00:00Forge Radio 610 presents Area 45 with Bajani and Creighton.
00:10With the 31st pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks select Bruce Thornton from The Ohio State
00:18University.
00:21Go Knicks. That pick actually belongs to the Houston Rockets whenever thing is signed, sealed, delivered, tees, crossed, dyes, dotted.
00:29Bruce Thornton going to be a Houston Rocket, at least for the time being.
00:33Senior, six foot something, 200 and something pounds, depending upon where you read the information.
00:41But boy, did he have a hell of a career as me and PC were pouring over the numbers during
00:45the break.
00:45Bruce Thornton looks like a pretty damn good collegiate player.
00:50I don't know how good of an NBA player he's going to make.
00:52PC was reading some of the profiles on draft analysis and maybe I think bench player, role player type is
01:01what one of the experts, quote unquote, said of Bruce Thornton.
01:05But Ocho analysis on the text line says, man, Rockets drafted a poor man's Jalen Brunson and they drafted Bruce
01:14Thornton.
01:14Just bleeping great SMH isn't shaking my head.
01:18And I said, well, Ocho, who the hell do you want the Rockets to draft?
01:22And he said, Unders and Isaiah Evans.
01:24Isaiah Evans, I think, was best player available.
01:26Yes.
01:27According to Jay Billis's.
01:29According to the Espin.com.
01:32Yeah.
01:33Isn't that Jay Billis?
01:35Or is Billis?
01:36I forget whoever he represents.
01:37Whatever their conglomerate of guys are.
01:40Jay Billis, Seth Greenberg.
01:42Ah, Greenberg, that's the guy I always forget about, too.
01:45You know, Thornton, actually, he was one of the, he's probably the biggest reason why Ohio State made the NCAA
01:50tournament as that large team this year.
01:52I mean, he's had a hell of a career at Ohio State, 15, 17, 19.
01:58Career points leader, if I remember correctly.
02:00Yeah, that was his, he's gotten to be a better and more efficient scorer each and every year that he
02:06played college ball.
02:07His numbers at the conclusion of the 25-26 season, 19.9 points, five boards, almost four dimes, and 55
02:15% shooter from the field, generally speaking.
02:18From three, he was a 40% guy.
02:20Really good free throw shooter as well.
02:24I don't know how the hell these guys profile when you talk about second rounders.
02:27I told you, Colin, you know, some of the statistics that I'd found in regards to the second round in
02:32just a recent data compilation over the course of the last six years.
02:37From 2020 to 2025, let's just say it was either 180 or 190.
02:44I can't remember the number, PC, but that's how many players have been drafted prior to this draft in the
02:49second round.
02:51And it has yielded all but just one all-star.
02:57His name is Jalen Brunson.
02:59It has yielded only two players at a finals game.
03:03One of them is Jalen Brunson.
03:05So hints like Ocho's maybe Jalen Brunson comp for Bruce Thornton.
03:10But you never know what you're going to get out of a second rounder.
03:12Those stats will tell you not much.
03:15He's a, according to, there's two different stats here, right?
03:21So there's his player page that says he's 6'2", 223.
03:26And then there's his draft profile that lists him as 6'2", 215.
03:30Either way, he's a shorter, thicker guard.
03:33Yeah, yeah.
03:35And, you know, uses that strength to create offense for himself.
03:41And, like, you heard Collin say he thinks he's, like, up there as one of the all-time leading scorers
03:47for Ohio State.
03:47You know why?
03:48Because he played four years.
03:50Yeah, he did.
03:51He's a four-year starter.
03:53You don't see those all the time in college anymore.
03:56Does that?
03:56He was a productive player for four years.
03:58But is that a red flag to you?
03:59Because usually the best players come out after max two years.
04:03No.
04:04Like, you get guys come out after one year, guys come out after two years.
04:07Is it a red flag to you?
04:09Dude, this guy's a four-year starter.
04:11No, but here, I do think, like, what I just alluded to, right?
04:16And I'll try to find the page for you because I think you might enjoy some of the numbers in
04:20just what first-round picks mean in the NBA over the course of the last six years, second-round picks,
04:27so on and so forth.
04:27I think those numbers do tell a story.
04:30I think they are important.
04:31Here's the numbers that I would be interested in seeing because you ask a really good question.
04:34The landscape of college basketball, and it's been this way for a long while now, for a guy that has
04:41played four years, hey, at one university, he didn't transfer all over the country.
04:47That's at least a really good sign, in my opinion.
04:49He was a four-year starter.
04:50But I would like to see those numbers over the course of, let's just say, the last 10 years, right?
04:57Guys that spent four years at university, what did their NBA careers, you know, translate into?
05:05What did they look like?
05:06What kind of players were they?
05:08And, you know, maybe it would be pertinent to look at, like, okay, center, forward, you know, two-guard, point
05:14guard, whatever the case may be in those individuals, because I do think that factors in.
05:18I think it matters in the grand scheme of things when you're talking about historical statistics and the landscape of
05:25how not just basketball, generally speaking, but NBA basketball has changed pretty significantly, even just during that time over the
05:34course of the last 10 years and how it's played.
05:36I'd be interested to see those numbers, and I'll try to find some for you.
05:39So, here are players who played full four years of college basketball and became an NBA All-Star over the
05:49last 10 years.
05:50Here's the list.
05:55There's the list.
05:57It is Dame Lillard, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green.
06:06Fred Van Vliet, Malcolm Brogdon, Kyle Korver.
06:11And this is what time span?
06:14This is became an All-Star over the last 10 years.
06:1710 years.
06:17Played four full years of college.
06:20Six players.
06:20There are some guys who played three.
06:24Chris Middleton, Jalen Brunson.
06:28That's the list.
06:29And then there are guys who played one year but didn't become an All-Star until they were a veteran
06:36down the road.
06:37They needed the extra three years.
06:39Oh, yeah.
06:39They don't count.
06:40They don't count.
06:41No.
06:41So, four years.
06:43Dame, Butler, Draymond, Van Vliet, Brogdon, Korver.
06:48That's the last 10 years.
06:49Here's maybe something else to consider as well.
06:52That's eight players total, right?
06:54That you mentioned played at least three years in college before becoming an All-Star at the NBA level at
06:59some point in time, right?
07:01Eight players in the last six years.
07:03What was their competition?
07:06Like, how many players drafted during that span actually played basketball collegiately in America versus being, quote-unquote, professional overseas?
07:18They all played here.
07:20You know what I'm saying?
07:20Dame played at a—
07:21No, no, no.
07:22Not those guys.
07:23I'm saying relative to the cumulative number that you're comparing them to, all second-rounders drafted during that time span
07:31is kind of the point.
07:32Because there's only eight players that became All-Stars among how many other actual Americans?
07:40Well, it's those players who became All-Stars and played four years.
07:44A lot of times in the second round, teams take flyers on European players.
07:49Exactly.
07:49Who are more like draft and stash.
07:53So, a lot of times those second-round picks are almost throwaway picks.
08:01Yeah.
08:02They're kind of like selection in the MLB draft.
08:04You'll draft a guy that has a low probability of coming to the States so that, hey, if he does
08:11come here, well, we own his rights.
08:13But he's probably not going to come here, and we really don't have a roster space for him anyway.
08:18Yeah.
08:18So, let's take a draft and stash guy because we don't have a roster space for him.
08:22Mm-hmm.
08:22Mm-hmm.
08:23Yeah.
08:23You know, hey, best of luck to you, Mr. Thornton.
08:26We'll see you down the road.
08:27Chances are you do see Bruce Thornton more than you ever would have.
08:31Who was that fellow the Rockets drafted a couple of years ago?
08:33Was it Usman Garuba or something like that?
08:36That dude was a waste of time.
08:37Where'd that guy go?
08:38Where did he go?
08:39He went to hell.
08:41He was one of those, like, yeah, they drafted him, and then they stashed him and forgot what they did
08:46with him.
08:46Oh, no.
08:46They tried to bring him here.
08:48He was awful.
08:50What year was that?
08:51I don't remember.
08:52He got drafted 21.
08:5521.
08:55He was a 23rd overall pick.
08:58Oh, I understand.
08:59Corrected.
08:59And this dude, like, athletic guy, but this dude couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
09:07Yeah.
09:07I thought he was a second-round pick.
09:09Not bad.
09:09I didn't mean to, you know, shots fired, Mr. Garuba.
09:13Not bad.
09:14So, he had wrist surgery in January of 2022.
09:21He wasn't playing a whole lot.
09:23Then he got traded to the Hawks.
09:25In a five-team deal in 2023.
09:29Now I remember that.
09:30Yeah.
09:30I do remember that now.
09:32My bad.
09:32Did he go to the...
09:33Actually, he went to the Hawks.
09:35Was that a Clint Capella?
09:35Was that a Clint Capella deal?
09:37Or was that post Capella?
09:38And then four days later, he got traded to OKC with Junior and Rudy Gay for Patty Mills.
09:46And then he got waived by the Thunder.
09:51And I think he was on the G League team for the Warriors.
09:54And then he went back to Real Madrid.
09:56Yeah.
09:57Yeah.
09:57And last month, suffered a full left Achilles tear.
10:03Yeah.
10:03You know, injuries clearly seem to be a very large part of that dude's story.
10:08But not pertinent because I thought he was a second-round pick.
10:10My bad.
