Stability begins with Young
General Manager Billy King has made many roster moves over years that have not worked out on the basketball court and have hurt the future of the team. Despite all the bad moves that Billy King has made throughout his tenure as a General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets, there was one deal he made recently that will benefit the future of the team.
Trading Kevin Garnett for Thaddeus Young was probably the best move that Billy King has made as GM. This move makes the Nets younger and allows them to get a piece that can actually be a part of their future. Thaddeus Young has a player option at the end of the year. If he decides to opt out of the final year of his contract, he will become a free agent and the Nets will find themselves in a bidding war with other teams around the league for his services. While the Nets should create as much cap space as they can, Thaddeus Young is someone the team should keep for the future. There are three reasons why the Nets cannot let Thaddeus Young get away.
To start, Young is young! When the Nets let Paul Pierce walk during the offseason, they made a decision to start getting younger. Last season, they were one of the oldest teams in the league. Now the Nets have moved to the middle of the pack in terms of the youngest teams in the league. Thaddeus Young is 26 years old and his youth is something that the Nets need to cherish. He is about to hit the prime years of his career and the Nets need to lock him up long-term.
Second, Young provides the versatility that the Nets have been looking for at the power forward spot. Some may say that Mirza Teletovic provided that, but he was mainly a three-point threat when healthy and didn’t have the skill to put the ball on the floor consistently to get to the rim. Young gives the Nets a big body who has excellent moves in the post. He has also shown the ability to space the floor with his three point shot, as well as put the ball on the floor to get to the rim. These three things combined with his athleticism and hustle that he has shown on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor gives the Nets a player that they can count on to produce for many years to come.
Third, Young wants to stay in Brooklyn. Although he is not the big name splash Brooklyn is used to, it may not be a bad idea to keep a player who wants to stay on the team. Think about it, every big player that has come to Brooklyn the past 3 years has come via trade. The Nets haven’t made many big free agent signings after the 2012-13 season. We don’t know if the fact that the Nets play in Brooklyn now is really going to attract free agents to come play for them. If the Nets think they can get a better player than Young in the future to play the power forward position through free agency, then there taking a huge risk because there is no proof that the Nets will land the star they are after.
Until the Nets are able to sign a solid free agent, they need to make sure they can sign the young guys they have now in order to put some stability into the future of the franchise. That stability starts with Thaddeus Young.