Marcus Thornton

Thornton joins the Celtics after splitting last season between Sacramento and Brooklyn. He brought the Nets a little scoring punch off the bench, averaging 12.3 points on 41-percent shooting in 24 minutes per game. That included a career-high 38 percent from three-point range in his 26-game stint in Brooklyn, though his playing time and shooting percentages dropped in the postseason. For Boston, Thornton's biggest value is as an expiring contract. He's a shot-taker who can do for Boston what he did for Brooklyn, but it would be counter-productive for the rebuilding organization to waste minutes on Thornton when minutes could be used for their draft picks, James Young and Marcus Smart. Thornton could get early minutes to prop up trade value and create a market, but long term, the Celtics are unlikely to give much thought about Thornton.

Thornton moved almost exclusively to a reserve role for the Kings last season, starting just eight of his 72 games, resulting in a steep drop off in his minutes from 35 per game to just 24. As can be expected, Thornton's other numbers fell across the board as well, with his scoring dropping a full six points per game. With the Kings adding Ben McLemore in the draft seemingly with the desire for him to take over the starting shooting guard gig, Thornton will more than likely reprise a bench role once again. Even in a limited capacity last season, Thornton continued to showcase prowess from long range and the charity stripe, knocking down two three-pointers per game at a respectable 37 percent clip while hitting on a career-best 88 percent of his free throws. He'll need to continue to maintain his proficiency from both areas of the court with his overall numbers probably unlikely to rebound anytime soon with McLemore in the fold and the acquisition of Greivis Vasquez sending another high-scoring guard in Isaiah Thomas to the bench to compete for shots with Thornton.

Thornton continued to thrive in Sacramento after being acquired from New Orleans the season before, proving to be one of the more productive scorers in the league at the position. He compiled 18.7 points per game, rewarding fantasy owners who believed his post-trade production during the 2010-11 campaign was for real. Thornton likely could have provided even more value had he stayed completely healthy the entire season, but thigh and calf injuries caused him to miss 15 games. Thornton missed nine games in each of his previous two seasons, but shouldn’t be viewed as especially fragile. Whether he’s used as a starter or sixth man, Thornton has no issue with attempting shots, particularly from three-point range. He knocked down 2.1 threes per game last season (albeit at an underwhelming 34.5 percent clip), tying for sixth in the league. His 1.4 steals and 3.6 rebounds per game are respectable totals for a shooting guard. The Kings gave Thornton a sizeable contract last year, but Tyreke Evans’ reluctance to play most of his minutes at small forward could force the team to move Thornton to a bench role or reduce his minutes. The uncertainty of the Kings’ rotation is Thornton’s biggest enemy.

It was a tale of two seasons for the sharp-shooting Thornton last year. After being relegated to the bench with the Hornets, he was traded to the Kings mid-season, where he was given a starting role, and proceeded to shoot the lights out (21.3 PPG, 2.0 3PG, 45.0 FG% with Kings). Thornton is a high-volume scorer who will take upwards of 15 shots per game. He also grabs a decent amount of boards for a guard. There aren’t very many players being drafted in the middle rounds who can drop 30 points on a given night. It would be smart to draft Thornton with a big-heavy team, or if you drafted a point guard who doesn’t score much, such as Jason Kidd or Jose Calderon.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 43rd-overall pick from the 2009 draft... To get a sense of how the Hornets originally intended to use their second-round pick, it might be instructive to look at the Hornets' first five games of the season, during which Thornton, who left LSU after his sophomore year, played exactly zero minutes. However, due to an injury to Chris Paul, the dismissal of coach Byron Scott and the incompetence of Morris Peterson, Thornton was able not only to register meaningful minutes, but to become a serviceable fantasy option in the meantime. For some perspective on how important Thornton ultimately became to the team, consider his minutes per game by month, from November through April: 19:30, 16:30, 24:36, 29:06, 32:17, 37:00. Over the last two months of the season, Thornton averaged 20.3 points and 2.0 threes per game. He does little to distinguish himself in other areas � including free throw shooting, where he averaged few attempts (3.4 per 36 minutes) and posted only a decent 81.4 percent conversion rate. As for his role this year, the most likely configuration will see Thornton take over shooting guard duties while the newly acquired Trevor Ariza mans the small forward spot. With Chris Paul around, Thornton is less likely to score in volume, but will most likely do so (i.e. score) with greater efficiency.