The Houston Rockets have had a quiet offseason, with their biggest move being re-signing point guard Patrick Beverley. For the most part the team that went to the Western Conference Finals will still be in tact except for Josh Smith and Jason Terry who the Rockets have made offers to but are still waiting to hear back from. The Rockets also added two potential rotational players in the draft in Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell. Instead of waiting around for Terry, the Rockets decided to go out and get Marcus Thornton, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Thornton's deal with the Rockets is reportedly for one year at the league minimum, which still gives Houston cap space to possibly sign Smith or even K.J. McDaniels. Thornton reportedly turned down bigger offers from other teams to sign with Houston because he felt their up-tempo style of play suited him well.
Thornton's agent said that he needs to "re-invent himself" this season and that Houston was the perfect place to do it. Right now, Thornton slots in behind James Harden as the backup shooting guard, and he will be asked to provide scoring punch of the bench.
Throughout his career, Thornton has been a very streaky shooter, but when he gets hot he can carry a team for stretches of games. Thornton has bounced around a lot in his six-year career, but one thing he has always done is put the ball in the basket. He's been a bench player most of his career, yet he still has a career average of 12.7 points per game, which goes up to 18.5 points per 36 minutes. Thornton's career shooting percentages are average at 43 percent from the field and 36 percent from three, but he shot 42 percent from three for the Boston Celtics last year in 39 games.
Thornton should fit right in with the Rockets style of play because they love to shoot a ton of three pointers, and so does Thornton. For his career, 40 percent of the shots he has taken have come from beyond the three-point line.
Thornton is still just 28 years old and showed in Boston last year that he can still help a team out with his streaky shooting. He will likely get his chances to go off from three this year, and Harden, and Rockets coach Kevin McHale will likely love the way he plays.
