How Did The Kings Do In The Landry / Thornton Deal?

First off, if you’re going to continue to associate Marcus Thornton with the Kevin Martin deal, you might as well stop. It’s done – Kevin isn’t coming back. If you think the Kings took it up the shooter in the Martin/Landry deal last season, that’s understandable but what’s done is done and trying to evaluate the trade when comparing it to last years deadline move will only breed unhappiness.

With that said….given what the Kings were able to pull out of Landry, they did pretty solid.

It needs to be understood that while Landry is a talented player, he is an upcoming free agent so his trade value automatically plummets. I’ve seen a lot of people unhappy the Kings didn’t attempt to make a bigger deal (say for Deron Williams) with Landry as a key piece in the trade. Problem being, he had extremely limited value because of his contractual situation so expectations needed to be tempered greatly. Let us not forget – it was only a few weeks ago that many King fans here voted that they’d be okay with a mid to first round pick for Landry. Getting an actual player, all be it a pretty solid one, is a very solid move in my humble but most excellent of opinions.

Plain and simple, the Kings weren’t going to do much better than they did for Landry. In all actuality, I’m a bit shocked they were able to snag Thornton.

And speaking of Marcus, what can we expect out of him?

Well, first off – we don’t have to watch him absolutely destroy the Kings like he did earlier this year. Don’t recall? Here go…

Bring back the memories of you vomiting on the couch? I thought it would.

Anyway, Marcus is still young pup – only 23, this being his sophomore campaign in the NBA. He had a very impressive rookie year, given the circumstances in New Orleans last season and while the sample size was pretty small, his numbers as a starter were very impressive last year. In 17 career starts, Thornton has averaged 19.8 points a game on 45% shooting while posting adequate rebounding and assist numbers. He’s also a very talented marksman from distance, shooting 37% from downtown for his (all be it short) career – something the Kings need desperately. And in even more promising news, he shoots the three ball better off the bench – which will be his primary position once Tyreke Evans returns.

In short, the Kings picked up a very solid, young piece that is a welcome addition to any core. He’ll have no trouble putting up numbers and I’m sure he’ll become a fan favorite in no short time.

The Kings did well given the difficult circumstances.