Nick Young

ZitPopper · Post #1 » by **ZitPopper** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:31 am

I noticed he was doing really well in the summer league (yeah, I know), and I was just curious, what do you think of Young? How good do you think he can become? How did the trade for Miller/Foye affect Young's chances of getting extended minutes in Washington next season? Is there still a shot that he'll become a star in this league?

Thanks for any info.

DaRealHibachi · Post #2 » by **DaRealHibachi** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:30 am

He's a scorer who doesn't do much else... When he's on, he can score allot of points in a small amount of time... Can be very inconsistent also with his scoring... 4 nights in a row he can go off for almost 30ppg, than go a month scoring 10ppg... His ceiling is probably a more athletic Rip Hamilton, but unless he does more than scoring alone (like more dedicated defense, passing, anything), he'll be nothing more than instant offense of the bench... Star...??? Not really... 6th MOTY, plausible...

The trade just let him know he's expendable, so we might have a breakout year from him this year...

NbdyBeatsTheWiz · Post #3 » by **NbdyBeatsTheWiz** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:39 pm

DaRealHibachi wrote:He's a scorer who doesn't do much else...

Pretty much. For example with all those points you've seen him score this summer league, he's logged- count 'em- ZERO assists.

He's not much more than a microwave of offense off the bench. That's a good thing don't get me wrong, and something championship teams need. But he's not All-star material or anything by any means IMO.

rl25g · Post #4 » by **rl25g** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:56 pm

the second coming of JR Smith

dlts20 · Post #5 » by **dlts20** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:46 pm

I always felt that NY along with our other young guys get a very bad wrap on here. I dont think he's just a scorer. I think he's just really been put in a bad spot. Without Gil weve basically had NO PG for 2 straight years so our O has basically went from fast break to strictly half court and 99% of the time its all one on one. How many assist is he going to get like that and how easy is it for anyone to score? Everything changes with Gil on the court. I think all our guys will look 10x better with him on the floor.

Now you fast forward to the SL and he has no assist but look at his role. On nearly every single play so far he has received the ball off the screen just ready to shoot. He even complained about it after game 1 and said that he's basically just a shooter in this Offense. Again, he has no one to pass to in the SL except Blatche. No one else has showed to be a real scorer. I hate it when people compare him to JR Smith. He is in no way a gunner or strictly a scorer like him. I think you will see him do very well this year when we are fully healthy. He along with our other young guys will fit in very nicely when we're running non stop and he's got other scorers in every spot around him.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #6 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:49 pm

rl25g wrote:the second coming of JR Smith

JR is a pure scorer who is the same age as Nick. JR came straight out of HS. He's at this point with more years in the league IMO a better shooter than Nick; and JR''s bigger, stronger, and much better defensively.

Nick is a similar player to JR, rl25g, like you said. I could see Nick blow up offensively, like JR. with more consistency on his shot. However, I don't see Nick being as physical defensively as JR.

I think JR's a better player, but would love to see Nick prove me wrong.

ZonkertheBrainless · Post #7 » by **ZonkertheBrainless** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:51 pm

He's a good scorer, is trying to learn how to come off screens like ol' whatsisname on the pistons. Has long arms and is making progress on defense. Decent bench player who in a season or two could start and not do too badly.

Post #8 » by **nate33** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:48 pm

I think Nick Young is going to surprise a lot of people with his defense this year. Last year, he was pretty decent on D. Now he's got a real coach with a logical defensive philosophy, as well as a defensive anchor in the paint behind him.

fishercob · Post #9 » by **fishercob** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:56 pm

nate33 wrote:I think Nick Young is going to surprise a lot of people with his defense this year. Last year, he was pretty decent on D. Now he's got a real coach with a logical defensive philosophy, as well as a defensive anchor in the paint behind him.

Here's hoping. If he does -- and the assumptions upon which you base your assertion hold true -- the Wiz are going to be stinking good. So that's pretty awesome.

Brenice · Post #10 » by **Brenice** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:56 pm

Nick is growing into a more well rounded player and well rounded scorer. The reason he is in summer-league is not to pass the ball(0 assists) but to work on playing without the ball(going around screens and the conditioning it takes to do it like Rip, and shooting off the pass, not ISO's). I think his ceiling is higher than Rip's. His defense is improving.

Post #11 » by **LyricalRico** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:59 pm

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:
rl25g wrote:the second coming of JR Smith

JR is a pure scorer who is the same age as Nick. JR came straight out of HS. He's at this point with more years in the league IMO a better shooter than Nick; and JR''s bigger, stronger, and much better defensively.

Nick is a similar player to JR, rl25g, like you said. I could see Nick blow up offensively, like JR. with more consistency on his shot. However, I don't see Nick being as physical defensively as JR.

I think JR's a better player, but would love to see Nick prove me wrong.

Smith is stronger than Young but I'm not sure I'd call JR a good defender. I would think that Young would have the potential to be the better of the two on defense because of his length. Smith is definitely more versatile offensively, though. Not to mention the consistency. Let's see if Flip can get Nick to be something similar.

rockymac52 · Post #12 » by **rockymac52** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:29 pm

i could see young blossoming with saunders both offensively and defensively like nate said. I think the summer league play from nick so far indicates he's at least understanding and enjoying the new offense where he's going to come off screens and get open jumpers. it's not what he's used to, but it plays to his strengths perfectly and i think he's beginning to understand that. he's got to realize that at his age, he doesn't have time to sit around and slowly develop if he wants to become a good player. to maximize his potential, he needs to step into a role on this team, like a spot up shooter off screens, before he can reach his star potential. i'm not saying i think he'll ever become a star, because he really is pretty one dimensional, but he has to believe that he has it in him, and there's clearly flashes of brilliance. i think his offense could become instantly better in this system this coming season, but his defense is more of a prolonged development. first he needs to want to get better defensively, and want to play good defense. one he accepts that, then he needs to practice and actually gain the skills and instincts it takes to be a good defender. so much about individual defense is instincts IMO, and those can't be taught in a day. He needs to continue to learn new strategies and techniques, and see in real life in game action what works and what fails, and eventually (hopefully only a few seasons) he may be able to completely grasp it and become a real capable defender.

Hoopalotta · Post #13 » by **Hoopalotta** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:35 pm

It's tough to have the feeling that you wanted to go,
But still have the feeling that you wanted to stay.
Start to go.
Change your mind.
Start to go again but change your mind again.
It's tough to have the feeling that you wanted to go,
But still have the feeling that you wanted to stay.
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.
I'll go.
I'll stay.
Screw this.
Can't miss.

pancakes3 · Post #14 » by **pancakes3** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:41 pm

jamal crawford with better percentages

Post #15 » by **LyricalRico** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:50 pm

pancakes3 wrote:jamal crawford with better percentages

Actually, Crawford is much more versatile than Young. Much better ball handler and passer. Crawford is also pretty clutch IMO. (If he wasn't overpaid he'd probably be better appreciated.) Young is a much more one-dimensional player.

DCZards · Post #16 » by **DCZards** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:49 pm

LyricalRico wrote:

Actually, Crawford is much more versatile than Young. Much better ball handler and passer. Crawford is also pretty clutch IMO. (If he wasn't overpaid he'd probably be better appreciated.) Young is a much more one-dimensional player.

I agree with you on Jamal. When he was the first or second option with the Knicks you could see that he had a pretty versatile offensive game. He was also super clutch as a Knick. I recall him burning the Zards once or twice.

MJG · Post #17 » by **MJG** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:56 pm

pancakes3 wrote:jamal crawford with better percentages

Numbers-wise, he reminds me more of Michael Redd, minus the bulk threes (though plus some non-awful defense).

Post #18 » by **TheSecretWeapon** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:13 pm

Nick doesn't remind me of Crawford or Redd. How about Trent Tucker?

Hoopalotta · Post #19 » by **Hoopalotta** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:54 pm

One thing I wonder about that statistical comparison though is did any of those other guys exhibit such up and down games as Young?

For an player who had a sub-par PER, he did manage to infuse more than a stretches of spectacular scoring. If he could cut down on the Mr. Hyde aspect through good coaching and off ball movement, he could improve more markedly than a sober numeric analysis might indicate.

Post #20 » by **TheSecretWeapon** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:17 pm

I can take a more thorough look at the game logs when I have more time, but a quick perusal says yes, guys I compared him to in my blog were up and down too.

But the question here reminds me of a quick blog entry I did back in March. The "If he could cut down on the Mr. Hyde aspect..." thought suggests that Nick's "true" level is the good stuff. If he could just cut out the bad stuff, he'd be great. But, does his performance in his "stretches of spectacular scoring" reflect his "true" ability, or are they just the "good" stuff from a below-average player?

In other words, is Nick a very good player who just needs consistency, or is he a below-average player who needs get better?