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It’s Time For Thaddeus Young To Start

By Anthony Parisi

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Thaddeus Young has played great since being acquired by the Brooklyn Nets and the 26 year old continues to come off of the bench and produce. The Nets suffered a 115-91 loss on Wednesday against the Hornets and Young started off the second half on the court with the rest of the starters.

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That could be a sign that Young is getting closer to becoming the team’s permanent starter and it’s definitely something Lionel Hollins should think about because Brooklyn got off to yet another sluggish start on Wednesday. The Nets trailed the Hornets 26-6 to start the game on Wednesday and as soon as Young and the rest of the reserves came in the lead dissipated to 12 by halftime.

Young has been a member of the Nets for seven games now and there’s no denying the impact that he has had on this team. In a Nets uniform, Young is averaging 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and he’s shooting 58 percent from the field, 64 percent from three-point range in 23 minutes per game.

Since acquiring Young, the Nets are 4-3 and he has provided consistency to a franchise that hasn’t had a reliable power forward since Kenyon Martin was around. The Nets are hoping to bring Young back who has a player option worth around $10 Million next season and Young is honored that the Nets want him to be apart of their core.

“It means a lot,” Young said when asked about Nets hope to keep him as a core piece. “It means that I’m definitely a player that has come into his own and being able to go out there and do a lot of things to help my team win basketball games. Sometimes I can go out there and be a game-changer with the energy I bring to the table.”

The Nets are in a tightly contested battle for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and every game is important for them from this point forward. They can’t afford to continue to start off games slow like they did on Wednesday so it should only be a matter of time before Young gets a chance to start.

Having Young and Brook Lopez on the bench is a great way to create a mismatch with the opposition but it has hurt the Nets in the beginning of games and it is never good to dig yourself in a hole like that. Lopez loves operating from the low-post area and so does Young so having both guys on the floor at the same time could limit what they’re capable of doing.

Tim Bontemps thinks that Young should remain on the bench and here’s why he thinks so in his most recent article.

"“By having Young and Brook Lopez coming off of the bench, The Nets now have two primary scorers for each group, with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson in that role with the starters. The bench group of Young, Lopez, Jarrett Jack and Bojan Bogdanovic gives the Nets a nice mix of scoring and adaptability with the starters.”"

Bontemps makes some great points, but the problem is Joe Johnson and Deron Williams haven’t proven on a consistent basis that they can be trusted to lead the starting unit. Last season Shaun Livingston and Paul Pierce would be there at times to bail them out, but with those two gone it’s hard to ask rookie Markel Brown or Mason Plumlee to help out with the scoring. Alan Anderson has his games where he helps the offense but you can’t expect him to do that every night.

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