ASSOCIATED PRESS Marcus Thornton (10) has been one of the few bright spots for the Rockets during the early part of the season.

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By Mark Travis

A diminutive guard whom the Houston Rockets found on the scrap heap this summer is having a substantial impact this season.

No, not Ty Lawson, but Marcus Thornton, a seventh-year, undersized shooting guard playing for his sixth team in as many years.

In a quarter season full of injuries, ineffectiveness and inconsistency for the Rockets, Thornton has been one of the few bright spots. He's scoring 11.5 points per game and shooting 44 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range. He's the Rockets' third highest scorer and their 14th highest earner.

Thornton was NBA flotsam bouncing from team to team before the Rockets signed him to a one-year, league-minimum deal this summer.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Thornton seemingly had his career lined up to be a hometown hero throughout. After two years at Kilgore College, Thornton transferred to LSU, where he finished out his college career in his hometown and was named the SEC Player of the Year as a senior. Thornton would not have to go far to further his basketball career as the then New Orleans Hornets traded for his rights on draft night in 2009.

Thornton had a solid rookie season for the Hornets, playing well enough to make the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, no small feat for the 43rd overall pick. But he was traded to the Kings, a franchise mired in turmoil and turnover, midway through his sophomore campaign, taking him far away from homey Louisiana.

He spent a few seasons in Sacramento before renting became a more economical option than buying in 2014. Thornton was traded three times in a calendar year, starting on Feb. 19, 2014. First he was dealt from the Kings to the Nets, then flipped to the Celtics, and finally shipped to the Suns exactly one year after he made his way to Brooklyn.

None of those teams saw fit to extend Thornton's contract during his brief stays, opening the door for the Rockets to pick up a prospective, if well-traveled, asset on a flyer this summer.

Thornton's contributions have been pronounced for a player who did not register as an impact addition coming into the season.

His 32-point performance against Brooklyn on Dec. 8 represented the first time a Rocket other than James Harden or Dwight Howard scored 30 points since March 2014, and he became the second Rocket to score 30 off the bench in the Harden/Howard era.

Although Thornton has given the Rockets some punch off the bench, there is a chance he is being underutilized as a reserve.

Early in the season, injuries to Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas forced Kevin McHale to field a small-ball starting lineup, slotting Thornton in as the starting shooting guard and sliding Harden and Trevor Ariza down to the forward spots.

Thornton averaged 17 points and shot 48 percent from the field in six starts during that span. Perhaps more importantly, the Rockets were 4-2 in that stretch with wins against the Thunder, Magic, Kings and Clippers, making for their longest winning streak of the season.

Going small on a permanent basis may be the elixir that saves Houston's season.

Statistically speaking, Houston's best lineup this season has involved Thornton and Clint Capela and three starters (Lawson, Harden, Ariza). For a team whose offensive system is so reliant on 3-point shots, ditching Terrence Jones as a starter and replacing him with Thornton, the team's best 3-point shooter when cross-referencing volume and accuracy, seems like a logical step.

Houston might even try running lineups without a traditional point guard, as Thornton represents a better complement for Harden than Lawson.

While Lawson has struggled to fit in, failing to adapt to a lesser role next to Harden, Thornton has shined alongside Houston's creative force. Thornton is shooting 42 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, according to NBA.com, and he shoots seven percent better when Harden is on the floor with him (47 percent) than when Harden is on the bench (40 percent).

With a quarter of the season gone, the Rockets are barely treading water in a crowded and competitive Western Conference.

Thornton, though, has enough experience getting used to new surroundings on the fly, and he's producing as if he has been wearing Rocket red his entire career.

That is not a bad return on a bargain bin buy.

Mark Travis is a Sports Media major at Oklahoma State University and a graduate of Flour Bluff High School. He covers the NBA for Caller.com. You can reach him on Twitter @Mark_Travis and check out his other NBA musings at butthegameison.com.