By FRANK WARD
DailyPhiladelphian.com Editor
Play hard. Hang tough. Fall just short in the end.
That’s the game plan the Sixers seem to be following this year. Friday’s 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks was no exception. The team’s leading scorer, who seems to change on a nightly basis, was Thaddeus Young, the power forward in a small forward’s body.
Young paced the team with 17 points in 24 minutes off the bench. As Kate Fagan pointed out on Philly.com yesterday, Young is shooting a lights out 58 percent from the floor.
Sixers forward Thaddeus Young is a power forward trapped in a small forward body. he needs to crash the boards more on defense.
Ironically, it was the day that Fagan posted an explanation as to why Young wasn’t seeing much playing time that he is the team’s best offensive force in the paint. The reason he doesn’t get on the floor? He seems to be a defensive liability inside.
Fagan quotes Doug Collins as saying, “I think Thad, a lot of his mistakes get erased when you have a shot blocker. And we don’t really have a shot blocker. And so the mistakes sometimes become a little more glaring, because we don’t have somebody back there to erase them. And that’s a little different as well.”
One thing that jumps out at us from his last five games is his lack of crashing the glass. He had just two boards against the Mavs. In his last five games, he’s had just 17 rebounds in 105 minutes. That’s just not enough production by someone at the 4 spot.
Young’s major issue is that he’s a talented tweener in the NBA. He’s not really a good small forward as he plays better from the power slot. However, at 6-8, he’s smaller than your typical power forward. Still, he’s two inches taller than the Round Mound of Rebound, Charles Barkley. Sir Charles made many all-star games because he boxed out and crashed the boards with the best of them.
Thad needs to learn how to use his body to get more rebounds. He’s young, athletic and has a nose for getting the ball in the bucket. But, if he can’t rebound, he’ll be stuck on the bench in Philly.
