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Overview

Thornton was an afterthought coming out of High School and was not heavily recruited, opting to enroll at FSU, where he spent his freshman season as a redshirt. A tweener with experience at both forward positions, he always had the talent but needed consistency.

From his junior season to his senior campaign, Thornton made remarkable progress in all facets of his game and now ranks with the elite prospects in the 2007 NBA Draft class. The first player in Schoolhistory to earn mention on Associated Press All-American teams, he was the first Seminole since the 1989 season to earn All-American honors of third-team or better from any national wire service.

When Thornton was named a unanimous selection to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team, he became only the third Seminole (Bob Sura in 1993-94 and Tim Pickett in 2003-04) in history to be named to the All-ACC squad. He also earned All-ACC Tournament second-team and 2006 Colonial Classic All-Tournament team honors (was the MVP of the 2006 Colonial Classic). A finalist for the Wooden, Naismith and Rupp Awards as the nation's best collegiate player in 2006-07, Thornton also earned All-American honors from Sports Illustrated (second-team), Rivals.com (second-team) and CollegeHoops.net (third-team).

"Obviously Al Thornton is a great player. People talk about the great players in the country like Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, whoever. I don't know how you cannot talk about Al Thornton. I mean, he is phenomenal. What he did out there today was ridiculous. He just took the game on and he Personal ly willed them to win," said Miami (Fla.) coach Frank Haith during Thornton's senior season.

At Perry High School, Thornton was named the Most Valuable Player at the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) All-Star game and the Georgia/Tennessee All-Star game following his senior season. He earned Class AAA All-State honorable mention and was named the Middle-Georgia Player of the Year by the Macon Telegraph. Prepstars.com. rated him 26th among the nation's top power forwards and centers.

As a senior at Perry High, Thornton averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals per game. He scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the GACA All-Star game while helping his South team to a 97-81 victory and scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Georgia/Tennessee All-Star game. He scored a career-high 53 points against West Laurens and scored 40 or more points in three other games his senior season. He would go on to become the school's all-time record-holder with over 1,500 career points.

Thornton originally intended to enroll for the 2002 fall semester at Florida State, but decided to sit out the year and did not join the team until the 2003-04 season. That year, he played in 30 games as a reserve, averaging 3.2 points (tenth on the team), 1.8 rebounds (tied for ninth) and shot 51.7 percent from the field to rank second among the regulars in the Seminoles' rotation. He had a season-high of 12 points came in his fourth career game against South Carolina State, making six field goals while playing a season-high 18 minutes against the Colonels. He also had a strong game defensively at North Carolina, coming up with three steals in seven minutes during the first half against the Tar Heels.

Thornton started four of 29 games in 2004-05. He averaged 9.1 points (second on the team), 4.4 rebounds (tied for first), 0.6 blocks (first) and shot .543 from the field (first), leading the squad with 48 offensive rebounds (1.7 orpg) and pulled down 128 total boards. He tied with Adam Waleskowski for the team lead with his 4.4 rebounds per-game average and also registered 18 blocked shots.

That season, Thornton scored 26 points with 10 rebounds in the Seminoles' 93-81 victory over third-ranked Wake Forest in overtime and had 20 points against Georgia Tech. He also had a season-high of 13 rebounds vs. Maryland.

Thornton was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament second-team choice in 2005-06, as he started all 30 games. The second-team All-ACC and All-District first-team pick enjoyed an outstanding season in leading Florida State to 20 wins and into the second round of the NIT. He averaged 16.1 points (first on the team), 6.9 rebounds (second), while shooting .518 from the field (third), .744 from the free-throw line (third) and .476 from the 3-point range.

Thornton earned ACC Player of the Week twice -- following his 37-point performance against Boston College and following his 37-point, 15-rebound performance at Duke. He led Florida State with three 30-point scoring games (also had 31 vs. Alcorn State) and tied for the team lead with four 20-point games (27 vs. Maryland, 26 vs. Duke, 22 vs. Virginia and 21 vs. Virginia Tech). He also topped the team in rebounding in 13 different games.

The Rivals.com second-team All-American was a first-team All-ACC pick as a senior in 2006-07. He also earned All-District Six first-team honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Thornton averaged a career-high 19.7 points (first on the team), 5.2 rebounds (first), shot .530 from the field (first), shot a career-high .444 from the 3-point line (first), shot a career-high .790 from the free-throw line (third), earned a career-high 40 steals (first, 1.1spg) and blocked a career-high 53 shots (first/1.5 bpg).

Thornton played in a career-high 35 games (all starts), made a career-high 244 field goals, a career-high 36 3-point field goals, a career-high 166 free throws, shot a career-high .790 from the free-throw line, blocked a career-high 40 shots, earned a career-high 53 steals and played in a career-high 1,092 minutes (career-high 31.2 minutes played per game). He averaged a double-double of 25 points and 11.5 rebounds in two games against Maryland and recorded double-doubles against Virginia (30 points and career-high 16 rebounds), Virginia Tech (27 points and 13 rebounds) and Wake Forest (25 points and 11 rebounds). Thornton averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the 2007 ACC Tournament to earn ACC All-Tournament honors (became only the second player in Schoolhistory to earn All-ACC Tournament team honors, joining Charlie Ward -- 1992).

Thornton's 19.7-point scoring average in 2006-07 was the highest by an FSU player in a season since Tharon Mayes averaged 23.3 points in 1989-90. His 742 points scored that year rank second on FSU's single-season chart behind Jim Oler (742 points, 1955-56). His 244 field goals made rank third on the school's annual record list behind Ron King (262 in 1970-71) and Alton Lee Gipson (260 in 1983-84).

In 124 games at Florida State, Thornton started 69 contests. His 1,521 points scored rank seventh on the school's career-record list while his 641 rebounds tied Rodney Dobard (1989-93) for 15th on the all-time record chart. He made 546 (12th in Schoolhistory) of 1,034 field goals (52.8 percent), including 63 of 144 (43.8 percent) from 3-point range. He was successful on 70.1 percent of his free throws (366 of 522) and was credited with 87 assists, 103 steals and 74 blocked shots. He was called for 280 fouls and had 215 turnovers (1.7 pg).

Scouting Report

Positives: Has a well-developed frame, adding over 20 pounds of needed bulk prior to his senior year...Athletic and quick, plays with good intensity and is a solid defender along the perimeter, with the speed to come out and handle guards...Has made great strides in his overall offensive game, but lacks good court sense and his rebounding skills are just adequate...Showed much better shot-blocking ability as a senior, but still needs to time his leaps better when attacking the glass for offensive boards and putbacks...Shows good length and leaping ability (timing is off at times) and displayed a deadly mid-range jumper the last two years that forced the opposition to double-team him...Drives hard to the basket and is good at drawing contact to get to the free-throw line, but needs to do so more often...Creates mismatches vs. the bigger forward when he's shooting from the perimeter, as he gets good elevation to sink shots...Feels more comfortable shooting off the dribble, but can also hoist the 15-foot shots once he sets his feet...Gets a high arc on his jump shot and shows a quick release point from mid-range, making it tough to defend...Has good flexibility and can get the defender to commit with his pump fakes...From beyond the arc, he has shown a much quicker release and elevation on his 3-point attempts than in the past (successful on 47.6 percent of his 3-point tries in 2005-06 and 44.4 percent in 2006-07 after hitting just 28.6 percent as a sophomore)...Once he gets the ball in his hands, he has that explosive initial step to the basket that leaves slower, bigger forwards watching his tosses go in...Gets a better charge to the basket off the dribble when attacking from the right side...Best served in an up-tempo attack due to his quickness getting up and down the court...Very fluid releasing long shots, but still gets a lot of damage off the one-bounce pass, as he simply glides to the basket...Can disrupt his man off the dribble and has very good spin moves when attempting a fall-away in the face of defenders...Uses his left shoulder efficiently when executing the turn-around shot while playing in the low post...Once he learns to time his leaps better, he could develop into a stronger offensive rebounder (has very quick leaping ability, but still needs to time it better)...Is too quick and slippery through the lanes for the bigger defenders to handle, demonstrating one of the more explosive drives to the rim in the college game...By playing power forward in the team's three-guard attack, he made a living on putbacks and became much more aggressive attacking the glass than he had in the past -- increased his offensive rebounds from 48 as a sophomore, to 87 as a junior and 107 as a senior...Still lacks ideal basketball IQ, but shows good urgency going after loose balls...Does a nice job of contorting his body to get to the tough rebounds and is very comfortable facing the basket...Drives to his right or left with the same explosiveness and slashes well to the basket...Utilizes his long arms and high release point regularly when tossing the ball up from the perimeter...Works hard to get open underneath and generally shows good hands once he gets the ball...Because of his speed, he could even be utilized as a shooting guard for several minutes and also shows the lateral agility to defend well on the perimeter...Solid finisher in transition and knows how to use his long arms when facing up to an opponent in attempts to alter than man's shot.

Negatives: Can play either guard position, but will need to add more bulk and strength to play at the power slot and must show better court vision when utilized at small forward...Has natural hands, but as a ball handler, he still lacks a feel for when to feed the ball off and must do a better job of spotting the open man rather than forcing shots...Not the type that you want running your offense, especially in the half-court game, as he tends to dribble too high and keep the ball on the floor too long...Must show better positioning ability, as he fails to box out his man on a consistent basis, leaving lots of rebounds behind...When he dares to execute no-look passes, it usually spells trouble for his team and he must do a better job of executing sets...As good as he is at executing fakes, he is equally fooled when an opponent tries it on him...Needs to do a better job of keeping his head up and on a swivel when driving to the basket...When he keeps his head down, he loses sight of the rim...Will struggle in the low post, as he doesn't seem to like playing with his back to the basket...Knows he has good explosion driving through the lanes, but will get out of control and needs to learn how to vary his speed...Will get frustrated and force up shots instead of feeding the ball around...Most of his fouls come when he bites on pump fakes.

Compares To: JOSH HOWARD, Dallas. Thornton doesn't have the basketball IQ that Howard possesses, but both are extremely quick to the basket and can score with the ball in their hands. Thornton's developing mid-range game will frustrate the NBA forwards that will have to come out and defend him on the perimeter. He has an array of moves to fool the defender and, with the added bulk he carried last year, he was even quicker than he was in the past. Put him in a small lineup at power forward and watch the way he faces up to his man with fearlessness. Yes, he is a better fit at small forward, especially with his outside shot, but he needs to work on ball control and rebounding, as he lacks consistency in both areas. He is older than most prospects in this draft, but the added year in Schoolreally helped improve his overall game.

High School

Attended Perry (Ga.) High School, earning Most Valuable Player honors at the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) All-Star game and the Georgia/Tennessee All-Star game following his senior season...Earned Class AAA All-State honorable mention...Was named the Middle-Georgia Player of the Year by the Macon Telegraph...Prepstars.com. rated him 26th among the nation's top power forwards and centers...As a senior, he averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals per game...Scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the GACA All-Star game while helping his South team to a 97-81 victory and scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Georgia/Tennessee All-Star game...Scored a career-high 53 points against West Laurens and scored 40 or more points in three other games his senior season...Would go on to become the school's all-time record-holder with over 1,500 career points.

Personal

Will earn his degree in Sociology before the NBA Draft on June 28...Son of Alford and Philomenia Thornton...Comes from a tall family, as his father stands 6-foot-6 and three sisters are all nearly 6-foot tall...Selected Florida State over Cincinnati, Kentucky and Georgia...Born Alford Thornton on 12/07/83...Resides in Perry, Georgia.

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