Posted by BillFromTampa

“We are really excited to get Al Thornton,” Clippers Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor said. “When it was our turn to draft, he was the first player on our list, and we were just pleased and surprised he was there, because we thought he would be gone before then. He is a player who we believe will be able to come right in and play for us. He is a high-energy player, a shot-blocker and a scorer. We’re really excited to have him.”

“As the draft transpired we had the opportunity to get a couple guys that we liked and he was there,” Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Thornton was the guy we were hoping to get.  We counted down the whole way down since the draft transpired. It was a very jubilant room once that happened.”

“As soon as he became available on our board, we had five calls to trade the pick,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

“He puts points on the board and shoots the ball well from distance,” Dunleavy said about Thornton. “Stats are of course one area that is great, but for me what is important is how hard he plays. Night in and night out his energy is off the charts. He is very aggressive and he competes all the time. We are very pleased.”

“Night in, night out, his effort is off the charts,” Dunleavy said. “He’s very aggressive and he competes. That’s the first and foremost thing you’re looking for. You look for guys who compete and guys who have skills. He has both of them.”

“We wanted someone who could play right away for us, contribute right away for us, and that’s basically how we ranked players,” Dunleavy said. “Of those guys, he [Thornton] was our No. 1 guy.”

“If Corey (Maggette) were to be injured, Al Thornton could step in and start for us,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “If Cuttino Mobley would be injured, we could drop Corey down to shooting guard, and Al could play small forward.”

“Personally, I was disappointed because I thought I’d go higher,” Thornton said. “I got thrown a curveball, and now I’ve got to roll with it. Man, I think I’ve got a lot to prove to a lot of people because a lot of teams passed me over,” he said. “When I got past number seven, I was kind of worried.”

“I thought I was in that seventh to 12 range,” Thornton said in a call from New York. “Sometimes, you never can predict the draft. You never know. Sometimes, life throws you a curveball, and you have to roll with it.”

He said he’ll make the best of playing for the Clippers. Before the draft he predicted that he would be an NBA All-Star in two seasons, and he sees no reason to change that mindset now. “With the Clippers, that’s a team that I feel I can step in and help right away,’’ Thornton said. “Those teams that passed on me, they’ll see what they missed out on when I’m with the Clippers.’’

“I think that being in school four years, being able to mature physically, mentally and socially, has prepared me,” Thornton said. “I think I am ready to contribute, not just on the court, but off the court. I just cannot wait to be a Clipper.”

“First of all, I think I’m mature,” he said in an interview with ESPN. “I’m more experienced. I’ve had a great coaching staff at Florida State that prepared me.”

Thornton has come a long way from when he first arrived at Florida State, redshirted a year and averaged 2.8 points per game as a freshman. “I was pretty much just an athlete, all legs and pretty much a dunker,” he said. “(FSU coach Leonard Hamilton) and his staff molded me into a basketball player. They encouraged me and I had the desire to get better each and every year.”

“I’m ready to contribute right away. They are an up-tempo team, and I think that’s a great fit to showcase my skills,” he said, and then he flashed a smile full of braces, which made even a senior look much younger than his age.

“We’re real happy with the choice,” his mother Philomenia said last night. “I know Al is pleased. He likes the Clippers. It will be a good place for him.”

“He is really a world-class athlete,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said shortly after Thornton’s selection. “I’m not sure there is anybody in the draft who plays harder than Al Thornton.”

This pick deepens the intrigue concerning Maggette, who has been frequently at odds with Dunleavy and who can opt out of his contract at the end of the 2007-08 season. “That wasn’t a factor at all,” General Manager Elgin Baylor said. “We were just looking to get a player of quality. Corey didn’t enter our minds.”