People have often forgotten about the #1 player Morey should go for. Thaddeus Young. He is such a perfect fit for this team that I sometimes wonder why his name just doesn't get mentioned as much as Anderson or Millsap. Thad Young is 25 years old; 6'8, 230lbs, 6'11.5 wingspan, 3/4 court sprint of 3.19, and max vert of 37 (no step 34.5). You can see he is the prototypical hybrid 3/4. He can guard 1-4 and plays very good defense. This year he's averaging 15.9 points, 6.8 rebs, 1.4 stls, while having a FG of 47% and 3PT FG of 39%. What's even more impressive is that his win shares have increased almost every year (except 3rd) and was at 7.4 last year. For comparison, Chandler Parsons was at 7.0 and Josh Smith was at 4.2. Both ORtg and DRtg checks out as well. This means that we are adding a good PF, along with someone that can defend 1-4s on the perimeter, which eliminates 2 problems. When we go small, we can slide Jones to the 5 and let Young play the 4. This is an absolute upgrade in multiple ways. He's probably available as well. His salary is 8.6 mil this year, 9.2 mil in 2014-15, with a player option for 15-16 that he'll most likely decline. This means that the 76ers MUST get something for him since they won't be that good in 2 years and Hinkie is not in a position to pay for a complimentary player without a superstar. In my opinion, he can be had for a lottery pick. Sam Hinkie has been restocking. He already has 2 lottery picks (if NO falls out) in this very deep draft and will be looking to add more picks. He basically just want to suck for a few years and add talent through the draft. Is this why Morey keeps trying to get that lottery pick? I honestly don't think he'll be adding Anderson or Millsap. Jones is having a major year and I feel that Thaddeus Young is the only person that not only upgrades the 4, but provides that added flexibility and defense on the perimeter that's so lacking. EDIT - Thaddeus Young's Measurements vs. Kawhi Leonard - Why Young can guard wings as well. Young No step vert: 34.5 Max vert: 37 Lane agility: 11.06 3/4 court sprint: 3.19 Leonard No step vert: 25.5 Max vert: 32 Lane agility: 11.45 3/4 court sprint: 3.15 EDIT - Responses to very valid questions. 1) Why does Thaddeus Young have a reputation for being a good defender? Is he even a good defender? Thad Young has had a DRtg (the lower the better) of 100 and 103 the past 2 years. Josh Smith has a career average of 103, Shane Battier has an avg of 105, and Bruce Bowen's average is 102. As you can see, 101.5 average in the past 2 years is ELITE level defense. 2) Why add Young if you already T. Jones who is much cheaper? Why are you replacing our potential all-star PF?!? The difference between Young and Jones is that Young is an excellent PERIMETER DEFENDER. He can guard SGs and SFs, while Jones is better used against bigger PFs. You can play Young as a SF with Jones while Harden/Parsons is on the bench, or play Young with Harden/Parsons as a PF. Thad Young provides flexibility as a SF/PF. He can guard many positions and is not merely JUST a PF like Anderson/Millsap/Jones. They really don't have anyone that has the skillset of Young. I have never stated that we should replace Terrance Jones. We are adding him IN ADDITION to Jones. He will take back-up minutes for Parsons/Harden, alone with some PF minutes. 3) What's the difference between Young and Marcus Morris? The difference between Young and Morris is that Morris is too slow to guard SFs and SGs, and not fast/athletic enough to create such a mismatch against PFs. Young is better at offense (debatable) and defense as compared to Morris. Fans may describe Young as a PF only, due to his inability to hit the 3 in prior seasons. This year however, he's hitting at a 39% clip. You can play Young at multiple positions and not have a defensive liability on the other end. The most important thing about Young is that he does not need the ball to be effective. If we already have Harden, Howard, and Parsons demanding the ball, you need someone that shuts down the opposing player, while not create ball-stopping on offense. Morris is mainly an offensive player that needs the ball, and can't defend either SFs or PFs; a tweener. Young can defend all SFs, most PFs, and is a plus on both offense and defense. 4) How are we going to get a lottery pick? What happens if Love becomes available? Does he fit with the Timberwolves and does he have good value around the league? This is what Morey is trying to get for Asik. We have so many assets that I'm willing to give the equivalent of Asik + 1st rounder for him. The first rounder can also be one of our Euro stashes. Even with this, we still have many assets at our disposal. He would actually fit very well with the Timberwolves. They have Pekovic, Martin, and Rubio. If they were to ever trade Love, they would be looking at either a quicker PF or a SF. Thad Young fits that bill. Young is 25 years old, sports good percentages across the board, great defender, have a good contract, and still hasn't hit his prime yet. Of course we would need to add multiple pieces, but he is a good primary target and should have great value in the market. 5) We will be very weak at the back up center position! We have 2 major weaknesses after trading Asik. Back up center and perimeter defense. It's almost impossible to get rid of these 2 with one trade. Young gives you a perimeter defender that's also offensively gifted. These types are very rare. He'll not only improve our perimeter defense, but would also allow Parsons and Harden to play less minutes, which can be very beneficial for our playoff run. Almost all teams in the NBA have weak back up centers. Some don't even have a very good starting center. Even though it is a major problem, we have assets to address this problem. We can sign one in FA of next year, or trade at the deadline with many of our assets. We still have first rounders, many second rounders, and stashed 1st round level Euro talent. Morey has a proven record at finding these pieces. 6) What about his contract status? Love and other stars are FAs in the summer of 2015! He has a player option that he will most likely exercise for the 15-16 season, so he'll probably be a FA during summer of 2015, when many premier FAs are available.
Valid points. 1. What are we going to have to trade to get a lottery pick? 2. Is Young valuable enough that he can be flipped easily? If Love is on the trade market would Minny value Young and picks more than what some other team is willing to offer?
This was addressed in my post. Terrance Jones can guard most PFs, some Cs, and some slower SFs. Thaddeus Young can guard smaller and quicker players than Jones, and is a great perimeter defender. Having Thaddeus Young gives you added flexibility to play small, lets Parsons/Harden play less minutes, so basically improves multiple positions at once.
1) This is what Morey is trying to get for Asik. We have so many assets that I'm willing to give the equivalent of Asik + 1st rounder for him. The first rounder can also be one of our Euro stashes. Even with this, we still have many assets at our disposal. 2) He would actually fit very well with the Timberwolves. They have Pekovic, Martin, and Rubio. If they were to ever trade Love, they would be looking at either a quicker PF or a SF. Thad Young fits that bill. Young is 25 years old, sports good percentages across the board, great defender, have a good contract, and still hasn't hit his prime yet. Of course we would need to add multiple pieces, but he is a good primary target and should have great value in the market.
A very good point OP. I do not post trade suggestions and I have been surprised that TY has not been brought up more often. Functioning only from my faulty memory, TY does not shoot many threes, but he had 2 seasons earlier in his career where he was quite adequate from beyond the arc.
In my opinion..(not worth much) I feel that the Asik trade (and subsequent Lin trade) is ALL ABOUT LOVE. I think (think think think but don't know) that Morey already has a deal in the bag for Lin. Based on Doc Rocket's tweet I think Morey has already agreed to trade Lin to Milwaukee for Ilyasova. In my opinion, this deal makes sense for both teams. And the agreement of a deal for Lin could be a big onus for Morey to get a deal done for Asik. Perhaps he's got a deal for Lin he wants to execute by Dec. 19th too?? So that he can have all the relevant pieces in place to go after Love at the deadline if the TWolves are on their way to the lottery again? I think it's all about Love. So I keep looking at possible trade scenarios that give us assets to make a hard push for Love. Our championship window is NOW. Not in 3 years when lottery picks are ready to win rings. But now. Hence I view the info that Morey is looking for picks for Asik as simply him gathering assets to make a big push for another great player. So, Khump + 2 picks or Millsap + pick swaps or Bynum + picks makes a lot of sense to me right now. I think IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE.
You're right. He didn't shoot 3s the past few years, but he has been shooting 2 per game at a 39% clip. It seems like Hinkie has really had an effect on that team. If Young can continue to shoot it at 33% or higher, he really is a great fit for the Rockets. One thing I forgot to mention is that Thad Young has a post-up game! I haven't checked how efficient he is at this, but he has quick post moves from what I saw. Can you imagine a line-up of Howard, Young, Parsons, Harden, with Bev/Lin. That's just so balanced.
i would absolutely love if we acquired thad young. rockets fans may not be too familiar with him, but i have no doubt this board would fall in love with him (no homo). great player. high energy guy. good on both sides of the court....would mesh VERY well with our team. I could honestly see him taking over some of garcia's minutes. he can lock up 3s and 4s.
The problem with Young was the same problem we had with Marcus Morris. From the way Sixers fans describe him, he's a stretch 4 but not really a 3. We already have Casspi in that role. The Rockets really need a guy that's more SG/SF type. Or at least a true 3 that can plays some stretch 4s. From the Sixers, I'd actually prefer Turner over Young just in terms of fit. Even though I think Young is the superior player.
Agreed, I like Thaddeus, but if there is a player that I would compare Jones to it would be him. I don't really know why the Rockets would trade for an older, higher paid, (albeit slightly better) version of what they already have when they have much bigger needs elsewhere (backup C and perimeter defender).
Good points. The difference between Young and Morris is that Morris is too slow to guard SFs and SGs, and not fast/athletic enough to create such a mismatch against PFs. Young is better at offense (debatable) and defense as compared to Morris. Fans may describe Young as a PF only, due to his inability to hit the 3 in prior seasons. This year however, he's hitting at a 39% clip. You can play Young at multiple positions and not have a defensive liability on the other end. The most important thing about Young is that he does not need the ball to be effective. If we already have Harden, Howard, and Parsons demanding the ball, you need someone that shuts down the opposing player, while not create ball-stopping on offense. Morris is mainly an offensive player that needs the ball, and can't defend either SFs or PFs; a tweener. Young can defend all SFs, most PFs, and is a plus on both offense and defense.
The difference between Young and Jones is that Young is an excellent PERIMETER DEFENDER. He can guard SGs and SFs, while Jones is better used against bigger PFs. You can play Young as a SF with Jones while Harden/Parsons is on the bench, or play Young with Harden/Parsons as a PF. Thad Young provides flexibility as a SF/PF. He can guard many positions and is not merely JUST a PF like Anderson/Millsap/Jones. They really don't have anyone that has the skillset of Young.
Why does Young have the reputation of a great defender? I've never heard that before. He's OK, gives good effort, but he suffers some from tweener syndrome... not big enough for the bigger 4's, not quick enough to guard some of the faster 3's. I wouldn't mind picking up Young I guess, but I don't know if he's the best option out there. And keep in mind it would have to be a 3 team trade since the Sixers don't want Asik. That makes things more complicated. It also does not solve the backup center problem since no way in hell can Young play the 5 against 95% of teams.
I talked to Thaddeus Young once. I didn't know who he was, but I could tell by his height and build that he played ball. I don't follow the NBA all that hard. He was there with his wife, a small child, and his brother. He told me he played for the sixers. They were moving to Houston, and he was exchanging his out of state driver license for a texas license. I work in a driver license office. No pic, but it happened.
To answer your first question, Thad Young has had a DRtg (the lower the better) of 100 and 103 the past 2 years. Josh Smith has a career average of 103, Shane Battier has an avg of 105, and Bruce Bowen's average is 102. As you can see, 101.5 average in the past 2 years is ELITE level defense. Your next question is whether he can guard 95% of Cs. Why would he do that? It will be a weakness, but which back up center can we get that's Asik's level? None. You can't replace Asik, but you also need a flexible player that can guard the perimeter. Good point on the 3 way. I believe the 76ers are under the cap and have several expirings. If Morey wants Young, he'll find a way to make it work.
