South Carolina Basketball: Sindarius Thornwell is everything the LA Clippers need

Heading into the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers, former South Carolina Gamecocks’ guard Sindarius Thornwell is ready for the big stage.

Sindarius Thornwell has been a, well, thorn in the side of SEC teams over the last several seasons, and I’m not just saying that for the sake of the pun.

Perennial SEC juggernauts the Kentucky Wildcats have only lost once to the Gamecocks since February 2010, and, guess who, Thornwell was a freshman playing 36 minutes and scoring 14 points against a line-up that featured Julius Randle, James Young, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, and Willie Cauley-Stein in 2014.

Sure, most of the country learned about him as the South Carolina Gamecocks ripped through the 2017 NCAA Tournament and earned a spot in the Final Four, but Thornwell has been one of the best players in the SEC for years.

That being said, Thornwell’s time with South Carolina is over, and he is headed to the NBA, where he will play for the Los Angeles Clippers after being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 48 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Clippers fans should be excited about what is arguably the biggest steal of the draft.

Thornwell is a two-way player who has skills that should immediately translate at the next level. He averaged 21.4 points per game along with 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists over 34.3 minutes per game last season while playing a signature role for a Final Four team.

While many fans will salivate at the idea of a 21.4 point per game go-to guy coming to their team, defensively Thornwell is on another level

Last season alone, he averaged 2.1 steals and a block per game in addition to his offensive output. Thornwell is a monster on both sides of the ball – something that the Clippers desperately needed last season.

I honestly can’t think of an NBA comparison for him other than a tall Avery Bradley or less angry, better-scoring Tony Allen. Thornwell has always been a bit of an enigma even in college, as he was always the “double him and leave everybody else open” player ever since he arrived at USC.

Next: P.J. Dozier primed for success with the Lakers

But he’s consistent, he’s talented, and, now, he’s a Clipper. Get ready, Los Angeles, because you might have just found a diamond in the rough.