Thaddeus Young’s consistency is key to the Indiana Pacers success

Thaddeus Young’s style doesn’t always generate highlights, but the veteran power forward is critical to the Indiana Pacers’ success.

He scores more points a game than Domantas Sabonis. He is a more accurate shooter than Bojan Bogdanovic. He grabs almost as many rebounds as Myles Turner. Only Victor Oladipo generates more steals than him. Yet Thaddeus Young never gets the respect he deserves.

Just look at our archives: It seems like every other title is a variation of the respect/underappreciated theme. Despite his reliability as one of Indiana’s starters, the 10th-year Power Forward often flies under the radar.

In Clifton Brown’s preview for the Pacers-Kings game, the Indy Star writer had what might be the perfect essence of Thad Young summed up in one quote.

"“I’ve always tried to be, instead of up and down, just tried to be consistent,” said Young. “If I’m not scoring, rebounding or getting steals, if I’m not having a good game, picking guys up. That’s what vets do.”"

That consistency why he is so important to the Pacers, but also the same reason why he is often the forgotten starter.

Another factor is his game isn’t overly flashy. He scores efficiently and hits some 3-pointers, but he doesn’t throw down show-stopping dunks on a regular basis nor does he join in on Turner’s block parties. His defense often creates turnovers, but we often see him unselfishly pass the ball ahead to start a fastbreak.

If style mattered in the NBA, Thad might be out of luck. What matters is Young makes the Pacers a winning team.

Thaddeus Young by the numbers

It is easy to overlook that the Pacers are better defensively when he is on the floor — through his aggressive nature on passes can get him in trouble — and he doesn’t waste shots on offense.

One can easily forget that outside of his 1.7 steals — 10th best in the NBA — that those 3.7 deflections coach Dan Burke loves to talk about often result in points for Indiana.

A good example came back in December when the Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. Young gets into traffic and pokes the ball loose for Darren Collison to gather. Though Bojan Bogdanovic was fouled on the play, it still led to two points for the Pacers once he hit his free throws.

Those deflections, and outright steals, by Young, play a part in why the Pacers are ranked third in the NBA in forcing opponents’ turnovers with 15.4 a game.

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Those lead to the 14.6 fastbreak points Indiana gets a game, ranking them 5th in the NBA in that category.

Thad’s ability to matchup both with bigger forwards and smaller guards gives Indiana flexibility. The Pacers aren’t afraid to throw Thad at the other team’s best player when the matchup allows it, largely thanks to his prowess as an on-ball defender. He may get steals when he gambles, but he is a better defender when he sticks close to his opponent.

On offense, his usage rate is the lowest among the starters as well as his points per a game, but his range opens up the floor well for a power forward. You can count the number of times he took more than four 3-pointers in a game with your fingers, but he sticks near the basket and avoids taking too many long 2-pointers, though he knocks down nearly 45% of his shots just inside the arc. Despite a decade in the league, is game adapted well to the modern NBA.

According to NBAMath.com, Thad’s impact is second only to Oladipo’s.

A season ago we saw how he severed as the glue to Indiana’s defense, and it would be of little surprise this season if we saw a similar effect were he to miss several games. Thankfully for the Pacers, he kept himself off the injury report for the most part.

Beyond the stats

As we learned from last year, leadership isn’t easy. But now that Thad isn’t one of the new guys and is clearly one of the veteran Pacers. He knew this year things were different and that he needed to step up into a leadership role.

From the outside, determining a player’s effectiveness as a leader is near impossible. If the team is winning, leadership is rarely a question. When things go wrong, suddenly everyone is scrambling to figure out who is in charge.

He certainly says the right things, and all the comments about chemistry this season point in the right direction. If nothing else, Thad’s few words appear to resonate with his teammates. He helped create a locker room where the ears of the players are open to their coaches and their teammates.

That in itself is invaluable.

Next: Which Pacer will end the franchise’s triple-double drought?

Maybe Thaddeus Young isn’t appreciated enough. Maybe he doesn’t get enough respect. He’ll take the wins over that any day.