Al Thornton

Al Thornton

Thornton with the Wizards in 2010
Small forward / Power forward
Personal information
Born	(1983-12-07) December 7, 1983 Perry, Georgia
Nationality	American
High school	Perry
Listed height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College	Florida State
NBA Draft	2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers
Pro career	2007–present
Career history
Los Angeles Clippers (2007–2010) Washington Wizards (2010-2011) Golden State Warriors (2011) Guayama Wizards (2012-present)
Career highlights and awards
2006 Second-Team All-ACC 2007 ACC Second-Team All-Tournament 2007 First Team All-ACC 2008 NBA All-Rookie First Team

Al Thornton (born December 7, 1983, in Perry, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Guayama Wizards of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. He had formerly played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards and the Golden State Warriors. Collegiately, he played for Florida State University.

College

Al Thornton's outstanding four-year career at Florida State University was capped off by a stellar individual senior year that saw him make the AP Third-Team All-American, a unanimous selection to the First-Team All-ACC team, and was runner up to Boston College's Jared Dudley for the ACC Player of the Year. He led the ACC in scoring and averaged over 7 rebounds per game as well. His season came to a disappointing end as the Seminoles did not qualify for the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight season and were forced to play in the NIT.

NBA career

Los Angeles Clippers

On June 28, 2007, Thornton was taken 14th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Thornton also has the same agent as Yao Ming. On July 9, Thornton played his first summer league game for the Clippers, scoring 24 points and registering 8 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks in a 108–102 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

In just his third preseason game as a rookie, Thornton led the Clippers to a win over the Golden State Warriors with 24 points on 11–15 shooting, including a perfect 2–2 from behind the 3-point arc while also connecting on all 8 of his first attempts from the floor.

With Ruben Patterson in the starting lineup at the start of the season, Thornton would not get the playing time he had received during preseason. Patterson was waived on December 13, 2007 in order to give the rookie more playing time. With a slew of injuries to the Clippers' big men, including Paul Davis with a torn ACL, Tim Thomas with recurring back and ankle injuries, and Elton Brand sidelined with a ruptured achilles tendon, Thornton took advantage of his minutes playing power forward and small forward when teammate Corey Maggette was on the bench.

After the new year, Thornton is averaging 15.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 1.6 apg; he is doubling his scoring and quadrupling his assists from November and December when he averaged 7.15 ppg, 3.2 rpg, and 0.4 apg. Thornton's playing time has increased to 31.7 mins for the month of February, and with the month almost up, he is averaging 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 assist, and .8 steals a game.

Thornton with the Clippers in March 2009.

On January 30, 2008, Thornton scored a then season-high 33 points against the Atlanta Hawks, including a significant block in the final seconds in a 95–88 Clipper win. Thornton also recorded his first double-double on February 9, in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, in which he had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

On March 29, 2008, Thornton equaled a rookie franchise record (and Clippers season-high) 39 points on 13 of 23 field goal shooting, 3 of 6 from behind the arch, and 10 of 12 from the line in a 110–97 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Thornton scored 20 of his 39 in the fourth quarter to seal the win and snap the Clippers' 10-game losing streak.

On May 13, 2008, Al Thornton was named to the 2008 NBA All-Rookie First Team.

On October 31, 2008, Thornton had a double-double with 30 points and 11 rebounds, a season high.

Washington Wizards

On February 17, 2010, Thornton was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Washington Wizards as part of a three-team, six-player trade that sent Antawn Jamison from Washington to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldžič from Cleveland to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles, and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland.

On March 1, 2011, he reached a buyout agreement with the Wizards and was waived. He signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors on March 3, 2011.

Puerto Rico

On February 19, 2012, he signed with the Guayama Wizards of the Puerto Rican basketball league Baloncesto Superior Nacional

Statistics

College

Year	Team	Games Played	Minutes/Game	Points/Game	Rebounds/Game	Assists/Game	Blocks/Game	Steals/Game	FG%	3PT%	FT%	Turnovers/Game
[1]	Florida State University	35	31.2	19.7	7.2	0.7	1.1	1.5	53%	44.4%	79%	2.5

NBA

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2007–08	LAC	79	31	27.3	.429	.331	.743	4.5	1.2	.6	.5	12.7
2008–09	LAC	71	67	37.4	.446	.253	.754	5.2	1.5	.8	.9	16.8
2009–10	LAC	51	30	27.5	.478	.357	.741	3.8	1.2	.5	.4	10.7
2009–10	WAS	24	16	28.1	.463	.353	.694	4.3	1.2	.8	.5	10.7
2010–11	WAS	49	23	21.8	.471	.160	.757	3.2	1.0	.6	.2	8.0
2010-11	GSW	22	0	14.3	.490	.000	.829	2.6	.5	.3	.1	6.0
Career		296	167	28.0	.452	.293	.747	4.2	1.2	.6	.5	11.9

Personal

Thornton is a cousin of fellow NBA player Marcus Thornton.

External links

• Al Thornton at NBA.com
• FSU Player Profile
• Draft Express Profile
• ESPN Player Profile
• NBADraft.net Profile
• http://www.rotoworld.com/Content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=nBa&id=557