Indiana Pacers: Old reliable Thaddeus Young

Thaddeus Young has been very consistent for the Indiana Pacers, which has allowed the team to do its thing night in and night out.

Thaddeus Young‘s biggest skill on the basketball court is that he’s pretty good at a lot of things. He might not be the best player on the Indiana Pacers at any specific skill, but as a testament to his steadiness and uniformity, he leads the team in minutes played so far this season.

You want consistency, here it is. Young has scored between 10-20 points in 15 of the Pacers’ 20 games. He has been in the 2-4 assist range in 12 of the team’s 20 games. To top it all off, he has shot over 40 percent from the field in 18 of Indiana’s 20 contests. So on offense, you know exactly what you’re getting night in and night out from Thad.

On defense, it is much the same. He has pulled down between 5-9 rebounds in 16 of the Pacers’ 20 games. Young has snatched the ball from the other team between 1-3 times in 15 games so far this season. He rarely gets blocks, but he has only been over three fouls in six occurrences, so instead of fouling or blocking, he just puts up solid shot contests.

These similar performances nearly every night are the main reason why Thaddeus Young plays so often for the Pacers. He has played over 30 minutes in 16 different games this season, and that is with two young and talented big men also competing for minutes behind him.

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He rarely makes mistakes. His 10.2 percent turnover rate is fourth on the team; once he gets the ball, he’s doing something productive with it. He is valuable in many aspects of the game, and that is why his Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) is so high; it is second on the team behind only Victor Oladipo.

His experience playing for so many teams showcases itself in that he has chemistry playing alongside many types of players. No matter what skill-set he is paired with, Young has a positive impact on the team. That’s why he is a +48 on the season despite playing in so many obscure lineups.

Young currently is posting a 5.7 percent offensive rebound rate, good for fourth on Indiana among players with over 100 minutes. That doesn’t sound great given that he’s a post player, but consider the context. Young is a stretch big who spends most of his time away from the basket. He’s shooting a career-low 29.5 percent of his shots around the basket, per Basketball-Reference, yet he’s still able to get offensive rebounds at a fairly decent clip like he does here:

He starts the play in the left corner behind the 3-point line, but he is still able to soar in for the offensive rebound and put-back. The heads up offensive rebounding plays he makes keep the offense going and scoring at a high rate. His offensive rating is still 107.9, even when things look to be bad.

He additionally keeps the offense moving by passing and not turning the ball over, two stats that have already been talked about briefly. His 1.9 assists per game are the third-best mark of his career, and his 1.5 turnovers per 36 minutes are tied for the third-lowest of his career.

He keeps the ball moving in a productive manner like you can see in this clip:

He catches, attacks with a dribble to get Jonas Valanciunas to drop and Kyle Lowry to bite in, rotates to make Lowry move, and then drops a perfect pass to the cutting Darren Collison.

That is a lot of veteran moves.

His screens have been excellent this season as well, a tale that can be told for all the Pacers’ big men. It’s fun to set a screen when you have guards that will get you the ball for an easy shot when you roll/pop to the right location. Young has a penchant for the pop.

Watch him on this one. After setting a screen for Oladipo, he glances back to see what his man, Robert Covington, did. As soon as Young sees the switch, he pops out behind the 3-point line and nails the triple:

Money.

If Thaddeus Young can keep doing the little things right, he will continue to lead the Indiana Pacers in minutes. If his shot keeps falling, and he keeps making the right passes, the shot fake will continue to work well for him:

It seems like everything Thad is doing is working, and working well. Thankfully, those contributions are consistent on a nightly basis.

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As has been a staple of Thaddeus Young’s career, expect him to keep up his consistency for the Indiana Pacers as the season goes along.