Thaddeus had the most disappointing season of any Sixer, by a mile. During his dominant stretch last March -- before he hurt his ankle -- I was positive he was going to be a star. A year later, I'm not even sure if he's an average player. He can't shoot, defend, or rebound. That's a problem. He also doesn't have a true position. If he's going to amount to anything in this league, he's going to have to find his niche. Is he an energy guy off the bench? Is he a scorer off the bench? Can he become "The Stretcher"? Can he get back to his rebounding and defending ways from his rookie season?
During his rookie year I compared him to Lamar Odom -- a long lefty, who can do a little bit of everything, and play either the three or four -- and if you look at this player comparison, the similarities were there. The first difference between Lamar and Thaddeus was their rebounding. LO was a slightly better rebounder (18.2 DRB%, 12 TRB%) than Thad (14.8 DRB%, 11.9 TRB%), but noting earth-shattering. The second difference was their efficiency. Thad shot higher percentages and turned the ball over much less. And the most glaring difference was their assist rate. LO racked up a 20.2 assist percentage, while Thad had a measly 6.2. Both players were young (19 and 20) and appeared to have bright future ahead, but had completely fallen off by their third years.
Since his awful third season (worst of his career) Lamar has steadily matured into the ultimate X-factor on a championship team. That's my hope for Thaddeus. Best case scenario, he is for the Sixers what Lamar Odom is for the Lakers. And as witnessed by Lamar's terrible third season, there's nowhere to go but up.
3 improvements
- ORB% (+0.6), DRB% (+1.1), and TRB% (+0.8)
- AST% (+1.7)
- Three-point percentage (+0.6)