It’s actually quite funny. The trade deadline came around, and all the reporting suggested that the Raptors were looking for a big that was meaningfully bigger than anyone on their roster, or a guard. True to form, the Raptors went the opposite direction of what the reporting said, and doubled down on their preseason ethos of: “If you’re 6’9″, you can stay with me. If you’re not? Well, you don’t gotta go home, but ya can’t stay here.”
They traded for Thaddeus Young. There are tax implications, traded player exemptions, a waived Drew Eubanks, but we don’t need to discuss that. You want to know if the moniker of ‘Thagic Johnson’ is deserved, and you want to know if he’ll do it in Toronto.
Young is one of the players whose career tightly aligns with the rise of the 3-point shot and it’s staying power. In a league that changed rapidly, Young observed while holding onto starting spots and rotation spots as a tweener. Tweeners, often times, are pseudo-shot creating bigs, and scrappy defenders. This was the story of much of Young’s career – a big who could get to the rim on his own, and a defender who could punch up at bigger players, scramble with smaller ones, and generate turnovers. Only, his athleticism dwindled and he made an amazing adjustment. From ages 31 to 32, his assist-percentage doubled. A player who had never eclipsed 2.5 assists per game (and often less than 2) was suddenly dishing out more than 4 a night.
In 2019-20 the Bulls gave Young 1.5 elbow touches a game. In 20-21 he was receiving nearly 4 times as many and dishing out 5x more assists with them. He had become a hub. As Louis mentioned in his quick reaction to the trade, Young was also a heavy-usage passer out of screens and wildly successful doing it. He reads the floor from the top-down, from the bottom-up, and while in motion. I’m sure Scottie Barnes will surpass him one day, but Young is walking onto the roster as the supreme *reads* guy. Your basket cut will be rewarded if you get an edge. You will be found if you’re forming up off of a drive, or relocating off of a offensive rebound. Young’s body is slower, but his feel for the game is rapid in every sense of the word.
So, yes he’s a great passer. How does he fit? Let’s see.
Here’s a quick breakdown of his 59 assists this season:
Handoff/pitch play – 25
High-low from faceup/live dribble passes to back cuts – 17
Pass out of post-up – 7
Short-roll – 4
Transition – 4
Zone buster – 2
Hi Freddy. Hi Gary. Hi Guards.
Similar to the Norm Powell – Gary Trent Jr. swap last year, we can mine potential playtype usage by overlapping what the Raptors like to use with what the player has done before. ‘GTJ’ filled in a lot of the flare and pin-down sets that Powell used to occupy, for example.
Young’s primary usage in San Antonio was as a marauding, live dribble big above the break, who could protect the ball, free up shooters, and occasionally hit a back cutter. With Trent Jr. and VanVleet operating as the Raptors highest usage handoff players, these pairings seem inevitable. The Raptors run a lot of weave plays above the break, and although they don’t run as much Miami or Chicago action as they did at the start of the year, it’s still part of their offense. Young would immediately slide into these playtypes as the Raptors best combination of passing + screening. What you do end up losing though, is a bit of off the bounce scoring that Barnes and Siakam provide when they’re the ones operating as the handoff hub. And how much more of Barnes’ touches do you really want to takeaway or minimize? But, it seems very clear that the Raptors will be able to put Young on the floor next to their guards and find shots for them.
Some symmetry.
There’s more room for adaptability when VanVleet is on ball, because he runs a more diverse set of screening actions. In doing so, Young could be unleashed as a short-roller and he would more than likely be the Raptors best playmaker in that action.
These looks are dependable parts of his game that we’ve seen at high volume. He’s worked wonderfully next to the likes of Zach Lavine, Dejounte Murray (two all-stars), Tomas Satoransky, Coby White, Tre Jones, and Derrick White. Young knows how to work with guards. The talented ones, the lunch pail ones – whatever, he has assisted them directly as a screener or passer. The bulk of his passes over the past two years have been to guards, and any wing he’s played with in that span has been closer to a role player, and certainly not a star or isolation king.
The Unknown, the very weird Raptors
This is where we have no earthly idea. The 21-22 Raptors are an extremely strange basketball team that doles out heavy isolation and post up touches to it’s jumbo wings/mini bigs. Siakam, Anunoby, and Barnes all represent an archetype that Young hasn’t had to mesh his incredible playmaking with.
Young has built the back end of his career on helping free players up while in close proximity. So much of the Raptors offense is their guys purposefully going it alone. What happens to Young above the break when one of those 3 slow the game way down and go to work in a mismatch? No more dynamic reads as cutters try to slice the back end of the defense, but deliberate and mechanical post entry passes. In this section of the offense is Young destined to funnel to the corner, try to space, and only resurface for ORBS? Is he supposed to pare down his offensive responsibilities like Chris Boucher did? Would he look nearly as good in that role? Siakam in particular emulates guard play, but will he do it enough to help maximize Young’s role in the offense? Do we even care if Young is maximized? Probably not.
Or, we could take the really optimistic point of view. Dalano Banton and Justin Champagnie have succeeded as part of the Raptors funky anti-guard lineups. You simply pluck one of those guys out (mostly, it’s been Banton) and replace them with Young, who will likely bring a little bit more on defense and can make better, quicker reads as a passer. Those lineups are all chaos anyway, why not open them up to Young’s fantastical interpretations? This piece is about his playmaking, but it’s worth mentioning that Young is one of the best frontcourt thieves of the past 10 years, so he can help fuel the best parts of the Funk Fest lineups.
After watching a lot of film two things are clear:
- There are dependable plays in the Raptors playbook that Young will immediately come in and provide value in.
- He’s good enough to find a spot in the rotation from jump street.
Whether or not Nick Nurse uses him to enhance the guards, and shave some of the minutes off of Siakam and Anunoby’s workload, or tries to tease more ball handling and playmaking out of him to extend some of the anti-guard lineups and save VanVleet’s legs? I have no idea. A very unique player is walking into a very unique team. I think it’s going to be positive, but I only have a foggy idea of how it’s going to look.
Have a blessed day.
