San Antonio Spurs: Grading their NBA free agency signings

San Antonio Spurs NBA free agency signing No. 3: The DeMar DeRozan trade part two – Thaddeus Young

Thaddeus Young is clearly the player the Spurs were targeting in this trade. Young has been a solid contributor for the five teams that he has played for in his 14-year career. He is a multi-skilled big man who seems to give the team what it needs every night.

He has averaged 13.1 points per game for his career and gives no impression that is going to diminish any time soon. He averaged 11.2 points per game for his two seasons with the Bulls, shooting the ball at 50.6 percent from the floor, which is a tick over his 50.1 percent for his career.

Likewise, Young’s rebounding seems to be as good as ever. He has averaged 5.6 per game in his last two seasons. Considering that his career average is only slightly higher at 5.9 per game, this is impressive. Given that he averaged 24.6 minutes per game in his last two seasons, down from 29.9 per game for his career, Young is actually getting more efficient.

However, it is his passing that would excite coach Gregg Popovich the most. Young averaged 4.3 assists per game last season which is well up on his career number of 1.8 per game. Considering he averaged 2.0 turnovers per game compared to 1.5 for his career, Young is using his basketball IQ more the older he gets.

Grade: A