When the Nets traded Kevin Garnett to Minnesota for Thaddeus Young last week, it was basically a trade the team had to make. Whenever you can trade an aging, over-the-hill former superstar on an expensive contract for a talented 26-year-old player who provides loads of energy on both ends of the floor, you have to make it happen.
Even though Billy King wasn’t able to shed Brooklyn’s other exorbitant contracts that day, he made the obvious move that helped the Nets improve right now for the homestretch to (hopefully) the postseason. And so far, in the three games he has played with his new team, Young has fit the bill, and then some.
The Nets are 2-1 in their three games with the former 76ers stud, with two wins against subpar teams in the Lakers and Nuggets and a disappointing loss to the Pelicans without Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson and Jrue Holiday. In those games, he’s averaging 14 points (on 58 percent shooting) and 4.7 rebounds in 21.3 minutes. I know, not a big sample size but it doesn’t mean nothing.
Young only got 12 minutes of game action in his team debut, in Los Angeles, but has been integrated right into the Brooklyn scheme in Denver and New Orleans, playing strong defense alongside his efficient offense and rebounding. However, his biggest impact doesn’t even show up in the regular box score.
That impact is his ability to extend possessions, whether he’s the one credited with the offensive rebound or not. Countless times in his short time with the Nets has he dove on the ground to stifle an opponent’s possession, knock the ball off someone on the other team, get the ball to a teammate or even collect the loose rock himself. Those plays, unless you count them while watching the film, aren’t quantifiable but can be the difference between a loss and a win.
The ability to keep a possession alive–or end one, if the Nets are on defense–is incredibly useful for a team on the less-athletic side, as Brooklyn can be categorized as. This increases the chance of Brook Lopez ending up with the ball in a favorable post position or Joe Johnson, on a broken play, wide open from beyond the arc. The fact that it stabilizes the chance of scoring–which Lionel Hollins’ team desperately needs to do–instead of knocking it down to zero makes it a very valuable skill.
Thankfully, Young possesses this skill and can also finish strongly on offense too. KG, on the other hand, just wasn’t getting to 50/50 balls anymore, meaning it was immediately the opponent’s ball when a missed shot in his area didn’t bounce right at him. This singular improvement–one for one–makes the Nets immeasurably and when looked at in conjunction with the rise of Markel Brown’s (and Cory Jefferson’s, maybe) playing time, constitutes a much quicker unit.
This new rotation, at least until Bojan Bogdanovic returns from injury, has a much better chance to compete with the younger and faster teams in the NBA, be it the Warriors, Wizards or Raptors, although it may not be able to beat those certain playoff teams. But, in order to just make the playoffs, Brooklyn just needs to be able to beat the bad teams while upsetting a good one here and there. Right now, that’s all that matters and Thad Young is helping the cause.
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