ big games! You can take a chance on a player such as Jermaine Taylor or Koufas, but this kid is going to be a Courtney Lee and that is a solid player that could be really good.

He seems like a perfect role player to me. We need someone that can score in half court sets and score without needing the ball. Nice size at 6'4 210lbs

 

[Basghetti80]

Thornton would be a real solid pick at 26. I we took him I think it puts us in a situation where we would not be quite so hard pressed to bring back Gordon if his price went too high.

Rose, Hinrich
Salmons,Thornton
Deng

That is a pretty solid 5 man group on the perimeter. If Paxson could get Tyrus, #16, and expirings to translate into a real scoring bigman upfront with Noah and Miller you would have a pretty strong team next season.

 

[ryguy24]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

He's definitely solid from what i've seen and a very good shooter. Certainly in the convo at 26.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

hmmm me likey Mr. Thornton.

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

ryguy24 wrote:

He's definitely solid from what i've seen and a very good shooter. Certainly in the convo at 26.

Yep. We need guys to fit roles for this team. The elite guy we're looking for will come via trade but we need to draft guys that can fit a role for us and he could fit a role off the bench

 

[step]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

Sounds like the perfect player to fill a role off the bench for many teams, which makes me wonder if he'll be there for the 26th pick.

 

[dougthonus]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

dougthonus wrote:

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

Gordon would be a top 3 pick in many drafts I think. But I agree, someone at 26 is not going to negate Gordon's presence (or lack thereof) at all. Usually every player drafted outside the lottery is only going to be a role player at best. There are exceptions (Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas) but usually a role player is all you hope for. Not to say that having a role player is a bad thing, but this Thorton guy will in no way compensate for losing Gordon.

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

dougthonus wrote:

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

Who really said he'll replace Gordon though?

The way I see it is he's a guy that can shoot and more importantly move with out the ball and shoot off screens which could help us.


The guy that is replacing Gordon or Kirk is Salmons... Guys we're looking at in the draft are guys that can fill a hole in a smaller role

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

clonetrooper264 wrote:

dougthonus wrote:

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

Gordon would be a top 3 pick in many drafts I think. But I agree, someone at 26 is not going to negate Gordon's presence (or lack thereof) at all. Usually every player drafted outside the lottery is only going to be a role player at best. There are exceptions (Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas) but usually a role player is all you hope for. Not to say that having a role player is a bad thing, but this Thorton guy will in no way compensate for losing Gordon.

Salmons is the guy that would be replacing Gordon in the bigger picture. Thornton if we selected him would fill the void of having a guy that can catch and shoot and shoot off screens. That's not replacing Gordon it's just filling a void on our team

I understand fully that none of these picks will come in play 30 minutes and be this super stud but if Paxson gets the right guy there's no reason why we can't get two role players to fill some voids that this current team lacks

and from Paxson track record he does a good job at finding talent.

 

[Bullsman24]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

if we take this guy though it spells the end for ben gordon in chicago.

if it was the end for kirk, we'd have taken another combo guard since we need a backup PG.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

Ralphb07 wrote:

clonetrooper264 wrote:

dougthonus wrote:

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

Gordon would be a top 3 pick in many drafts I think. But I agree, someone at 26 is not going to negate Gordon's presence (or lack thereof) at all. Usually every player drafted outside the lottery is only going to be a role player at best. There are exceptions (Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas) but usually a role player is all you hope for. Not to say that having a role player is a bad thing, but this Thorton guy will in no way compensate for losing Gordon.

Salmons is the guy that would be replacing Gordon in the bigger picture. Thornton if we selected him would fill the void of having a guy that can catch and shoot and shoot off screens. That's not replacing Gordon it's just filling a void on our team

I understand fully that none of these picks will come in play 30 minutes and be this super stud but if Paxson gets the right guy there's no reason why we can't get two role players to fill some voids that this current team lacks

and from Paxson track record he does a good job at finding talent.

Yeah you're right. No problem with taking role players that can fill a role. Just putting down any thoughts that this Thorton guy would come in and try to be Ben is all. :lol:

 

[Rose1]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

I saw Thronton play and his game doesn't affect Gordon at all. He does everything o.k. but not great.

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

clonetrooper264 wrote:

Ralphb07 wrote:

clonetrooper264 wrote:

dougthonus wrote:

If Ben Gordon was in this draft he'd be a top 3 pick. There's no way someone at #26 changes the way you feel about Ben Gordon coming back. Anyone at #26 is a guy whom you hope can at least be a role player while understanding that you may not even get that.

Gordon would be a top 3 pick in many drafts I think. But I agree, someone at 26 is not going to negate Gordon's presence (or lack thereof) at all. Usually every player drafted outside the lottery is only going to be a role player at best. There are exceptions (Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas) but usually a role player is all you hope for. Not to say that having a role player is a bad thing, but this Thorton guy will in no way compensate for losing Gordon.

Salmons is the guy that would be replacing Gordon in the bigger picture. Thornton if we selected him would fill the void of having a guy that can catch and shoot and shoot off screens. That's not replacing Gordon it's just filling a void on our team

I understand fully that none of these picks will come in play 30 minutes and be this super stud but if Paxson gets the right guy there's no reason why we can't get two role players to fill some voids that this current team lacks

and from Paxson track record he does a good job at finding talent.

Yeah you're right. No problem with taking role players that can fill a role. Just putting down any thoughts that this Thorton guy would come in and try to be Ben is all. :lol:

People just read into things too much. If Gordon is gone we lose scoring, spacing and a catch and shoot guy. Salmons takes care of the scoring load so when people say maybe player X can fill some of the void of losing BG it doesn't mean they think Player X is replacing Gordon

It doesn't matter what sport but when I look at my teams I always look at the bigger picture rather than looking at a player that needs to be replace I look at the current roster and see what weaknesses that group has.

IMO instead of people saying we have to replace Gordon just look at our weaknesses and say we need to improve upon that which is why I like Thornton. I'm not looking at can he replace BG, I'm looking at we need a player that can space the floor, move without the ball and shoot. Even if it's a 10-15 minutes role player because we got the core of our team already. Rose-Salmons-Deng-Noah-Kirk-Tyrus and Miller are all going to play a bunch next year so all we need is players that can make some of our weaknesses stronger

 

[Ralphb07]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

Rose1 wrote:

I saw Thronton play and his game doesn't affect Gordon at all. He does everything o.k. but not great.

Until BG signs with us he is not a member of the Bulls and is a FA that can only be signed after the draft so people just need to not even bring him up until that changes

With that said we could use a guy at 26 that does everything okay but not great. If the scouting report on him is accurate and he moves without the ball and is used a lot off screens he helps this team out.

If we got Blair/James Johnson (Only IF Johnson measures out to be a combo forward) and landed a pure shooter like Thornton, Taylor or Ellington that would be a solid draft for me.

Our 8th and 9th guy aren't expected to play much they just need to bring what we lack and Blair or Johnson would bring that up front and one of those shooters should do the same.

I understand that most of these guys won't pan out but I have complete faith in Paxson and I'm not worried about him selecting a guy that can't contribute

He's drafted well in his years.

 

[dougthonus]

Reraft:Bulls looking at Marcus Thornton/other no

People just read into things too much. If Gordon is gone we lose scoring, spacing and a catch and shoot guy. Salmons takes care of the scoring load so when people say maybe player X can fill some of the void of losing BG it doesn't mean they think Player X is replacing Gordon

It doesn't matter what sport but when I look at my teams I always look at the bigger picture rather than looking at a player that needs to be replace I look at the current roster and see what weaknesses that group has.

IMO instead of people saying we have to replace Gordon just look at our weaknesses and say we need to improve upon that which is why I like Thornton. I'm not looking at can he replace BG, I'm looking at we need a player that can space the floor, move without the ball and shoot. Even if it's a 10-15 minutes role player because we got the core of our team already. Rose-Salmons-Deng-Noah-Kirk-Tyrus and Miller are all going to play a bunch next year so all we need is players that can make some of our weaknesses stronger

Let me phrase it this way.

If you are counting on a guy at #26 to come in and do anything other than fill a 9th-15th man role on your team, then you are likely to be disappointed.

Unless you feel that the Bulls will not lose anything by losing Gordon, then his impact needs to be replaced (not necessarily by replacing his skillset, you could replace his impact by improving defensively or with better slashing whatever). Counting on Thornton to lessen the blow of Gordon leaving and replace some of his impact (or any guy who's there at #26) isn't likely to work out for you.

It might. There are some elite players who were second rounders or late 1sts, and there are plenty of role players who fit that criteria who could help lessen the blow in some way. However, there are also plenty of guys who don't belong in the NBA in 3 years and never sign a multi-year NBA contract after their rookie deal is up.