Pros of Thaddeus Young
This team could use another guy who can bring some leadership, imo. A guy who has been there, done that, can bring an outside perspective from battling against this Celtics team for awhile and then becoming part of it now.
And someone who is also hungry to finally win a championship after all these years so he is motivated to contribute (both on the floor and off it).
https://www.complex.com/sports/a/oren-weisfeld/thad-young-featureThe 33-year-old veteran with 14 years of NBA experience across seven teams doesn’t worry about individual accolades. Instead, “the biggest thing I pay attention to is wins and losses,” Young says. “At the end of the day, are we winning basketball games? Are we losing basketball games? And if we are losing, how can we win basketball games?”
“That’s what I’ve always tried to do: try to put my imprint on the game and do all the small things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
“Bringing in a player like Thaddeus Young, we wanted a veteran-type player, bird rights-type player that can come and help our young guys both in the locker room and on the court,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said after the trade. “The leadership off the court is significant: Thaddeus brings so much energy, good spirit.
“Thaddeus is a known commodity around the NBA. For us, we’ve followed him for a while. We’ve made a few attempts to get him via trade in prior years. We felt like this was a good situation where we’re bringing him into Toronto,” Webster said. “I think he’s a high-level professional, obviously, just being in this league for this long. He’s developed into a leader.”
Young has two sons: 8-year-old Taylor and 11-year-old T.J., who both play basketball themselves. He owns a trucking company and is very passionate about financial education, starting his own venture capital firm, Reform Ventures, in 2017, where he invests primarily in technology companies.
“[Thad] was a wonderful, wonderful teammate. Everybody enjoyed him,” San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said after the trade. “He’s one of those vets that is a pro, knows what it’s all about. Is willing to help others, teach them. Good guy.”
“He’s got a good name. Good clean vet. Professional,” Raptors’ point guard Fred VanVleet said about Young. “Just a good guy to have around, regardless of what the on-court play will look like. He’s a stamped guy in terms of what he brings to the table in this league. He’s been doing it for a long time.”
As VanVleet says, “I think he can be a great voice for us. He can share some insight, share some different things that he’s seen. He’s definitely seen a lot and been on some good teams.
https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/news/thaddeus-young-bringing-veteran-leadership-to-bulls/363431/This Celtics team only has 2 guys who have turned 30 (Al, Jrue). Championship winning teams typically have more than that. Championship winning teams typically have more vets..and less guys who are only like 25, 26 or younger. Younger teams with less experienced players are teams which typically play with less consistency, are more likely to play down to their opponent's level, more likely to have mental lapses during games, more likely to come out in the 1st half looking unprepared for the game, more likely to come out flat in the 3rd quarter, more likely to choke in crunch time, etc.
Cons of Thaddeus Young:
-A little bit of overlap with Tillman. Both high IQ players who don't need the ball in their hands on offense. They just play smart, fundamental basketball, team basketball. Don't provide much in terms of shooting to scoring off the dribble. Defensively can defend bigs as well as wings. Versatile defender, smart defender, doesn't commit dumb fouls or overhelp but not much of a rim protector.
Bottom line, there some overlap there..especially being undersized bigs who don't shoot or create their own shot. But still, Young is a vet who you count count on, won't mess anything up in a playoff game if he's in there for a few mins. And someone else who brings similar things to Tillman might not be a bad idea, in case Tillman's knee injury lingers.
