BATON ROUGE – Former LSU star and SEC Player of the Year Marcus Thornton was an award-winner in his first year in the National Basketball Association as he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
Thornton just missed the first team by 10 points, garnering six first-team votes and 19 second team votes of the 30 NBA head coaches, who were asked to select five players for the first team and five players for the second team, regardless of position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for the players on their own team.
The Baton Rouge product played in 73 games, starting 17, averaging 25.6 minutes per game. He made 45 percent for his field goal attempts, 117 three pointers at a 37.4 percent clip and was 144-of-177 at the free throw line (81%). He averaged 2.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and scored 1,057 points or a 14.5 points per game average.
His New Orleans teammate Darren Collison earned first-team rookie honors.
Also, LSU players continue to be a part of the NBA playoffs as they advance through the second round with two of them, Shaquille O’Neal of Cleveland and Glen Davis of Boston meeting in a series that continues Monday night. Another NBA rookie, Garrett Temple, and the San Antonio Spurs are still alive and meeting Phoenix in a game also scheduled for Monday night.
Orlando and Brandon Bass remain alive and begin their second round series on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks.