Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images The buyout market brings excitement, although I’ve never truly understood why. Players acquired post-trade deadline typically aren’t the level of players who are going to make a meaningful impact on the roster of the team that acquires them unless that team is in “tanking for next season” mode and their star players are “injured”. When the Phoenix Suns picked 35-year-old Thaddeus Young up off of waivers, it was clear that he met a need of the team. Back-up rebounding depth had been concerning for the team, and Thad is a known beast on the boards. At 6’8” and 235 pounds, the former 12th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft has made a career of pushing people off of the block and using his athleticism to be effective. Relegated to a bench role for the past three seasons, Young has averaged 6.3 rebounds per game in his 726 games as a starter. His skills have diminished with age, however, and he has truly entered journeyman status. Phoenix is his fourth team in three years. He is averaging 3.5 rebounds in 15.4 minutes played since 2021-22. Now he is a member of the Suns, and as I stated before, they are a team that needed help rebounding from the second team unit. Prior to his signing with Phoenix on February 20, the Suns were 18th in the league in bench defensive rebounding. They had a roster spot and he filled a need. In 10 games since joining the Suns, Thaddeus Young has seen a total of 29 minutes played in 2 appearances. This has the fan base clamoring. Why are we not seeing more of Thaddeus? It’s a valid question. When you ask the Suns community what they think, 62% believe Young should be getting more minutes than Drew Eubanks at the backup center. 
I’m here to explain reasons why we are seeing more of Drew Eubanks than Thaddeus Young, mmmkay? I get where the fan base is coming from. For years we’ve asked for the Suns’ brass to pursue Thaddeus Young. Couple that with some unimpressive rebounding efforts from Drew Eubanks, and the obvious complaint is, “Hey, why can’t the other guy play?”. Since Young’s addition, Eubanks is averaging 15.5 minutes. He is scoring 4.3 points and grabbing 4.4 rebounds. He’s shooting 64% from the field. Sounds like pretty solid backup big stats to me. But the eye test says he could be doing more. His interior positioning is suspect and it feels like we see more volleyball tip-backs than solid rebounds. So why not Thad? There is nobody more detrimental to this Suns team than Drew Eubanks.— PHX Fans (@PHXFansAZ) March 10, 2024 “If the matchup fits, then we’ll use him,” head coach Frank Vogel said after the Suns lost to the Celtics. “For now he’s behind Drew on the depth chart.” We have two different factors at play here that I think we need to consider. The first is the “grass is greener” theory. Whenever we watch basketball as intensely as those who are reading this do, we notice the errors. We notice the small intricacies that led to an unsuccessful play. We find frustration in the imperfections. And we think the solution is always, “Well, if so-and-so was in the game, that would not have happened.” I’m here to tell you that the grass isn’t always greener. If Thad had earned those minutes, we would’ve found the faults. We would’ve questioned his positioning and hustle, conditioning and effort. The only scenario in which that doesn’t occur is if he entered the game and played like prime Dennis Rodman. “We need to see more Roddy!” “Give him a chance!” “You traded for him, why isn’t he playing?!” David Roddy comes in and clanks multiple line-drive three-pointers against Boston. The crowd goes silent. The rumblings on Twitter cease. “Why isn’t Thad playing?!” Oy. Not everyone can play every game people! The Suns have 16 guys on the roster! There are only 240 minutes available to disperse. What is this? Participation trophy Little League?! The Suns need to focus on continuity and chemistry, not “let’s give everyone a chance to play in the off chance that one guy will have a decent game”. With 15 games left, it’s not a solid strategy. This brings me to my second factor. The Suns are preparing for a playoff run. Drew Eubanks was brought here to fulfill a role and Thad Young is an aging buyout market player who is undersized at the five. If he were to chip into those 15.5 minutes that Eubanks is playing, it’d do more harm than help. Perhaps not in the game, but in the grand scheme of roster construction and player production. Experimentation time is over. What Frank Vogel is doing is instilling confidence in Eubanks, who will be playing meaningful minutes in the postseason. Sure, if the matchup dictates, he’ll put Thad in, but Eubanks is his first choice. He needs him to enter the playoffs confident in his role and focused on taking risks on the court. If Eubanks isn’t sure about his role, he’ll play tentative. He’ll be playing without an edge. He’ll be trying not to make a mistake, for if he does, his minutes are gone. That is not what you need from someone who has to play on the block and crash the boards. You want him aggressive. You need him to take chances. Will we see Thaddeus Young here and there? Sure. But I doubt we’ll see him as much as the fan base wants. This means our timelines will continue to be filled with “We want Thad” comments every time the opposition grabs a rebound instead of Eubanks. Oh well, that is the nature of sports. Always believing the solution lies in the unknown. Source: https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... oung-a-run