Thanks for your responses!l
It turns out I was wrong. He does not want to burn his points. He doesn't know what to do with them on the one hand but on the other hand doesn't want to get ripped off. I told him he should just sell them and buy a revenue ticket but he is concerned with taxes and other problems from selling his points.
So after spending time with him he understands that what he wants is a saver award but is not really willing to put in the time to find one. My guess is that he'll just buy a revenue ticket.
1. Trade points for a ticket instead of getting a check.
2. Pay someone a nominal fee to find availability and book.
In general, SPG is not the best currency to be starting with, as the flight needs to be available when points show up to the airline account, not when the transfer is initiated.