The Brooklyn Nets have a new secret weapon, and his name is Marcus Thornton.
Dubbed the “Bayou Bomber” for his Louisiana roots, Thornton wasn’t doing much bombing this season for the Sacramento Kings. Despite averaging 20 points and two three-pointers a night as a starter in Sac-town during the 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 seasons, this year the 26-year-old was putting up just 8.3 points with 1.2 threes in 24 minutes a game.
That didn’t stop Nets general manager Billy King from poaching Thornton at the trade deadline in a deal that sent aging bench players Reggie Evans and Jason Terry to California. The trade got scant attention, but it was one of the smarter moves King could have made without giving up a big piece like injury-prone former All-Star center Brook Lopez.
“Marcus is a proven scorer in this league,” King said in a statement Feb. 19. “He is a young talent who will help us in the backcourt.”
In his first three weeks in Brooklyn, Thornton has quickly proved King correct. He dropped 25 points (and four threes) in Milwaukee in his third game as a Net, and followed that up with a 20-point showing (another four treys) against Memphis and 27 points (five threes!) on his old team Sunday.
Thornton can go cold just as easily as he goes hot. In the games following those three 20-plus point performances, during which he made two-thirds of his shots, he made one of seven against Chicago, one of nine at Boston, and two of six against Toronto.
And for all his offensive firepower, Thornton is not much of a defender. But he is exciting to watch when he gets going, and he gives the Nets something they have in short supply: youth. Thornton is under contract through the end of next season, which should be music to Brooklyn’s ears if he keeps playing like this.
Matt Spolar is a nearly 6-foot-1 journalist with a middling high school basketball career who is sure the Nets win thanks to team’s top-tier guards.
