Bean Burrito / Nick Young Appreciation Thread.

[doclinkin]

Aka Noodles, his USC nickname for his long boneless goofy silly long arms and floppy aspect.
Aka N1-on-5 (credit hands11 if I recall correct-like) for his propensity to dribble until all the attention is on him before jacking up a fadey.

Kid needs a thread for a backpat. I couldn't find one, but mods may feel free to merge with any bump.

Seems we normally create appreciation threads when players are underrepped and undernoticed. Begs for respect due. That said, tough to argue with the 4-1 record with The Bean Burrito as a starter. His defense has been a revelation, he pestered Brandon Jennings into a couple ill-advised shots, equivalent to turnovers, and while his team defense still occasionally betrays a lack of situational awareness, when given one opponent to shadow he's a tough problem to solve for the opponent. He earns significant credit for relegating DeSteve to a deep bench role by showing himself to be an important and necessary Defensive asset.

Playing with the starters he clearly understands he doesn't need to run the show and gets free for open shots. Unlike Mike Miller he's willing to actually shoot the ball when he touches it, opening up opportunities for other players to get open. He's actually rebounded a little (as he showed he can while playing SF his 2nd year at USC). Heck he's actually made a pass or two that led to a bucket. Yes, he'll still overdribble when he forgets himself, and he still sometimes thinks he can split the defense between a man and his shadow, but it's nice to see the slow dawning realization that while his natural talents aren't good enough by themselves, still, when he puts in the work and balances humility with certitude he can actually play the game a bit at this level.

Good work Young Gun.

[nate33]

His man-to-man defense has been superb. I still can't believe how well he guarded DWade and Iggy. I hope he continues to embrace his role as a stopper. It'll help keep him on the court even when the shots aren't falling.

Since his comeback against Philly, he has averaged 15.8 points per game with a TS% of .518 (in 31 mpg). That's pretty good for a defensive ace but not so good for a designated scorer. Given his mediocre shooting percentage, I would prefer that he keep the number of shot attempts down around 12 or so, like he has in the last 3 games. He needs to shoot better if he wants to shoot 20+ shots like in the Miami game.

[Ruzious]

His passing has definitely improved. He's just got to put his mind to it. And what he should be working on is - spot up 3's. The Bucks have a few players with far less talent than Nick who are in the NBA because they spot up for 3's and make them.

[doclinkin]

His man-to-man defense has been superb. I still can't believe how well he guarded DWade and Iggy. I hope he continues to embrace his role as a stopper. It'll help keep him on the court even when the shots aren't falling.

Since his comeback against Philly, he has averaged 15.8 points per game with a TS% of .518 (in 31 mpg). That's pretty good for a defensive ace but not so good for a designated scorer. Given his mediocre shooting percentage, I would prefer that he keep the number of shot attempts down around 12 or so, like he has in the last 3 games. He needs to shoot better if he wants to shoot 20+ shots like in the Miami game.

Tough to complain about 21 points on 12 shots though. And if a player goes 7-for-7 from the free throw line, I'm happy to let them be aggressive.

As for the Miami game, every now and again a shooter needs to blow the dirt out their carburetor and gun until they find their range. Nick was needing to remind himself that he can actually shoot the ball, he's a confidence player who occasionally sulks and gets down on himself if he misses a shot. If his coach and teammates are letting him get loose and go off, he won't check over his shoulder the next time he misses a shot. Then the rest of his game starts to fall in line.

Nah. I'll forgive him a night or two of sub-par shooting on any day where he can frustrate Dwyane Wade and hold him in check. If that's what keeps him active at both ends, then far as I'm concerned Nick can go get it.

[Hoopalotta]

As seen against Wade, he has the potential to be a 'star killer' in that he can play real tight on the ball defense and then make 'em work on the other end as well. I'd love to see him at 28-30 high energy minutes, with lots of running around screens in the half court sets.

As alluded above, he's not incredibly comfortable with the long ball 3 as yet. He can hit it, but he just much prefers to shoot at about 20 feet on in. Generally, you'd say that was a tragedy from an efficiency standpoint, especially off the dribble, but I think Nick can get to the upper echelons of the league on mid range jump shooting if he's able to grasp everything else well enough to get a chance. Of course you'll never hit real high true shooting percentages on 2 point J's.....but.....

The one silver lining, and it's a thick one, is that Nick running around off screens all day and shooting high efficiency two pointers requires WAAAAY more energy to guard than it does a guy spotting up at the three point line (actually, the other advantage is that it's a bit unique in this day and age). And you can't just let him go and get hot, he'll start cutting in the lane and getting to the line. So there you have the 'star killer' angle, he has the potential to take a go-to two guard out of his comfort zone.

It's pretty amazing how quickly that situation turned around.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Once Miller is back, D Steve will be completely out of the lineup.

+100000 for Nick

[DaRealHibachi]

Props to the Goofy One...

Played great in the games he started, amazing D and mostly great shot selection... If he keeps it up, he'll most def be our SG for the future... This is the Nick I wanted to see starting this season...

Keep it up Nick!!!

It's funny though, that especially with our team, it's like the injuries were blessings in disguise;

Etan Thomas, 2 years ago went down with injury, Wood finally got the PT he deserved and stepped up in a major way...
AJ was out, 7DD stepped up in a major way... Even now (with much less time) he's getting things done...
All our PG's went down, we got 4th Quarter Boyk...
Miller went out, Young stepping up bigtime...

I dunno, our "curse" hasn't really been a curse in hindsight...

[GhostsOfGil]

Props to the Goofy One...

Played great in the games he started, amazing D and mostly great shot selection... If he keeps it up, he'll most def be our SG for the future... This is the Nick I wanted to see starting this season...

Keep it up Nick!!!

It's funny though, that especially with our team, it's like the injuries were blessings in disguise;

Etan Thomas, 2 years ago went down with injury, Wood finally got the PT he deserved and stepped up in a major way...
AJ was out, 7DD stepped up in a major way... Even now (with much less time) he's getting things done...
All our PG's went down, we got 4th Quarter Boyk...
Miller went out, Young stepping up bigtime...

I dunno, our "curse" hasn't really been a curse in hindsight...

True!!! until.... arenas goes down and we sign him to 111 million dollars!

[DaRealHibachi]

Props to the Goofy One...

Played great in the games he started, amazing D and mostly great shot selection... If he keeps it up, he'll most def be our SG for the future... This is the Nick I wanted to see starting this season...

Keep it up Nick!!!

It's funny though, that especially with our team, it's like the injuries were blessings in disguise;

Etan Thomas, 2 years ago went down with injury, Wood finally got the PT he deserved and stepped up in a major way...
AJ was out, 7DD stepped up in a major way... Even now (with much less time) he's getting things done...
All our PG's went down, we got 4th Quarter Boyk...
Miller went out, Young stepping up bigtime...

I dunno, our "curse" hasn't really been a curse in hindsight...

True!!! until.... arenas goes down and we sign him to 111 million dollars!

[cedric76]

do u see him keeping it up?

[daSwami]

ok someone 'splain the "bean burrito" thing to me. i don't get it.

[fishercob]

Any idea how to find out PER for an individual game or a sampling of games?

I ask because despite his recent success, Nick's PER still sub-10.

[nate33]

Any idea how to find out PER for an individual game or a sampling of games?

I ask because despite his recent success, Nick's PER still sub-10.

PER is reliant on team statistics and league statistics. You can't do it from a box score alone.

Best I can do is give you his stats over the last 10 games:

Code: Select all

Player           PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO eFG%  TS%  PER
young,nick      17.8  3.8  2.3  0.7  0.0  2.3 .466 .502 11.7

While we're at it, let's give the per-36 stats for the entire team over the past 10 games:

Code: Select all

Player           PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO eFG%  TS%  PER
arenas,gilbert  17.5  4.0  7.3  1.3  0.4  3.7 .415 .456 13.5
young,nick      17.8  3.8  2.3  0.7  0.0  2.3 .466 .502 11.7
butler,caron    15.6  6.1  1.7  1.3  0.2  2.7 .470 .545 13.1
jamison,antawn  21.1  9.3  1.3  1.1  0.4  1.4 .560 .574 21.7
haywood,brendan 10.5 11.4  0.4  0.8  2.0  1.5 .591 .603 16.6
boykins,earl    17.3  2.9  7.1  0.8  0.0  3.1 .465 .536 16.5
foye,randy      10.7  1.8  1.5  0.7  0.4  2.9 .294 .378  1.0
stevenson,desha  4.7  3.0  3.0  0.3  0.3  0.7 .300 .397  4.1
miller,mike     14.7  4.5  3.8  0.3  0.0  2.5 .717 .734 15.4
mcguire,dominic  4.5  9.0  0.8  0.0  0.8  0.0 .375 .375  4.1
blatche,andray  13.7  8.2  2.3  1.5  1.3  1.6 .450 .483 14.3
mcgee,javale    10.6  8.1  0.0  0.5  8.1  0.5 .444 .509 19.9

[queridiculo]

I'd rather not see this thread on the main forum page to be quite honest. Youngs state is so fragile it seems like the proverbial butterfly's wing can put him in a months long funk.

[doclinkin]

ok someone 'splain the "bean burrito" thing to me. i don't get it.

Bog.

[hands11]

His passing has definitely improved. He's just got to put his mind to it. And what he should be working on is - spot up 3's. The Bucks have a few players with far less talent than Nick who are in the NBA because they spot up for 3's and make them.

Nice to see Nick settling in. Some have been strong believer in his defense for a while. It was only his immature all guns blaring approach that keep him from seeing any court time. He was in a word..

N1 on 5 and just couldn't transition into a team NBA player. This was one of the reason I hoped he would get some run with the starters. It the best place for him. Gil in his ear telling him to shoot or not. Other players who can shoot and score so he can focus on other areas of the game.

Now that he is in the starting roll, I hope he plays well enough to stay their so when MM comes back he can come off the bench.

But while Nick as a starter is good, I dont think we will be racking up four out of five wins without Boykins.

GA/Boykins
NY/MM
CB/DMAC
AJ/Dray
BH/McGee/Berto

If Nick has finally arrived, we wont need to resign Foye. This should be interesting to see how this team gets molded moving forward. I can see things going several different ways.

For now there is no doubt a log jam at SG if Nick, MM and Foye are battling it out... Now that Nick is in the running again. Thats not even taking into account that Gil is playing some SG now.

Im still interested to see what Crit can do before the season is over. He is a good defender at the point and hes 6-5 and he can run a good break. Its all going to come down to how much better is his shot this year.

Nice to have options finally.

[nate33]

I was just perusing the 82games.com data on Young and continue to be impressed.

Young's on/off differential is +7.3. He makes the team 1.2 points better on offense and 6.7 points better on D when he is on the floor. When he plays, the Wizards outscore the opposition 103.6 to 102.2. When he is off the floor, the Wizards are outscored 111.2 to 105.1.

Young improves the team's offensive eFG% by 1.6% when he is on the court. Defensively, he hurts the opponent's offensive eFG% by 3.4% That's a tremendous impact.

The individual PER numbers are also notable. Young posts a relatively unimpressive PER of 13.2 when he plays SG. But his counterpart posts an incredibly low PER of 9.3! And this despite Young playing about 35% of his total minutes against Wade, Gordon and Iguodala.

The only place where Young substantially hurts the team is in offensive rebounding. For some reason, his presence lowers the team's ORB% by a huge 7.5%. Oddly, he actually helps the defensive rebounding a bit (0.8%). One guess is that Boykins usually plays when Young is out and Boykin's dribble penetration leads to offensive rebounds.

(Note: all of this data should be taken with a grain of salt given the low sample size.)

Flip made a comment last game about his quick hook of Young in the first quarter. Flip said that Young was in the wrong place on defense on two occassions. What is it about Young that makes coaches want to pull him out of the game? This happened all last year too. Young had incredible on/off differentials but couldn't even take Stevenson's minutes. Perhaps Young does get into the wrong position at times, but he sure as hell must be doing something right for the team to consistently do so well when he is on the court. Everybody goes ga ga about Oberto's team impact. Going by on/off differential, Young crushes Oberto. (Oberto posts a mere +3.8 on/off differential.)

I mentioned in another thread and I'll say it again: statistically, Young has been the best guard on the roster (other than Mike Miller). He is outplaying Arenas, Foye, Stevenson and Boykins. Can we please get the man some more minutes? If Flip wants to get Boykins in the game, then Boykins should be taking minutes from Arenas, not Young.

[nate33]

Does anybody know why Young was benched in the 2nd half? I can understand the tactical move to start Stevenson in order to contain Ray Allen, but Young didn't even set foot on the floor in the 2nd half? It seemed like more of a disciplinary move rather than purely a tactical decision.

(I'll note that Young's on/off differential was 0 in a half in which the team fell behind by 14 points. As usual, Young appears to be the scapegoat when the stats don't reflect that he performed poorly.)

[Hoopalotta]

Yeah, he's an easy target for a quick hook. I'm waiting for Flip to do one of those with Blatche starting the second half at the expense of a forward.

[dobrojim]

was wondering the same thing

DS did OK but for N1 not to get any burn at all was notable.