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.