Bob Thornton joins the Bulldog staff for 2022-23 as the NBA Liaison and Director of Advance Scouting and Strategies after spending last season as Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at Mississippi State.
Thornton comes to Samford with 39Â years of coaching experience at both the professional and collegiate levels. He has spent 13 years as an NBA assistant coach and an additional 21 years in various professional roles and leagues worldwide. He got his start in coaching at Chapman University and Cal State Fullerton.
He is known around basketball circles as an excellent player development coach with expertise in developing forwards and centers. Thornton excels at designing, and teaching, both offensive and defensive concepts while putting together advanced scouting reports.
Thornton spent nearly two decades in the NBA, where he served as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls. He has spent time as an advanced scout for the Seattle SuperSonics and Oklahoma City Thunder. As an advanced scout, he assisted the franchise in scouting and eventually drafting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Thornton has spent time as a head coach with the NBA D-League's, now the G-League, Huntsville Flights, and the Continental Basketball Association's, Quad City Thunder.
Thornton, a graduate of UC Irvine, spent over a decade playing professional basketball. After getting his start in Spain, he spent time with the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz and the Washington Wizards. He was coached by Jerry Sloan, Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino and others while playing in the NBA.
