Is Thornton a Decepticon?

by supac on May 12, 2008 4:23 PM PDT

http://dberri.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/the-clippers-continue-to-meet-expectations/#more-799

More (err less) than meets the eye? Thorton's WP48 of -0.081 and WP of -3.7 are BY FAR the worst of the 07-08 Clips. How is it that we saw the rookie as having a stellar breakthrough season, but WoW has him as the biggest detriment to the team?

I am now very worried about losing Maggette.

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Our Mid-Season Discussion

http://www.clipsnation.com/2008/2/1/6026/31840

Looking at Thornton’s post-Feb stats it looks like his increased scoring/rebounding is directly attributed to increased minutes rather than better efficiency. As much as he sometimes impressed this year, Thornton has a lot of ground to cover before he can be a truly productive NBA player.

by supac on May 12, 2008 4:40 PM PDT reply actions

I dont get it either

His winsproduced.com page has him listed at 0.037. Below average, but not actually costing wins. This would seem to be acceptable for a rookie. Even more so since he started slow. Maybe one method is counting him as a SF and the other at PF. His rebounding numbers and FG% would be bigger negatives at PF. That page has him game-by-game so you can check out his season progression.

Al needs to work on a few obvious areas to get his WP48 up. He needs to eliminate the nights be plays 20-30 minutes and grabs 1 or 2 boards. Understandably for a rookie asked to score, he needs to work on shot selection. And like many rookies he needs to adjust to the pro rules and stop committing bad fouls. Personally, I saw all of those things improve as the season progressed, and there was a distinct jump after the all star break. He still has a ways to go on all of them and specifically doing them consistently.

Hopefully the Clippers get to keep the Al that recorded 3 20 and 10’s in April and the last game of the season was the parting word of the 1-8 and 5 rebounds in 30 minutes Al of December.

Overall I’m cautiously optimistic, in spite of my fondness for WoW.

by John R on May 12, 2008 4:56 PM PDT reply actions

WoW

WoW has a huge blind spot when it comes to the ‘value’ of shot creation. I put value in quotes because Berri doesn’t believe there is value there at all, and has built his metric accordingly. But people who watch the game know differently.

Al Thornton, a rookie playing for a truly abysmal team because of all the injuries, was frequently put in the situation of getting a shot when nothing was there. We know, from watching him play, that he has many, many things that make him a truly special offensive basketball player. He’s got a great first step, a wide array of shots, a pure stroke, and athleticism to spare. These are things you can’t really teach. But the WoW metric sees a bunch of games with sub-20% shooting.

As John R says, he needs to get better. And he likely will. But I’m now surprised that WoW is down on him, nor am I concerned. I know what I saw.

The Clippers! The (second) Best NBA Team in LA!

by Steve Perrin on May 12, 2008 5:37 PM PDT reply actions

Kobe Bryant - Eddie Jones

It’s a far fetched comparison but I like to think of Al/Corey to Kobe/EJ. The Lakers let go of Jones to give Kobe more playing time, and it ended up paying dividends. Remember, Kobe only averaged 7.6 points his rookie season; he pretty much sucked. I’m not saying Al will develop as rapidly as Kobe will if Maggette is gone, nor am I saying we should get rid of Maggette… But we can’t judge Al this early in his career. He may be older than the rest of his draft class, but seeing as how athletic and well-conditioned his body is (He played through ankle sprains and the flu), I think he can play for at least 13 years down the road.

Like Livingston, we’ve seen flashes of brilliance from Al. It’s just a matter of time in terms of development that he becomes a dominant force.

by Redmosa on May 12, 2008 6:52 PM PDT reply actions