The Sacramento Kings don't have much to cheer about right now. In the midst of a 4-9 season that's already seen the benching of DeMarcus Cousins and a coaching change from Paul Westphal to Keith Smart, a lot is going on in Sac Town.
But one of the positives has been the continued improvement of young guard Marcus Thornton. With NBA.com's recent GM Survey coming out, it seems as if Thornton's improvements were among the things to look for heading into the season as Thornton made the top five among those ‘most likely to have a breakout season' with 7.1% of the vote. James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder was no. 1 with 21.4% of the vote.
Thornton's points per game average ballooned from 7.8 points in 46 games with the New Orleans Hornets to 21.3 in 27 games with the Kings last season. Thornton is currently averaging 17.6 points per game this season to show that his scoring outbursts once joining the Kings were not a fluke.
Apparently, the rest of the league took notice.