All of Marcus Thornton's per-game numbers crashed in 2012-13 because one particular per-game number — minutes per game — crashed. Thornton went from 35 minutes per game in 2011-12 (the first year of his 4-year, $31 million deal) to 24 in 2012-13. He moved to a bench role as Tyreke Evans slid to shooting guard, which is the position at which Thornton started every game he played in 2011-12. That bench role came with a whole lot of inconsistent minutes: Thornton had 20 games with fewer than 20 minutes. He had two such games in 2011-12.

But when you look at Thornton's numbers on a per-minute basis, he performed pretty much exactly how he did in 2011-12. I mean, it's almost uncanny how close the numbers are. Points per 36 minutes fell from 19.3 to 19.1. Rebounds per 36 stayed level at 3.8. Assists per 36 fell from 2.0 to … 1.9. Steals per 36 from 1.4 to … 1.3. His shooting actually improved: his effective field goal percentage (which adjusts for the added value of threes) rose to a strong .520, and his True Shooting percentage landed at a career best .552. Those improvements largely came from a higher three-point percentage (.372) and improved free throw shooting (career best .881). And all of these basically identical per-minute numbers came as we all saw Thornton more or less sulk through a season in which he never looked happy to be coming off of the bench.

Thornton made $7 million in 2011-12, and he earned it based on his play. He made $7.5 million in 2012-13, and he's due $8 million and $8.5 million in the next two seasons. If he didn't live up to his contract in 2012-13, it's only because his minutes shrunk. One can fairly assume that if his minutes went back up, he'd be earning out that contract in future years. But even for a sixth man scorer, $8 million isn't outrageous. It's not great, and someone like Nate Robinson (who, full disclosure, I've lobbied against in the past) is making $1 million doing the same or more than Marcus.

This will all surely factor in the decisions of the new front office (assuming there is a new front office) when it comes to re-signing Tyreke Evans, trading Jimmer Fredette and drafting a two-guard like Ben McLemore or Victor Oladipo. But as we debate all of those things, it's important to note that we do have a pretty solid offensive-minded two-guard locked up for two more years.