Hollinger's take - "Currently, the whole for Thornton adds up to much less than the sum of his parts. With the bar raised in L.A. this season, he's going to have to step it up or see a reduction in playing time. Thornton's superficially good numbers from last season cloaked the per-minute reality: He was 31st among small forwards in PER and hurt the team defensively. He'll be in the rotation regardless, but it seems inconceivable he'll play 37 minutes a game again, given the upgrades on the Clippers' roster. Even on a per-minute basis, he'll probably get fewer shots. "
I figure Thornton is a PF playing out of position. Maybe a little on the short side for PF, but certainly has the bulk.
He's the odd man out on offense with Kaman & Camby healthy. He'll be even less involved if/when Griffin returns from injury. Thornton takes a lot of low percentage shots with off balanced jumpers and hasn't been able to get in the post with Kaman in there. The Clippers aren't running as much this season and are trying to play a more ball-controlled style of offense pounding the ball into Kaman. Thornton doesn't have the jumpshot to compliment this style and is falling out of favor to Rasual Butler. I agree he's a tweener and has the skillset of a PF rather than SF. Either Thornton will have to work hard on his ball handling and perimeter shot, play in a different scheme off the bench, or get traded to a team better suited for his skillset.
Al Thornton is a perfect illustration of how per-game box score numbers can mask how well a player really is playing.
