San Antonio Spurs: How Will Sam Young Fit In?


Sam Young Spurs

Pat Lovell – USA Today Sports Images

The San Antonio Spurs, as has become somewhat of the norm for them, weren’t incredibly active this offseason. After coming so close to becoming NBA Champions last season, the Spurs re-signed Manu Ginobili, gave Tiago Splitter an extension, and signed Marco Belinelli this summer. Though those moves keep things running smoothly in San Antonio, they also don’t make much of a splash.

Now it seems that the Spurs have made another pretty uneventful signing. According to Shams Cahrania of RealGM, the Spurs have reached an agreement with free-agent swingman Sam Young, who spent last season with the Indiana Pacers, playing big minutes as a wing defender off of the bench for Indiana.

Though Young is known primarily for his defensive abilities, which are admittedly admirable, it’s hard to ignore his extreme ineffectiveness on the offensive end of the floor. Last season for the Pacers, Young averaged just 2.8 points and 0.8 assists per game while shooting an abysmal 39.2 percent from the floor and only 30.8 percent from three. When Young would take a shot last season, it was comical to see the reactions of Pacers fans on social media because they all pretty much knew to expect a miss.

For the Spurs, Young could potentially see the same role as he played with the Pacers last season. He only played a little over 12 minutes per game last season, which seems about the max he will play in San Antonio. However, he could be used to relieve Kawhi Leonard at times and come in to play lockdown defense for short stretches. Even with that, though, it’s going to be interesting to see how he performs offensively in the Spurs system. As we’ve all seen, the Spurs get their role players open shots. Now we will see if Young can knock down those open looks or if he really is the definition of a defensive specialist.

Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.

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