Michigan’s Miscue, Brendan Haywood, and a sea of loud uniforms: While We’re Waiting…
September 30, 2014Searching for Perspective on the 2014 Indians
September 30, 2014Thaddeus Young may be the Minnesota Timberwolves’ new starting power forward, but he’s not looking to fill the void left by Kevin Love. At the team’s Media Day, Young reminded everyone that, despite putting up a gaudy 26 points and 12 rebounds per night, Love’s Wolves fell short of the postseason.
Thaddeus: I'm not trying to replace 26 and 12. 26 and 12 didn't make it to the playoffs
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) September 29, 2014
Naturally, as Twitter removes context, Young quickly followed up on his quote with a “no shade” caveat.
No shade intended ppl. Just basically said I'm not trying 2 be @kevinlove & don't want 2 be. Teams make it 2 playoffs, not stats. #facts
— Thad Young (@yungsmoove21) September 29, 2014
He’s right, and it’s certainly the diplomatic thing to say. Young also spoke convincingly, describing himself as a mentor to the second-year players (Anthony Bennett and Shabazz Muhammad), as well as rookies (Andrew Wiggins), after several years as a Philadelphia 76er. He believes those experiences in Philly helped him mature as a player and a person.
Young had a breakout campaign in 2013-14, scoring an inefficient 19 points and pulling down six rebounds per game, but his 76ers had an even worse season despite playing in the Eastern Conference. You have to appreciate Young’s goals (and his honesty in addition to pandering to the fan base), but given Minnesota’s current roster, he’ll need a lot more than “26 and 12” if his young and inexperienced team is even going to sniff the postseason in the West come April 2015. #Facts.
9 Comments
As a Cavs fan, I don’t have any issues with what Young said. Spoke the truth. Hopefully Love is in a much better “team” situation now, and hopefully the Wolves are also a better team after the big trade.
I don’t think the Wolves will make the playoffs this season, but I certainly hope to see them there soon. I want small market teams to be good in the NBA, and I hope this trade goes down as one that benefits both teams in the way they hoped it would.
I might be wrong but the small market is for other sports primarily baseball I don’t think it applies to basketball that well. I could care less about the Minnesota Timberwolves frankly. I just find it odd how so many people want to hate on Kevin Love after he leaves perhaps he was right to want to get out of that miserable basketball city.
A great American sang, “And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off”
I watched that “dunks after dark” think Minnesota had last night, well part of it, and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ the only thing worse then a crowd full of kids was watching all those kids on the court. Based on what I saw they better have two practices a day from here on out. Jim Mora said it best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7fjDS0jKiE
Instead of taking shots at Love, maybe look at the awful team he was stuck on.
Cleveland is a top-25 market. San Antonio is top-40. Market size is (supposed to be) irrelevant in a salary-cap league.
that is largely dependent on if you include Canton-Akron and all surrounding areas for Cleveland and if you do not include Austin/San-Marcos for San Antonio. I really don’t know why they draw the lines as they do, but it can fluctuate those numbers quite a bit (w/o Canton-Akron, Cleveland’s market is smaller than SA’s).
I guess what I should have said is “I want non-NY/Boston/Chicago/LA teams to be good.” You know, the markets that the marquee free agents aren’t typically going to.
How dare he almost inadvertently diss the local sports hero we haven’t yet gotten to know! I’m so mad I could go back to work.
You’d know him if you watched/read/listened to other NBA games/shows.
Just because Thad Young doesn’t want us to think there’s an inference doesn’t mean there isn’t an inference. He was under no obligation to talk about the playoffs, but he pulled that tired card. I want the best for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, but the Wolves are going to flat-out stink this season, Thad. Your career 14 and 6 will certainly not help the Wolves make the playoffs any more than Kevin Love’s 26 and 12 did. See you in the lottery again, bro.