Marcus Thornton not headed to Europe

[JumpingJudkins]

Instead he will play in Australia, apparently.

http://www.sportando.com/en/world/asia/169773/marcus-thornton-heading-to-australia.html

We'll see him and Colton Iverson in Summer League next year, and the year after that, and the year ...

[KG Living Legend]

Crap, you scared me. Thought we were keeping him in the roster.

[clover]

This should be good. Gives him a couple of months on the Red Claws at the end of the season too.

[Tr1boy]

Expect little.

Danny made a mistake not to pick a euro player

Who was the last euro player danny has drafted?

[Lucky17]

Expect little.

Danny made a mistake not to pick a euro player

Who was the last euro player danny has drafted?

For all intents and purposes, Marcus Thornton is a Euro player, since he's playing overseas as a draft and stash. Ditto for Colton Iverson.

Now, if you actually would have preferred Ainge take a player of Slavic or Balkan extraction, my question is: why?

[TA9]

Expect little.

Danny made a mistake not to pick a euro player

Who was the last euro player danny has drafted?

Semih Erden back in the 2008 NBA Draft, who turned out to be a good pick taken into consideration that he was picked at #60.
 
Danny only picks good players (can be debated) and if he didn't think that any of Euro players available were better than Marcus Thornton then fair enough.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop
Celtics had assurance from Thornton before drafting him that he would go overseas. Lack of same from others took them off C's board.

[crimson_stallion]

Wow...Thornton is an absolute athletic freak, and Australian players are severely lacking in athleticism. 

If Thornton goes to the NBA, he's going to absolutely dominate.  I'm talking basketball GOD status haha

P.s.
Yes, I live in Australia.

[SHAQATTACK]

Wow...Thornton is an absolute athletic freak, and Australian players are severely lacking in athleticism. 

If Thornton goes to the NBA, he's going to absolutely dominate.  I'm talking basketball GOD status haha

P.s.
Yes, I live in Australia.

Just say " NO!"    To drugs 

[SHAQATTACK]

Crap, you scared me. Thought we were keeping him in the roster.

LOL ......me too at first

Whew !

[LooseCannon]

Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop
Celtics had assurance from Thornton before drafting him that he would go overseas. Lack of same from others took them off C's board.

I believe this is what I suggested was the reason the Celtics drafted Thornton instead of Upshaw or anyone else.

[crimson_stallion]

Wow...Thornton is an absolute athletic freak, and Australian players are severely lacking in athleticism. 

If Thornton goes to the NBA, he's going to absolutely dominate.  I'm talking basketball GOD status haha

P.s.
Yes, I live in Australia.

Just say " NO!"    To drugs 

Have you not seen Thornton's numbers?

He averaged 19 PPG in college on 40% threes and >80% free throws and he put up some historically good pre-draft numbers at the combine.  His lane agility scores, vertical, etc were off the charts. 

Not sure if you're familiar with the Australian NBL league, but the guys there are hardly the most explosive (or most talented) athletes around.  I'd argue that the average starter in the NCAA probably has significantly more talent and athleticism than the average starter in the NBL. 

Guys like Patty Mills (who barely crack a roster in the NBA) are superstars in the NBL.  Young Australian players with legit talent (e.g. Dante Exum, Andre Bogut) don't even waste their time with the NBL - they go straight for the NBA draft.

I know a guy for example, who won rookie of the year in the NBL and was one of the most explosive athletes in the league at the time (except for the US imports, of course).  He ended up going to play in europe, averaged maybe 10-15 minutes a game in europe over 4 or 5 years, never got up to starters minutes.  Came back to Australia  few years ago, and he's considered one of the better guards in the league now.

The level of talent in the NBL just isn't that high. I struggle to think of players in the NBL who could defend a guy with Thornton's shooting ability, slashing ability, and outright athleticism.  If he doesn't average > 19 PPG in the NBL I'll be extremely surprised.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

Wow...Thornton is an absolute athletic freak, and Australian players are severely lacking in athleticism. 

If Thornton goes to the NBA, he's going to absolutely dominate.  I'm talking basketball GOD status haha

P.s.
Yes, I live in Australia.

Just say " NO!"    To drugs 

Have you not seen Thornton's numbers?

He averaged 19 PPG in college on 40% threes and >80% free throws and he put up some historically good pre-draft numbers at the combine.  His lane agility scores, vertical, etc were off the charts. 

Not sure if you're familiar with the Australian NBL league, but the guys there are hardly the most explosive (or most talented) athletes around.  I'd argue that the average starter in the NCAA probably has significantly more talent and athleticism than the average starter in the NBL. 

Guys like Patty Mills (who barely crack a roster in the NBA) are superstars in the NBL.  Young Australian players with legit talent (e.g. Dante Exum, Andre Bogut) don't even waste their time with the NBL - they go straight for the NBA draft.

I know a guy for example, who won rookie of the year in the NBL and was one of the most explosive athletes in the league at the time (except for the US imports, of course).  He ended up going to play in europe, averaged maybe 10-15 minutes a game in europe over 4 or 5 years, never got up to starters minutes.  Came back to Australia  few years ago, and he's considered one of the better guards in the league now.

The level of talent in the NBL just isn't that high. I struggle to think of players in the NBL who could defend a guy with Thornton's shooting ability, slashing ability, and outright athleticism.  If he doesn't average > 19 PPG in the NBL I'll be extremely surprised.

I think the drug comment was referring to you sayin "NBA" and not "NBL"..

[crimson_stallion]

Wow...Thornton is an absolute athletic freak, and Australian players are severely lacking in athleticism. 

If Thornton goes to the NBA, he's going to absolutely dominate.  I'm talking basketball GOD status haha

P.s.
Yes, I live in Australia.

Just say " NO!"    To drugs 

Have you not seen Thornton's numbers?

He averaged 19 PPG in college on 40% threes and >80% free throws and he put up some historically good pre-draft numbers at the combine.  His lane agility scores, vertical, etc were off the charts. 

Not sure if you're familiar with the Australian NBL league, but the guys there are hardly the most explosive (or most talented) athletes around.  I'd argue that the average starter in the NCAA probably has significantly more talent and athleticism than the average starter in the NBL. 

Guys like Patty Mills (who barely crack a roster in the NBA) are superstars in the NBL.  Young Australian players with legit talent (e.g. Dante Exum, Andre Bogut) don't even waste their time with the NBL - they go straight for the NBA draft.

I know a guy for example, who won rookie of the year in the NBL and was one of the most explosive athletes in the league at the time (except for the US imports, of course).  He ended up going to play in europe, averaged maybe 10-15 minutes a game in europe over 4 or 5 years, never got up to starters minutes.  Came back to Australia  few years ago, and he's considered one of the better guards in the league now.

The level of talent in the NBL just isn't that high. I struggle to think of players in the NBL who could defend a guy with Thornton's shooting ability, slashing ability, and outright athleticism.  If he doesn't average > 19 PPG in the NBL I'll be extremely surprised.

I think the drug comment was referring to you sayin "NBA" and not "NBL"..

Oh hahaaha 

[BornReady]

That's kind of unfortunate considering the NBL talent is pretty low
So he probably wouldn't develop much compared to going to Europe, South America or Turkey
Also maybe China

I think Australia hasn't develop their league much
There isn't much teams
Athleticism is mediocre
Guys generally go for lay ups over dunks the majority of the time
Plays are not very sophisticated as the nab or euro league

He's joining the Sydney kings
Which are one of the worst teams
So he should get playing time