Thaddeus Young

Thaddeus Young is a professional basketball player plying his trade in the National Basketball Association for the Philadelphia 76ers. Born on June 21, 1988, Young was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Young and his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee where Young attended Mitchell High School before being recruited by Georgia Tech for his collegiate days.

At Georgia Tech, Young registered just one season for the Yellow Jackets before making himself eligible for the NBA Draft. Young averaged 14.4 points per game, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, in 30 minutes of action per game. Young helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a 20-12 record.

Young was selected with the 12th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft in 2007 by the Philadelphia 76ers. Standing at 6-8 tall, Young plays the Small Forward position for the 76ers. With a tremendous work ethic, excellent defence, and a regular contributor on the offensive end, Young is just scratching the surface of his talent.http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/gah

With the 76ers getting the 2nd pick in the 2010 draft, they are expected to pick Ohio State swingman Evan Turner in the draft, which would leave Turner, Andre Iguodala, an untradeable Elton Brand contract, and Young battling it out for the forward positions. At such a Young age, Young will be among many trade rumours this summer.

In a slightly disappointing season for Young compared with his sophomore season, his season was marred by trade rumours, and injury. Although he did manage to play in 67 of the 82 games, his scoring average was down from 15.3 in 2008/09 t0 13.8 points per game this season. Young's minutes and field goal percentage also decreased slightly from the year before.

The first half of the season, Young was playing great before coach Eddie Jordan decided to start Young from the bench in mid January, and ever since, his numbers have declined. On March 16, Young fractured his right thumb, ruling him out of the remainder of the season.

Young had the best season of his professional career in '08/09. Starting in 71 of the 75 games he participated in, Young was able to average 15.3 points per game, 5 rebounds per game, 1.2 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game in 34 minutes of action. Young helped lead the 76ers to the playoffs with a great end of season stretch.

In Young's finest month of his short career, in March Young was able to break the 20 point barrier 10 times, while doing so in 7 consecutive games, and he also managed to set a then career high in points (31) in a 104-101 win versus the Chicago Bulls on 03/13/09.

Young was selected to play for the Sophomore's in the 2009 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting.http://www.nba.com/playerfile/thaddeus_young/bio.html http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4290/gamelog;_ylt=AgjZQYMTb1ydlHvBPBpaFCOVPaB4?year=2008

In a relatively quiet rookie season, Young was able to adjust to life in the NBA. Starting just 22 out a possible 88 games (including playoffs), Young was able to adjust to life as a rookie. Young managed to average 8.2 points per game, 4 rebounds per game, 1 assist and 1 steal in 21 minutes per game

The highlights of his rookie season were getting selected to the NBA T-Mobile All Rookie Second Team. Young also started all six games in the NBA Playoofs vs the Detroit Pistons and saw his minutes rise in the Playoffs to 26 minutes per game.http://www.nba.com/playerfile/thaddeus_young/season_splits.html