https://theknickswall.com/sindarius-thor...Snippet from the article
Frank Martin had a ringing endorsement about his former player’s defensive I.Q.:
“Sin’s just — I haven’t had a guy that completely understands everything that we do since I’ve had Jacob Pullen at K-State — the way Sin understands. He knows every defensive concept from all five spots. I don’t have to practice him at the 5. If I told him to play center, he’d understand everything he’s supposed to do at the center spot.” (via SEC Country)It’s much easier to explain the steady improvement in defensive efficiency after reading that. Not only did he improve his defensive rating from 105.9 as a freshman to a stout 88.8 by graduation, but his defensive rebound percentage took a quantum leap too. In his first three seasons, his defensive rebound percentage hovered around 12 percent. Last season it shot up to 16.1 percent, per Sports-Reference.
Thornwell is well aware of what his role will be. Here is what he had to say to USA Today:
“I’m not a lottery pick, but I feel like I’m a lottery player,” Thornwell said. “I’m a glue guy. I can come in right away and produce on both ends of the court, but most importantly, the defensive end.”
It looks like he'll be in the same range as Josh Hart. I'd be happy with either one at 44.
I just get skeptical of players that make jumps in their final year of school when they get more physically mature than most of their counterparts.
The Knicks need a player like Thornwell who have 4 years of college coaching because the Knicks havnt had a decent offense/defense coaching staff since having coach JVG on the Knicks.
