Thad Young: Furture All-Star?

[jsams]

365 days ago Sixer fans were shocked to hear the name Thaddeus Young on draft night. I, like everyone else was ready for Al Thornton to join the Sixers. If it wasn't Al Thornton it had to be either Julian Wright, Spencer Hawes or possibly a trade to get Yi. Thad Young was a shocker, but in hindsight, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Unlike the polished Al Thornton, Thaddeus Young came into the league as the second youngest player behind Kevin Durant. He was drafted as a freshman out of Georgia Tech where he averaged less than spectacular statistics of 14 point and 5 rebounds. The raw-talented Young had a rough start to the 2007-2008. I expected to see him play a little more and Willie Green play a little less coming into the season, but that was not the case. Young averaged a minuscule 8 minutes a game in the month of November and looked completely out of place. I was starting to believe the great Billy King made yet another mistake.

However; as the season went on, things began to change. Thad was coming into ballgames and making plays. He not only got to the rim with ease, but he also used veteran-like post moves to get shots off over taller defenders. Along with his efficient production on the offensive end, Thad showed incredible poise on defense and often locked down his opponent for stretches in the game. Late in the season, during the Sixers playoff push, Thad began to start some games at power forward depending on the match ups. The decision to move Thaddeus into the starting lineup was a combination of newly appointed Ed Stefanksi calling for the young players to get more minutes and Thad just flat out earning the spot with his sparkling play. The Sixers were 13-9 in games where Young started and according to the Lenovo Stat (+/-) the best Sixer lineup for the year was Lou Williams, Rodney Carney, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith. Thad also had a (+/-) stat of 184, a whopping 136 better than the next best Sixer. No surprise there.

Mr. Young has a very bright future in this league. There were many times this season where I had to ask myself who would emerge as the go-to guy first, Andre Iguodala or Thaddeus Young? Thad reminds me of a mentally tough, consistent Lamar Odom. However; even that comparison is conservative. It really would not surprise me if Thaddeus developed into a perennial all-star, if not a superstar. Now that he has a full season under his belt, not to mention some post-season experience, I expect Thaddeus to have a monster year in 08-09. Keep in mind this guy probably had less than ten plays run for him all season. Time to unleash the beast.

What do you guys think?

[Hussien Fatal]

Yes i totally agree that he will be the face of the sixers in 2-3 years, in his prime years which is about 7 yto 8 years away i could see him putting up numbers like 23 8 3.5, hes got a great head on his shoulders and everytime he steps on the court he knows what hes doing, he quickly becoming one of my favorite sixers due to his humble attitude and his explosive spin move. And to me this was Billy King's best move by-far drafting Thaddeus Young at the 12 spot, now us sixers fans have something to look forward to in this decade.

[ITK9]

Who was shocked?We all wanted Thad Young if I remember corectly.

[jmon]

All you are doing is stating the obvious. Thad is the best talent on this team. How he slipped as far as he did is shocking to me IN HINDSIGHT.

Now, if you want to say something crazy, you need to say his name will be hanging in the rafters one day. That would be edgy.

[tk76]

The league is deepest at the SF position. Thad could, and hoepfully will end up being a great SF fro the Sixers- and only make a few All Star games. He will always behind Lebron, and will have to selected by the coaches.

Look at EC players who log sig minutes at SF:

Lebron
Peierce
Prince
Iguodala
Butler
RJ/VC
Gay
Dunleavy/Granger
Josh Smith/Childress

Those are all good to great NBA players who could average 20/4/4 or better in the right setting.

Young should be a good-great SF, but its hard to know how many All-star games he has ahead of him given he will likely always be behind Lebron in the fan voting.

My big hope is that Iguodala and Young grow to be a dominant SF/SG combo that wins the battle every night on both sides of the ball. Individualy neither may end up as superstars- but as a tandem they could end up as the best in the league some day.

[51X3RF4N]

Hmm...interesting topic here. Do I think he can be an All-Star? No.

Do I think he can be a piece to a championship puzzle? Yes.

Do I think he can be a major contributor to the above? No.

I honestly had the man-crush that everyone else had earlier on, but I have since calmed it down a bit and thought some more about it.

Yes, Thad will be good, and he might even be better than good, but I do not think he'll ever be great. He just seems to lack the personality. I hope he makes me eat my words next season.

He reminds me a lot of Iggy as a rook. Iggy put up impressive numbers, and played every game well. But he made mistakes as well. And he was very shy. But he made highlight plays.

Now he is considered at best a low 2nd/high 3rd option on a team.

Thad was shy on offense, only taking shots when he was wide open or had it close to the hole. And getting most points off offensive boards. He made some highlight plays, and played hard, but never showed the drive that some guys have.

When I think of go-to guys, I think of the T-Mac's, and Kobe's, and Garnett's, and Pierce's of the NBA. There are others of course, but those are my first thoughts, especially lately of course.

I just don't see it in Thad. Again, maybe I'm wrong and I hope I am, but I don't see him sticking out. I see him very comparatively to Prince or Marion.

They are both good, and they make big plays. But, Prince would not win championships without those other 3 guys around him. They gelled together very well and complimented each other. Prince to me is not a go-to guy on most teams, and is successful because of his teammates.

Marion is the opposite. He is a highlight reel waiting to happen, and he puts up all the numbers and shines and plays well with anyone; however, he can't win the big one because of this sometimes. He has never had the defense around him or the system in place to win. And if he did, he wouldn't be as much of a star. He'd simply be a piece of the puzzle. If you switch out Marion and Prince, I think you'd have the same results. Marion and the Pistons would win because of the system and team, etc. Prince and the Suns/Heat would lose.

That is kind of where I see Thad. If he wins, he won't be a "star". If he's a "star", it'll be cuz his team isn't winning the big ones and he's the best player on the team.



Just my take.

[SendEm]

Yes I believe that he can be an ALL STAR because if he keeps developing the way that he has displayed then the coaches will vote him in every year. He actually has post moves, hook shots, in addition to playing defense. He actually made a turnaround hook shot off of the backboard from the free throw line IN THE PLAYOFFS. Who in the NBA can do that move besides Thad? People have grown accustomed to the Scottie Pippen type SF but Thad can get just as much done with his back towards the basket instead of his face. The way he undressed Melo for that 3 point shot earlier in the season was impressive as well. He can create offense for himself without use of a break down dribble which is coveted because this results in efficient low turnover basketball which lead to wins.

[Stanford]

365 days ago Sixer fans were shocked to hear the name Thaddeus Young on draft night. I, like everyone else was ready for Al Thornton to join the Sixers. If it wasn't Al Thornton it had to be either Julian Wright, Spencer Hawes or possibly a trade to get Yi. Thad Young was a shocker, but in hindsight, I wouldn't want it any other way.

For the record, we did a pick by pick poll on this board (Like we're doing this year) and Thad was selected as our pick. Also, in the Realgm wide, team by team poll, we also selected Thad. There were like 5 people wearing Thad sigs before we even drafted him. It's safe to say that you were the only sixer fan suprised by the pick.

[Sandalf42]

To be perfectly honest, I didn't think he'd even begin to make anything resembling an impact until 2009, 2010. I was under the impression he was a big time project. I will, gladly, admit that I was wrong.

When people compare him to Igoudola in his rookie year, that's not a fair comparison. When Iggy scored in his rookie year, he had Iverson on his team, and I'm not sure but he might have had Chris Webber too. He was an after thought to say the least on offense. But on the Sixers team today, we don't have those offensive players. We take offense wherever we can get it. And this guy was scoring. He was legitimately taking his man, one-on-one, and being effective. Granted he didn't do it often, but when he did. And he's 19.

This kid's something special.

[dbodner]

365 days ago Sixer fans were shocked to hear the name Thaddeus Young on draft night. I, like everyone else was ready for Al Thornton to join the Sixers

Not on this board. Thad wasn't unanimous, but he was the leader of the pack in who we wanted.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

I don't think it's fair to compare Iguodala's rookie season to Thad Youngs.

Young just never got touches. Because Mo was afraid of throwing him into the wolves. Which is a stupid philosophy. "Oh, if only I kept him on the bench more". You gotta be kidding me. But when Thaddeus Young did get touches, he often did it around the rim, producing a positive impact. He has a vast vary of post moves and will likely develop them in time.

Thad Young also has the ability to take his man off the dribble(which will also develop in time). Thaddeus Young's best case scenario is Paul Pierce in my mind. Worst case will be Jamison/Marion. And that's still talking AS caliber .

[tk76]

He'll likely end up as a hybrid cross of Kobe and Wilt...

[Sixersftw]

so your calling him a Willie Green clone?

everyone knows in 15 years the NBA logo is going to be changed to an awkward left leaning jumper

[tk76]

so your calling him a Willie Green clone?

everyone knows in 15 years the NBA logo is going to be changed to an awkward left leaning jumper

So WG is a cross between Jerry West and...?

Jerry Springer or
Note that Jerry is also an "awkward left leaning jumper"