Marcus Thornton May Be Traded

by MZURK on Nov 14, 2010 10:08 PM CST

Marc Spears reports that Marcus Thornton might be added in any deal that involves Peja Stojakovic. According to Marc, "despite their strong start, the New Orleans Hornets continue to explore ways to upgrade their roster, sources said. The Hornets wouldn’t mind moving Peja Stojakovic and his expiring $15 million contract. Second-year guard Marcus Thornton also could be available. The team hasn’t made any progress toward trying to acquire Philadelphia 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala."

That certainly makes sense since few teams would dump a valuable player in exchange for only an almost over the hill Stojakovic and cap relief next season. They'd want some young player with potential and MT certainly fits the bill.

Marcus Thornton proved he could be a 20 ppg scoring guard last season. However, he was also a significant part of a team that was one of the worst teams in the NBA defensively, which could make him the odd man out in Monty's defensive-minded schemes.

If Evan Turner develops reasonably fast at small forward, an Iguodala for Stojacovic/Thornton swap could make sense for Philadelphia if they want to go in a new direction. Stojakovic's expiring deal could lead to acquiring a star player next season, while Thornton could be unleashed as the long range threat alongside Turner. Still, it would be tough for Sixers fans to part with their franchise player.

For the Hornets, trading away the sharpshooters Stojakovic and the Thornton for Iguodala would mean losing two popular and capable players in exchange for a slashing, in his prime, triple-double threat star.

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This Trade

I spoke on this same scenario before this season ever started when i was looking for suitable trading options for Peja’s expiring contract. Iggy would be great defensively and is good enough offensively to also contribute. A starting 5 of Okafor, West, Iggy, Beli, Paul would be nice. That frees up Ariza to fill in both SF/SG. If Green and Bayless can continue to contribute as the backups to Paul, then thorton is not needed as much. If they made this move, and added Dampier, we would be deep.

It would also help to further appease Paul by putting an All-Star calibar player with him.
Paul, West, and Iggy could all be all stars, and even okafor could squeeze a spot if his numbers rose slightly. Thorton and Collison have a future, but if our need is to keep Paul, which i think is the right thing, we need to make these types of moves now.

by crg31 on Nov 15, 2010 5:39 PM CST reply actions

Carmelo

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=32doqts

In addition to the players involved in the trade, I’d throw our 2012 1st round pick to Philly. This trade obviously works salary cap-wise. What do you guys think about the players/picks? Is it feasible from the perspective of Denver and Philly? Would you do it from our perspective?

by prockstar03 on Nov 17, 2010 11:54 AM CST reply actions