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Thaddeus Young 2007 Season Review

Stats: 21 MPG / 10.5 PPG / 53.9% FG / 31.6% 3PT / 73.8% FT / 4.2 RPG / 0.8 APG / 0.99 SPG / 0.11 BPG / 0.86 TOV

The Sixers’ diamond in the rough surprised everyone, not with his skills but with the impact he had in his rookie season. Most people knew he had a smooth lefty jumper and was super athletic, but expectations were focused on long-term development not immediate contributions, let alone being the starter at the end of the season. I was most impressed by his hustle. He got on the floor, he used his quickness and thin frame to steal rebounds and his athletic ability to come out of nowhere on the offensive boards. Last season he proved to me he has the intangibles you look for in a quality starter. When you combine that with his potential to be an inside/outside threat on offense Thaddeus Young could be on his way to all-star status.

Defensively Young started slow. He often found himself out of position and schooled by veteran players. As the season progressed and he gained more playing time, he became a much better perimeter defender. Very good at shooting passing lanes and handling switches in pick-and-roll situations where he was matched up with guards. His weakness was really just size and strength. He admittedly said he was overwhelmed by the size he was up against and was pushed around.

Offensively Thad showed signs of being the most well-rounded player we have on offensive. At times he was able to take bigger, slower defenders off the dribble, post up the smaller players and knocked down the open 17-foot jump shot. Best of all he was able to score without the ball by attacking the offensive boards and running the floor like a thoroughbred race horse.

Grade: A

What Thaddeus Young Should Improve

The 3 main areas Thad should focus on are (in order of importance):

1. Ball-handling. Young didn’t turn the ball over much this season, but of his sixty-four total turnovers 61% were ball-handling miscues. Besides improving his overall control of the rock Thaddeus Young needs to develop his handle into a scoring and facilitating weapon. This is especially important if he will be the 76ers’ long-term answer at small forward. Which he has said he wants to be.
2. Strength and ability to finish after contact. My biggest frustration with Young was he often avoided contact and didn’t complete shots in close after contact. 1.4 free throw attempts per game is indicative of Young avoiding contact and actually using his athleticism to his detriment. I’d like to see him go at people and get fouled. I am sure the weight room will be Young’s second home. If it is, it will help his rebounding, ability to finish around the rim, post game and post defense.
3. 3-point shot. This is an area I really think Thaddeus Young has tremendous potential to improve and help the 76ers’ lackluster long-range shooting. He shot almost 42% from three in college, and if he works on his strength I think that will help the range on his shot. I mean we are talking 3-4 inches depending on where you are shooting from. For a guy that already has a nice stroke this should be doable if the time is put in.

Should Young Be on the Roster Next Season?

Of course. I almost think he is the only untouchable player on the roster. At 19-years-old with his current skill, potential, work ethic and great personality, do we even need to consider him not being on the team in ‘08? The real question remains is he already penciled in as a starter and at what position?

Ideal Role for Thaddeus Young on the 2008 Team

This is a tough call because I think his role will depend on how the off-season moves shake out. If we re-sign Iguodala, keep Andre Miller, and bring in an impact player at either the PF or SG I think Thaddues Young might be relegated to a minimal role. That is, if he doesn’t make tremendous strides this summer improving his game to the point where it would be a mistake not to start and give him considerable minutes. I actually don’t think that possibility is that far of a reach either.

If the core team stays intact and the Sixers are unable to bring in a big-time player I would like to see Young be developed and utilized as the Sixers #2 option on offense. Meaning, he gets some damn plays run for him at various areas of the court. Defensively, he needs to be a better rebounder, and I think he has the potential to be as good as Tayshaun Prince is on defense. They have pretty much the same body, and I would contend Young is quicker and more athletic.

Regardless of what happens I expect to see Thaddeus Young take on a bigger role so long as he strengthens his body and continues to polish his offense game.

Next - Andre Iguodala

See all players reviewed in the Evaluating the ‘07-’08 76ers Series

According to the 76ers’ PR people the Sixers are the only NBA team that allows fans in their locker room. I don’t know if that is true or just PR propaganda to shed a positive and unique light on the team; either way it is pretty cool they let fans in there.

As you already know, Saturday I was at the San Antonio game. I went with my gf who got tickets through her college’s (Franklin & Marshall) Philadelphia alumni chapter. (The Sixers’ VP of Sales is an F&M alum.) They raffled off a chance to walk through the 76er locker room during the game. And with my luck, we won (16 in 120 chance). There was a downside though. The tour was during the entire 3rd quarter! Well, the die-hard fan that I am I decided I couldn’t miss an entire quarter so my gf went instead. Below are the great pictures she got during the tour. Enjoy.

NOTE: I had a picture of the 76ers’ whiteboard before the San Antonio Spurs victory on here when I first posted this article. After some thought and being contacted by the Sixers organization I decided to take it down. Why? As loyal fans of the Sixers we can’t have the team’s plays and strategies posted on the Internet for opponents to figure out how we are kicking their @$$es, now can we? Let’s go Sixers!

Above: Andre Miller’s two lockers. Count ‘em, he has 30 boxes of sneakers.

Above: Sixers’ workout room

At 19-years-old Thaddeus Young is proving to be a true diamond in the rough for the Sixers. Going into the season most people thought Thaddeus was two or three years away from really contributing. No one really anticipated he would make much of an impact right away for Coach Mo. Except Young of course.

As the 12^th pick in the 2007 NBA draft with tremendous upside, there were still a few questions marks about Young:

• Raw - Having played only one college season his game was undeveloped.
• Tweener - Is he a SF or PF?
• Strength - At 6′8, 215ish coming out of college he needed to get bigger and stronger to handle the tough play inside and become a better rebounder.
• Outside shooting - Considering how much he plays on the perimeter his shot needed to improve.

Those doubts just fueled Thaddeus Young’s desire to get better. Young has quietly crept up among the top rookies this season. This emergence was best noted by John Hollinger in his All-Sleeper Team: These guys deserve your attention article on ESPN insider:

Any time a teenager has a PER above the league average, we really ought to pay attention to it. Young has been way, way, WAY under the radar because he comes off the bench on a bad team, but the 19-year-old forward is having a noteworthy rookie season. The lefty can put the ball in the hoop (15.3 points per 40 minutes) and rebounds extremely well for a small forward [8.8 rebounds per 40 minutes] — so well, in fact, that he’s often used at the 4.

He still needs to figure out a lot of things, like how to draw fouls for instance — his rate of free throws is scandalously low for a player with his athleticism. Nonetheless, Young is one of the league’s most promising young players, [ranking first among rookies in PER], and he’s received virtually no attention so far.

It’s easy to overlook, but the Korver trade did more than just free up additional cap space this summer. More importantly, moving Kyle made way for Thaddeus Young to get more minutes. From Stefanski’s point of view this was probably to evaluate him in the context of the Sixers current and long-term personnel situation.

In 23 games since Korver’s been gone, Thaddeus Young has doubled nearly all of his numbers with the added playing time (while his TOs remain under 1/g):

When you combine Young’s rapid development, relentless hustle, smart play and athleticism, it’s clear the Sixers have an impact player in the making. Although he is currently starting at the power forward, I think he is the small forward of the future for this team. Here’s why…

• At 6′8, 220 lbs Young is the prototypical size for an NBA small forward. Add another 10-15 pounds of muscle to his athletic frame and guess what you have? A body type very similar to Lebron James. At that size he will be able to guard the 2 through 4 positions, become a much stronger rebounder and finisher after contact, as well as be more effective playing the PF on offense when the Sixers go small.
• What does that mean for Andre Iguodala? Options. First and foremost sit Willie Green down, if not get rid of him entirely. Move Iggy to the shooting guard spot and now you have a bigger guard to overcompensate for a smaller PG. This makes the Sixers much better defensively overall but especially on the perimeter. Better rebounding team as well. Worst case scenario you have an up-and-coming replacement if Stefanski decides not to overpay for Andre Iguodala (more on this in a future post).
• This would solidify the perimeter (as long as we “keep Andre Miller”) so Ed can work on what we really need which is a consistent scoring force inside. Can you say Elton Brand? Josh Smith? How bout Michael Beasley? Even if it isn’t one of those guys, it allows Stefanski to focus solely on that major hole at PF.

More love for Thaddeus Young

David Thorpe recently took note of Thaddeus Young’s improved play in his latest Rookie Watch:

No player has surprised me more thus far than Thaddeus Young. ACC coaches told me he was a long way from being a pro. But Young’s instincts to play inside and out are sound (and somewhat rare), and he shoots with a beautiful pace. Golfers talk about the swing speed of Ernie Els — smooth and easy — and that’s what I think of when I watch Young shoot his jump shots. Not rushed, not slow, just right. He’s not yet a good shooter, but he’s coming along. He’s now up to [first] in player efficiency rating among rookies.

It’s about time people are finally starting notice.

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I’ve been working diligently on my 7-part baseball preview, so I’ve been a little lazy of late in terms of posting. But unless I want Dannie to take over the blog entirely - I figured I’d spend my 25th birthday with some quick hits on what’s on my mind in the Philly and National sports scene.

1. The Big-5 is in trouble - Since the creation of the NCAA tournament, 1 team from the Big-5 + Drexel has made the tournament every single year. Right now, it looks like our best bet is St. Joes, and they have lost 2 straight. ‘Nova looked like they would make it, but their very young team has looked, well, very young (and phantom fouls to end the games against NC State AND Georgetown don’t help either). Usually in these types of years, we could rely on Penn to win the Ivy, but they are struggling at 2-2 in the conference and 7-14 overall. Hopefully St. Joes can finish up their A-10 schedule tough and keep the streak alive.

2. That’s all it costs for the best pitcher in baseball? The Johan Santana trade was an absolute punch in the gut for Phillies’ fans. Before that trade, the Phils had made some solid, albeit small, upgrades and the Mets and Braves had done very little. We were the solid favorites to win the division. But, not only did the Mets get the best pitcher in baseball, but they got him for LESS that the Mariners gave up for Eric Bedard and lost NO ONE who was going to be of impact to their team in 2008. The real victims here are the Twins fans (who also lost fan-favorite Torii Hunter), who just watched a once in a lifetime pitcher leave for no other reason than they don’t live in New York or Boston. Phillies fans will moan your ear off that we don’t spend enough, but I can’t imagine being as passionate about baseball as I am and live in Kansas City, Minnesota or Pittsburgh right now.

3. The Sixers are a half game out of the what?? The recent 4-game home winning streak has put the Sixers in a position that neither their pre-season expectations, nor their 22-30 record would seem to indicate: 1/2 game out of a playoff spot. Part of the recent surge has been the outstanding play of Andre Miller (NBA player of the week) and energy of the young guys. In particular, Thaddeus Young, 19, has shown he may be special player. He had a great feel for the game, is an elite athlete, and is already showing some big time moves. Also, if you watched the Dallas game tonight, he completely shut down Dirk Nowitzki. Dannie will write more about him soon, but I’m excited about him (Young, not Dannie).

4. Pitchers and Catchers on Wednesday - Please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt.

5. Chad Johnson is ticked off - TRADE FOR HIM! I very much enjoyed the recent espn.com headling “Johnson’s agent says he will not sit out ‘08″ for a couple reasons. First of all, I love the stories where they announce something isn’t going to happen that they never originally announced might happen. Something like “Bob Knight decides he will not go on a homicidal rampage” - wait, Bob Knight was going to go on a homicidal rampage? When did that happen? This is usually a big hint that ESPN is trying to make a non-story a story. The second reason I love this headline is because it means the rumors of Ocho-Cinco wanting out are true. With B-West getting McNabb’s back that we could use a big-time receiver, I still say you offer up an impressive package that the Bengals can’t resist.

While most of the city argues about the Eagles offseason moves or prepares for pitchers and catchers to report to Phillies spring training, the Sixers next big event seems to be the NBA Draft. Just don’t tell that to the players.

In the midst of a 7-game losing streak, down 16 in the 3rd quarter to the Houston Rockets and in the second of back-to-back road games, the Sixers had every reason to mail it in, get on the plane and get ready for Boston on Friday. Instead, led by their young players, a fiery Samuel Dalembert, and an injured Andre Miller, they came all the way back to defeat the Rockets 111-107.

What was impressive about this win? It’s impressive because Andre Miller played after nearly having his eye gouged out the night before in San Antonio. Because the cruch-time line-up consisted of Miller, Igoudala, Dalembert, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams, the latter 2 being young players whose development is a big part of the team’s future. Because Young played those crunch-time minutes with a giant bulge on his forehead after a meeting with Rafer Alston’s elbow. Beacuse Dalembert has been playing like a man possessed (15.2 ppg, 13.6 rpg in his last 5) and at 26, is showing a great deal of fire and emotion on the court for the first time in his career.

Why does it matter? Not because this win will propel the Sixers to make a run at the playoffs - it won’t. Rather, in a city that is starved for athletes who care as much as they do about their teams, the young players on the Sixers are showing that not only do they have the talent to win some games for this franchise, but if they don’t, it will never be from lack of effort. Watching Iggy and Sammy dance around yelling like they had just won a playoff game after their game-sealing alley-oop was a great moment. Too bad most people were watching T.O. crying on YouTube to see it.

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