First and foremost, let me apologize for the lack of posts recently here on PHT. My partner, Brian Jacobs has been gallivanting in Mexico with beautiful Hispanic women, and I haver been busy with finals, packing, unpacking, and everything else that goes along with end of a college semester. Now that I am situated at home, and my partner is back in the good ol’ U S of A, we will be updating this blog on a daily basis like we have in the past.
Unless your team is named the Mavericks, Heat, or Bulls, there isn’t any real NBA news during this time of year. Draft workouts arent around until June 1st, and we have to wait three weeks after that for the NBA Draft on June 23rd. What happens after the draft is still up in the air. If we have learned anything from the NHL and NFL, it is when a CBA expires it usually means bad news, so whether or not free agency or a season for that matters happens after the draft remains to be seen. With this uncertainty of any significant NBA news for some time, my partner and I will be putting together an off-season to-do list for the Sixers. Today’s post is the first of a series of posts that will each cover a different roster decision for the Sixers this season. The first thing on the Sixers’ to-do list is re-sign Thaddeus Young, but I assume you already knew that by reading the title of the post…unless you cannot read…in which case I would wonder how you are reading this. Maybe you’re blind. Maybe I am off topic.
Maybe I should begin.
Before the Sixers go out and try to add a big man or an 82 game scorer, the Sixers need to re-sign Young who was arguably their MVP this season. Young was one of the best sixth men in the league, averaging 12.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg this season. In fact, Young has proven he can consistently put up numbers like these off the bench, averaging 15.3 ppg and 5.0 rpg two years ago and, 13.8 ppg and 5.2 rpg last season. Young was also arguably the team’s MVP when it counted the most: in the playoffs. In games one and two, Young led the team in scoring with 20 pts and 18 pts respectively. In game one Young was also dominant off the glass, grabbing eleven rebounds to get a double-double.
A sixth man that can give you that much production in the regular season and post season are not a dime a dozen, which is why it is crucial the Sixers re-sign the young star. (Get it? Young?) Luckily for the Sixers, the odds of re-signing Thadd are in their favor for a few reasons.
One, is Young is a restricted free agent, which means:
IF another team signs Young to an offer sheet, the Sixers get seven days to match that offer, AND
IF no other team signs Young to an offer sheet, Young plays for the Sixers in the 2011-12 season, gets paid a $4 million qualifying offer, (put in place by the NBA Rookie contract System) and is an unrestricted free agent the following off-season.
Another reason the odds of landing Young are on the Sixers’ side is because Young wants to play in Philly. Young has developed a great relationship with head coach Doug Collins and by reading his quotes you can tell he wants to stay here.
“I love being here. I love this city and I love my teammates.”
“Over the course of these past four years we have all built a bond, a great relationship. We are all like brothers now. Hopefully we can get something worked out where I can come back here and go at this again.”
Notice how he said hopefully he can “come back here and go at this again.” It is clear Thadd wants to be a Sixer next year, and by all means he should be. Having a good player on your team is obviously important, which is why he is on our to-do list, but having a good player on your team who WANTS to play for your team is perhaps more important.
Just ask Andre Iguodala.
Follow Christian Hetrick on Twitter: @Hetric55
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