What to do with Thaddeus Young: A Ballad

Right now, he’s the backup 4, and will likely play some at the 3. Everyone (meaning Collins, I guess) seems to want to make him into Rashard Lewis.

I don’t see him that way. If nothing else, he would have to really step up his shooting. I see him more as either:

1) A potentially valuable backup player, sort of a more athletic and less skilled version of Shane Battier, especially if he has been working on his strength, rebounding, and defense this offseason, as has been rumored. He could make a terrific 6th man/glue guy kind of player, and those players do have real value (especially in Philly…blue collar, blue collar!). He seems like a really nice kid who wants to do well, has a good attitude, and some real athletic ability. This could happen.

Or…

2) He could be a clueless bust who doesn’t play defense or rebound, can’t figure out the plays, can’t hit a jumpshot, and really shouldn’t get paid any real amount of money at all to sit at the end of someone’s bench. This could also happen.

I’m not sure which one he is, to be honest. He has shown flashes of both. But I find myself rooting for him. There’s not really a rational reason for it. It’s sort of the same reason I really detest Lou Williams (as a player. I’ve never met him as a human being, and am not qualified to comment on him as such). And the funny thing is, they have very similar flaws (except that Thad is not an offensive black hole who bangs the ball on the floor until the shot clock winds down and then does something stupid with it instead of giving it to Iguodala, who might be able to do something useful)…lack of D, poor court vision and limited passing skills, inconsistent outside shot, frequent mental breakdowns. So I’m not sure why I like Thad and dislike Lou. But I am not paid for consistency. Unless Michael and Jordan and co. want to give me a raise…double my salary, dammit! :D

This is a big year for him, obviously. Rumor, though of course unreliable, has him working hard on the things he needs to be working on. As much as it’s an excuse, you can’t completely discount the Eddie Jordan factor, or the related Three Coaches in Three Years factor. We’ll see what the results are. For whatever reason, logical or not, I hope he shows us all something and becomes a valuable player for the Sixers.

And I hope they trade Lou Williams for draft picks and some cap relief :)

I am blinded with white hot murderous passion when I hear people say Thaddeus Young is a power forward. He has no power forward like qualities. He has no knockdown 3 to make him a perimeter 4 like Rashard, who isnt a 4 at all. I could go on forever, baby. Lets stop the charade, the facade, the absurdity of this notion.

He is a 6’8" athletic small forward that has small forward qualities. The man is confused by the coaching carousel and frequent change in styles of play, leaving him with an undefined role in ALL 3 years he has been with us. He has been the most underutilized and misused player ive ever seen. lets also add the possibility that he simply may not be that good.

Regardless of whether he is good or not, his quality will never be maximized as a 4. Him playing the 4 means we as a sixer team are playing a gimmick offense, an offense that does not have enough quality players to make anyone fall for such a gimmick. Im upset that Collins thinks hes a 4. I will be upset if he is resigned as a gimmick 4. Im just generally upset and bein a little b****. Either trade Iguodala and see what Thad can do or have no future with the team like Michael mentioned above.

We need to either move on or go all in. And frankly, regardless of my and others fondness of him, he simply hasnt shown anything consistent enough to warrant anything more than 3-4.5 million dollars a year. No more overpaid bench players.

Thad Young fits the role of a small forward like Tayshaun Prince. He is not a 4, he’s too skinny to hold position inside, and I don’t want him to lose his speed. He is best suited running out on the fast break and finishing. With a better outside shot, and a structured offense so that he knows his role, he’ll do fine.

I don’t think I can say enough about how the Sixers have squandered the development of their talent with inferior coaching. Frankly Eddie Jordan, was an idiot, so it’s no wonder Thad was confused! I had hopes for Collins, but calling him a 4 when he’s clearly a 3 is disturbing.

Unless you’re a point guard, you need to have plays run for you! No one can score without the ball, and there are no easy baskets when the team isn’t forcing turnovers. Thad isn’t a garbage player who will make his living picking up missed shots.

Thad should be an excellent three, since he is long and tall for that spot. He should be able to smother smaller players on defense. On offense his quickness gives him an edge and as he develops and refines his post moves he should be able to hold his own on the offensive end as well.

All this is this way because they all think Andre is a 3. He can play the position, but he is better as a 2 guard like Kobe. Everyone needs to get a clue on this: the better teams in the NBA are tall, Lamar Odom and Paul Pierce are the small forwards for the two NBA finalists. If you want to compete with them, you need to match their size.

Andre is a better athlete than most NBA 2’s, but he’s too small to defend players like Pierce or Odom. Thad, however, is not!

To be a 4 you need to be able to bang inside. Thad doesn’t look like a banger to me. Elton Brand looks like a banger. Someone who can make space inside for himself. Someone who’s a little intimidating driving the lane.

I also agree that I see Thad as more of a athletic SF, than a PF. He doesn’t rebound the ball too well and isn’t strong enough to handle the low blocks, against bigger players. Thad is a athletic wing who can defend, run the floor and has a improving face up shot. His ball handle still needs some improvement, but he can get to the basket rather easily. I would perfer to keep Thad Young long-term over Andre at the SF spot. First, just look at what Andre’s Salary looks like, the fact he isn’t an elite player and doesn’t have a true position on the floor. Young is younger, less expensive and has more upside over Andre at this point in time.

Let’s start by getting this out of the way: Basketball and Baseball are two different sports, whereas Baseball, you rely on the statistics and the size and the measurements, basketball devalues that, and focuses much more on talent instead.

Ricky Davis and Stephon Marbury come to mind as players who put up stats, surely they’re great players! Great unto themselves, and not the team game, which actually wins.

I argue very significantly with this piece when it says Thad isn’t a good isolation scorer…WHAT? How does he get those points then, magic? On the contrary, Thad’s a great isolation scorer. How many times have we seen Thad in the post? The mid-range jumper? the deadly first step. In addition, with Thad’s wing span and foot speed, we’ve seen Thad as one of the best finishers on the break. Something this piece also criticizes as a bad thing.

Simply put, Thad is a two-way dimensional offensive threat. And other then hopefully Evan Turner and maybe Lou Williams, there’s no one else on this roster that can do it. NONE. That’s why we suck on offense. Heck, I don’t even think we have one-way dimensional threats. Oh, there’s Meeks before I forget. But he’s a rotation guard.

http://www.nba.com/hotspots/ Now I took a look at the shots Thad took from within 10 feet. EXCLUDING the painted area. If my calculations serve correctly, he shot 34.8% from 10-feet out. We might as well round up and say 35%.

Your claim only holds true in the 15-18 feet area, where he shot 28.5 percent.

ESPN’s information conflicts with my own. ESPN states Thad shot 34.8% from 3. I have him at 32.5%.

We can roughly conclude from the data, Thaddeus Young’s struggles are in the long mid-range area. But from the post, to the short jumper, Thad is solid. And his improving perimeter game adds to that.

Overall? Thad shot 49% and 47% from the field last year. I think I’ll take that thank you :).

If so, it begs the question: Why is he better from 3 then from mid-range?

And his mid-rangers aren’t? If one argues we over-rated Thaddeus Young, I feel like now we’re under-rating him. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I don’t think Thad has hit his ceiling yet, he’s only 22, but like all of 6ernation I don’t know what that cieling is. Stiffanski is probably the most screwed GM in all of the NBA b/c there’s only mediocre talent…and Brand’s contract is heavy to unload so they can’t re-build…Iggy is movable but w/o the ability to move Brand they can’t truly rebuild in order to see what a Thadeus Young can do.