Don’t crown his a$$ yet.

Even before Greg Oden’s microfracture, I wasn’t alone in prematurely handing Kevin Durant the ‘08 Rookie of the Year hardware. When it came to guys like Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Acie Law IV and the rest, I figured they could contribute to their squads, have a nice showing at the Rookie-Sophomore Game, maybe grab a spot on the All-Rookie Team, but ultimately stay fighting for second place in the R.O.Y. voting.

Now I have to make room for Al Thornton. When the Clippers nabbed the Florida State forward at the end of the Lottery, he was expected to be a solid contributor off the bench at best. But now that Elton Brand is likely out for the year with a ruptured Achilles, some meaningful PT has opened up for Thornton, and throughout the preseason he’s been showing that he’s got what it takes to outperform Durant this year.

Al averaged 17.6 points and 6.2 boards in the Vegas Summer League. This month, in his second preseason game, he dropped 18 points and 10 boards on the Blazers. Last week he gave the Warriors 24 points, put up 14 and 23 in back-to-back games against Phoenix, then last night stamped another 24 on the Lakers. Granted, with Tim Thomas and Corey Maggette having been limited in the preseason like most vets, Thornton has been playing more minutes now than he might play in the regular season. But it’s not like the rook is just jacking up shots in garbage time. He’s been efficient, shooting 51 percent in those aforementioned games, and the Clips have actually been winning. And if he keeps playing this way, he’ll force Mike Dunleavy to give him significant burn when the games start to count.

Thornton was probably the best pure athlete in the ‘07 Draft, and if you didn’t catch his act at FSU, he was a beast in the ACC. In my opinion, he was one of the most NBA-ready ballplayers in the rookie class along with Jeff Green, considering that Thornton was a 23-year-old who’d played four years in arguably the best conference in the nation. But the Draft being the Draft and GMs constantly out-thinking themselves, Al’s stock actually dipped a bit because of that: he wasn’t 19, he wasn’t still growing, and he wasn’t dripping with “upside.” But Thornton can produce now — he is producing now — and he’ll give the Clippers more bang for their buck in these first three years of his rookie contract than some of those other upside projects will give their teams. So for this year, right now at least, I’d hold off on carving Durant’s name on the Eddie Gottlieb trophy.