Post by zeropointzero on Oct 16, 2010 3:46:50 GMT -5
Thaddeus Young
Age: 20
Height: 6'7''
Weight: 210
Position: SF
School: Georgia Tech
Inside = B-: His hands are absolutely terrific, he has a gorgeous floater and jump-hook shot he can hit with his left hand out to about 12 feet, and combining this with his physical attributes and very soft touch around the rim leads us to believe that he has much better potential as an inside scorer than shown so far.
Outside = B-: Young is a solid shooter with his feet set, as evidenced by the 41% he is averaged from behind the arc this season. He needs time to get his shot off though, due to his fairly slow, deliberate release, which includes too much wasted motion. When forced to shoot the ball quicker than he’d usually prefer, his percentages drop. This is particularly noticeable when shooting on the move or off the dribble, as Young has a tendency to let his body flail out as he’s setting himself up for a quick shot, which stops him from maintaining a consistent release point. This, combined with his poor ball-handling skills, is the main reason why Young does not have any real mid-range, pull-up game to speak of.
Handling = C: Another reason Young hasn’t been able to capitalize on much of his natural physical talent lies in his poor ball-handling skills. A natural lefty, Young is an average ball-handler with his left hand, but with his right, he’s downright mediocre. The ball slows him down considerably-- in both half-court sets and in transition-- and nullifies any chance he has of exploding to the basket off his already underwhelming first step. Breaking down tape on his entire season so far, poor ball handling has also been the main source of many of Young’s turnovers on the year, whether through traveling, dribbling the ball off his foot, offensive fouls, palming violations, or just exposing the ball to his defender and seeing it swiped away.
Defense = C+: His physical gifts (length, foot speed) aren't on display on the defensive end as often as they should. Young also appears to lack a certain amount of toughness. It is not unusual to see him avoid contact in the post, where he already struggles due to his unrefined footwork.
Rebounding = B-: Young is a terrific offensive rebounder, as his combination of hands, an extremely quick 2nd bounce and a real nose for a ball allow him to grab nearly as many offensive rebounds as defensive.
Potential = A: For the most part, Young’s desire to play on the perimeter, and abandoning his biggest strengths (his size, length, raw strength, hands, touch, and explosive leaping ability) has exposed every deficiency in his game in terms of the next level. Georgia Tech’s fairly slow tempo doesn’t help him out much either, as he is clearly a guy that would thrive playing power forward on an up-tempo team. At the end of the day, however, the immense physical gifts are still there, and an NBA team is going to draft him with the intention of turning those physical gifts into a productive NBA player.
