Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived forward Al Thornton after coming to an agreement on a contract buyout.

“The additions of Rashard Lewis and Mo Evans combined with Josh Howard’s return from injury gave us a logjam at the small forward spot,” said Grunfeld. “Coming to terms on a contract buyout with Al was mutually beneficial, as it allows us to clear space in the rotation and allows him the chance to pursue an opportunity with another team.”

Bill Duffy, Thornton's agent, tells Yahoo! that his client has a 'desirable destination'. The Washington Post reports that Thornton will sign with the Warriors if he clears waivers.

So I guess all it took was for the Warriors to wait until the dust settled to find a bench/role player. The 27 year old, former 14th overall pick from Florida State was bought out today by the Washington Wizards and signed with the Warriors moments later.

Thornton played most of his career with the Clippers before being part of a 3-team trade that brought Antawn Jamison from Washington to Clevaland. He has a career scoring average of over 13 points with 4.5 rebounds. He is also a career 30% three-point shooter so hopefully he plays more inside than outside. But, he gives the Warriors a bench player not named Vladimir Radmonovic who is a very good athlete who can score.

The W's essentially only 'rent' Thornton until the end of the year but I like Thornton and think he can help the team. I really wanted the Warriors to sign Mike Bibby (go 'Cats) but Bibby left $6.2M on the table to play for Miami so going to the Warriors wasn't particularly realistic.

But in the end, the Warriors actually get a rotation player in addition to the 2nd round draft pick they got in exchange for Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric. Good for them!

Mr. Crackerz wrote:Agreed Migya, he isn't a natural rebounder, can't pass well, few three's, and hasn't shown he can steal or block in the last couple of years. The only thing promising is that he had a season with the clippers where he averaged 17 points, 5 boards, a block, a steal. His ceiling isn't great, but who knows.

The Coooach wrote:

Mr. Crackerz wrote:Agreed Migya, he isn't a natural rebounder, can't pass well, few three's, and hasn't shown he can steal or block in the last couple of years. The only thing promising is that he had a season with the clippers where he averaged 17 points, 5 boards, a block, a steal. His ceiling isn't great, but who knows.

The guy was cut from a bad team. How good can he be? Isn't that enough proof for you?

Guybrush wrote:

The Coooach wrote:

Mr. Crackerz wrote:Agreed Migya, he isn't a natural rebounder, can't pass well, few three's, and hasn't shown he can steal or block in the last couple of years. The only thing promising is that he had a season with the clippers where he averaged 17 points, 5 boards, a block, a steal. His ceiling isn't great, but who knows.

The guy was cut from a bad team. How good can he be? Isn't that enough proof for you?

That doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Imagine Warriors had one more solid guard (along Monta and Steph) who is getting I don't know how much money. And we are in a need of a bigger guys. Wouldn't you cut him to make a room for another position?

Of course, trade values are minimal with these guys.

Guybrush wrote:I know that CBA is full of guys like him. That's why I said it's not by default that he is the worst, because that's how it sounded when you said that he's been cut by the Wizards.

And bigger guys that I said, I meant useful big guys...of course there's no bigs that are useful and available.

The Coooach wrote:

Mr. Crackerz wrote:Agreed Migya, he isn't a natural rebounder, can't pass well, few three's, and hasn't shown he can steal or block in the last couple of years. The only thing promising is that he had a season with the clippers where he averaged 17 points, 5 boards, a block, a steal. His ceiling isn't great, but who knows.

The guy was cut from a bad team. How good can he be? Isn't that enough proof for you?