Marcus Thornton
Draft night came, and I eagerly anticipated who we would select with our first (and only selection in the draft. Really I was hoping for a banger like Dujuan Blair, only because I saw the man, absolutely abuse the 2nd overall draft pick a few months earlier and I had a little crush since.
Then the shocking came, New Orleans trade for an LSU product called Marcus Thornton a *gasp* foot 4 inch shooting guard that can just flat out shoot. Now call me dumb, stupid, obnoxious, the first thoughts that came to mind were ‘Oh no, how any times have I seen this. I will give him 1 year and then he will be playing in Europe’
My scapegoat is the fact that Byron Scott was our coach, and well yeah we all know what he was like with rookies, Brandon Bass anyone?
Now training camp came around, and not too much hype was surrounding our 2 new acquisitions it was all about Emeka Okafor and how he refused to train ‘until he’s body was right’
Skip to the Chris Paul injury, now I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart Marcus was growing on me before he all of a sudden broke out. I liked the way he relentlessly attacks the basket without regard, sure he could do a better job of making some of those layups but this will come with time I thought. And his cold blooded shooting? Wow, just wow.
I vented my ‘man-love’ on ESPN’s Daily Dime, often chatting to Niall and Joe about my man crush, and was met with laughter and encouragement. Seriously I think I was scaring some people, but you know when you love a player you just do.
That was until Lil Bucket aka Lebron James is my bunny for the day. Decided to absolutely explode against Cleveland, I was again watching the match online, mind you at a lecture with my lecturer ready to explode, I jumped for joy when he hit his 30th point and got kicked out of my lecture theatre.
It was again against Dallas that Joe and I was pleading with the rest of ‘Dime Nation’ that this kid was absolutely special, and not to sleep on him. Again we were met with skepticism and laughed waiting for that pivotal 3rd quarter. Even going as far as saying he was going to hit the next 10 points for us, we even gave 3:1 odds.
What do you know? Buckets hits his stride, picks off 6 straight points and then assists Collison on an open jumper. Yes, Joe and I look like Nostradamus, well kind of. Marcus hits 9 of the next 11 New Orleans points and puts as back into the game.
Yes, I know its probably not a healthy obsession. But you know what I haven’t been this excited in a while. Australia isn’t a great place for basketball and when you walk around with a New Orleans jersey with the number 5, and THORTON on the back many people don’t have a clue who the player is, or what team I follow. But I’ll keep repping New Orleans in Melbourne, because ain’t nothing like the atmosphere at the Hive.
Just remember, Chris Paul, Marcus Thornton, and Darren Collison? Trade the backcourt of the future? Some people are REAL crazy. Imagine the havoc Marcus and Darren are going to create when teams are forced to fold on Chris’ drives?
And with that thought I might just come back to New Orleans for a month ….or two.