Young puts up numbers despite not having number called
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Young puts up numbers despite not having number called
WASHINGTON -- Doug Collins marvels over the unselfish play of Thaddeus Young. Here is a player who has his number called very rarely, but always seems to find a way to score. That is the height of efficiency.
“I ran one play for him tonight,” Collins said following Saturday's 103-90 win over the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center. “Sometimes I think how can I get him a shot.”
Somehow Young finds his own shot as he did in scoring 18 points in the win.
“Thad is amazing,” Collins said. “He is so quick around the basket and makes so many plays by keeping the ball alive.”
And he does this in the flow of the offense.
“I just play,” Young said. “I go out there and think it’s having a natural feeling for the game and knowing where the ball is.”
Once he gets the ball regardless of whether the play was originally designed for him, Young knows what to do. He has become a much more comfortable jump shooter.
“What I loved (Saturday) is that he caught the ball and shot that midrange jump shot,” Collins said. “When he makes that shot, you can’t guard him because he is so fast.”
The thing Collins likes most about Young that he will do anything to help the team win. He is the type of player who is more than content to score in the flow of the game.
“I know the main focus is not getting plays for me, but it’s not a discredit or anything like that, it’s just coach (Collins) knows how I like to play,” Young said. “I like to play around the basket, play in transition. I get my buckets other ways.”
Young, who is averaging 12.4 points, takes a simple but effective philosophy into each game.
“I am just playing on natural instinct and go out there and hustle,” he said.
Besides his offensive energy, Young is a strong defender. In fact before the game, Collins was talking about Young making a case for being an all-league defender.
Young's play on both ends of the court is a main reason the Sixers have gotten off to a 9-3 start. His number may not be called much, but he has put up some impressive numbers and is a major reason why the Sixers have one of the top benches in the league.
"Young's play on both ends of the court is a main reason the Sixers have gotten off to a 9-3 start." Not to underplay Young's contribution, but, what he is doing was reasonably hoped for given his past performance. I mean that as a complement. But, the play of Hawes and Vucevic is the reason they are 9-3. No one could have reasonably expected the level of play from either.— borntosuffer- Thad Young is at his best offensively when he outquicks opponents to the rim,"turning garbage into gold" as Marc Zumoff loves to say...When he is hitting that pick and pop 15 footer, he becomes lethal, as his first step (of course, he's going left) is frightening...This is a team effort,defensive rotations to the ball, better ball movement, having many players who can effectively handle the ball,guys picking up oithers offensively if some guys are off...Post play has been better this year, but not the sole reason for this club's ascension.— bearsfriend
- bearsfriend is on point...teh sixers are ROTATING to cover open men and contest shots...this is why the 76ers are have the lowest 3 point field goal percentage for opponents...they all play hard every night and sacrifice individual numbers for wins. I am hooked on watching this team. Keep up the excellent work sixers!— cancerouscynic
Comment removed.- if you have something consistent happening (positive) on the floor you have to take advantage of it. when you think of shaq you think big, powerful, dominant, skilled. but the 1 thing that separated shaq was his ability to CONSISTENTLY beat his guy in transition.. (Rim Running) the lakers realized it, structured, and utilized it and developed it into a form of early offense.. was it there every time, no. because teams adjusted and had to sprint back to the paint and recover. but the lakers ESTABLISHED shaq in transition. phase 2 was the perimeter players fading to the 3 point line WIDE OPEN Because 1. of shaq's abilty to run 2. the guards pushed the ball ahead to him and established the fact that we can beat you in transition and score. 3. shaq has the intelligence to accept the double and kick it back out to fisher horry or fox for 3.. BUCKET! the point is this. easy buckets are there with thad in transition.. but the guards are OVERDRIBBLING instead of passing the ball ahead to the wing with the best angle, catch up with thad and MEET him at the rim. this by no means is an attempt to make thad a star.. its just another way of MAKING! TEAMS! PAY! for not addressing thad's speed and athleticism.. thad is not shaq.. i know this. but thad has been playing a big man position.. THIS IS A WAY BIG MEN SCORE!! RIM RUNNING! But the GUARDS have to understand it and execute it. Thats all garnett does and rondo hits him everytime. 2 j's 2 rim runs 2 offensive rebound putbacks 4 free throws. THATS 16 points.. thats hardly a superstar. transition is thads play call. get it to him at the free throw line or deeper. a lob dunk would be ideal. lou who can catch the lob you threw?? but iguodala's lob was pin point..— combocancer1975
- It slipped out of his hands...Lou threw a seed the night before. — bearsfriend
- and once you make them pay for not addressing thads speed what will they have to do.. TAKE OUT THE BIG AND GO SMALLER.. 94' with thad... not half court.. half court thad fouls out or gets scored on in the post. 94' he's trapping causing turnovers on d. rim running on o getting lay ups on offense. study the shaq tapes in the finals v us.. he consistently beat mutombo down the floor.. BOOOM boom BOOM swish SWISH swish. horry fisher kobe fox tyron lue BOMBING 3's.. (the booms are dunks, the swishes are well.... yunno.)
— combocancer1975 - hawes or vuvevic will never have the athletic ability or speed that young has and they are not even in the same zip code as far as defending period..hawes is a very slow and weak(No body strength)and injury prone center, vuvevic seems to have some offensive talent but is a rookie needs more seasoning as allen, sixers still need another big man with nba experience if they don't think battie can play solidly against bigger teams.— only 9
- I think Mr. Mitchell said "A" not "The", meaning multiple reasons for the Sixers hot start.— jonpoetical
- That is true. However, if I was going to write about one (not the only one) reason the Sixer's are a surprising 9-3, I would write about the biggest surprise. In no way am minimizing Young's contribution. But, I don't think Young's play is the biggest surprise. He always appeared to have the level of play we are seeing now in him. To me, the post play has been the biggest positive surprise - and in the area the Sixers' are weakest. As @only9 points out, it may not be enough going forward. But so far, the post play of Hawes and Vucevic gets my vote. The great thing about it is that we actually can have a disagreement about which thing is the most positive surprise after 12 games in the season. When was the last time that happened.
- This is another reason I love this team so much. When the Lakers win or lose, its because Kobe either scored 40 or he scored 30...that's it. No other story. When the Sixers win or lose its a combination of reasons? The posters today are torn over what is the most compelling reason for the recent surge. But that's the beauty of this team...there is a different hero ever single night. In LA, Kobe ALWAYS leads his team in scoring...same deal in most of the "star-driven" teams. ESPN's one hr Sportcenter yesterday showed hightlights of ONE game. One game, and I'll give you one hint, it wasn't the Sixers-Wash game. The media is pushing the Lakers and Kobe down our throats but i am not a Laker fan so why bother watching ESPN? Even were I not a Philly fan, i would prefer to watch this Sixers team over the Lakers team any day of the week.— sedale
- I'm not saying that the Sixers are championship material but they remind me of a Pistons team that won a championship with role players. (Billups, Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, I forget the rest) But the Sixers team reminds me of the way the pistons won wach night by creating the right matchups by having a strong bench. Now when will the newtorks get them on TV so I can watch them in NC? I haven't seen them yet!— nceagle
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
