Odd Man Out??? - Hunter Waived; Young Stays

[cl2117]

Disappointed with the choice. I didn't think RJ earned his spot, but I think Young did enough to lose his.

Young did seem improved this year, but not nearly by the margin I would expect or hope for, but I have said all along he clearly has more upside than Hunter and maybe that's what this came down to. I just can't imagine Young reaching that upside or improving to the point to where he contributes on this contract, but will happy to be proven wrong. Maybe this close call was enough of a wake-up call that he's going to start turning things around. He's got such a beautiful stroke, if he could start knocking down the corner 3 consistently he might actually play some non-garbage time minutes, but I'm not holding my breath.

That being said though this likely is a bit of an inconsequential move in the grand scheme of things, so it is what it is. Hope RJ catches on somewhere decent. He seems like a good kid.

[Cuban Pete]

This was the right move. For the first time since he was drafted Young has improved his game & has continued to add weight from when he was drafted. Hunter did neither of those two things & his only NBA skill is his shooting, which hasn't translated to the pros. To make up for his lack of athleticism/defense Hunter needed to be a knockdown shooter to stick around & that didn't happen.

Young's shooting numbers...

2014-15 eFG% .436 FT% .552
2015-16 eFG% .389 FT% .250

Perhaps you have a different meaning of "improvement".

Steal Rate/Block Rate

Young (531 MP) 1.3% / 0.4%
Hunter (315 MP) 2.2% / 1.0%

It seems you are referring to something else when you say "athleticism".

Shooting is the most important thing in today's NBA. Young sucks at it.
Hunter only played 315 minutes as a 22yo. Young has been a total bust after two seasons.

At least Hunter succeeded in college, while Young has sucked at all levels.

The Cs have little or no patience with young players. They made a callous decision after only 315 MP. I wonder if college or draft position was a deciding factor (Kentucky-17th) vs Georgia St-28th). Big name schools tend to produce overrated prospects. The Cs must do better drafting and developing young players. Young was a mistake and the team won't admit it.

[shawn unkempt]

Hunter is the type of guy who could end up carving out a career as a nice little role player if everything clicks for him. Not really sad to cut him, we have enough of those guys already on the team. It's kinda crazy that Young ended up showing more than him this preseason, he seemed so promising at the start of last year.

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

Young was the better of two choices. Young wont be a Celtics next year. 100% gone in 2017-2018

[sam_I_am]

Just a brief reprieve for Young. Next year we have Yabs, Zizic, Nets first rounder, 3 second round picks (not including ours which goes to Nets) looking to join roster +\- free agents that come or go. He has to take his game to a much higher level. I like this choice because there is now way RJ makes the team next year. Young has the talent and the sweet corner 3 - I'm still not optimistic he gets there as a Celtic.

[DarkAzcura]

I mean unless Young finally shows through this season, he's probably going to be gone by next season also anyway.

I don't mind the decision. I've always hoped for one of Young or Hunter to turn into that spot up shooter we've been wanting for a few years, but it was always unlikely either would up being that guy with the roster crunch. I don't think there has ever been much separation between the two, and the love Hunter got relative to Young kinda always surprised me. Hunter's shot selection is utterly terrible, and while he makes a nice pass or two every now and then, he also makes incredibly dumb ones, often forcing a pass into the paint resulting in a turnover (seemed to happen a lot this past pre-season..could have been Hunter trying to make home run plays to save his roster spot honestly). Where as with Young, you have a player who tends to be completely invisible when he's out there (changed a bit this past pre-season so credit to Young there). Both are bad things in their own way.

In the end, you have two players who have literally proven nothing in this league. One of them is two years younger and bigger. Despite being in the league one year longer, Young does still have more raw potential considering his age and size relative to Hunter..even if that raw potential is eh.

[cellar-door]

This was the right move. For the first time since he was drafted Young has improved his game & has continued to add weight from when he was drafted. Hunter did neither of those two things & his only NBA skill is his shooting, which hasn't translated to the pros. To make up for his lack of athleticism/defense Hunter needed to be a knockdown shooter to stick around & that didn't happen.

Young's shooting numbers...

2014-15 eFG% .436 FT% .552
2015-16 eFG% .389 FT% .250

Perhaps you have a different meaning of "improvement".

Steal Rate/Block Rate

Young (531 MP) 1.3% / 0.4%
Hunter (315 MP) 2.2% / 1.0%

It seems you are referring to something else when you say "athleticism".

Shooting is the most important thing in today's NBA. Young sucks at it.
Hunter only played 315 minutes as a 22yo. Young has been a total bust after two seasons.

At least Hunter succeeded in college, while Young has sucked at all levels.

The Cs have little or no patience with young players. They made a callous decision after only 315 MP. I wonder if college or draft position was a deciding factor (Kentucky-17th) vs Georgia St-28th). Big name schools tend to produce overrated prospects. The Cs must do better drafting and developing young players. Young was a mistake and the team won't admit it.

James Young won't be 22 until next summer.
They aren't basing this on those tiny samples of NBA play, they are basing it on future potential. I think the two are close, but Young is younger and has a much better body for the NBA.
It;s also a pretty small sample, but Young was the much better 3pt shooter in the D-League and in college, so there is more reason to think that he can be a good 3pt shooter going forward.

[Disinformation]

There's a whole lot of hand-wringing over two borderline NBA caliber players in here. I think whoever suggested Young's larger contract for a trade as being a factor is probably spot on. Neither guy will be in the league in two years.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

I'm going to be sick to my stomach if the Nets claim RJ Hunter and he helps them pick up a few extra wins. Let's go Sixers!!

I don't think playing RJ Hunter is likely to give a team MORE wins, likely the opposite. He's still a turnstile on D who can't rebound. I like his potential for a few years from now, but right now any team playing him real minutes is going to be awful.

He's still a 1st round pick, which you can't say about some of those scrubs sitting on their bench. I'm against anything that could possibly help the Nets upgrade their talent pool without giving anything up in return.

[cl2117]

Neither are likely here after this season anyway with Yabs, Zizic, the BKN pick and our 2nds coming up, but that's another reason why I thought Hunter would have been the right choice.

Young might have some more overall potential, but Hunter was in a position where he could have actually seen NBA minutes this season. And that might have resulted in him being a (very) low-level trade asset as opposed to Young who isn't going to really see the court this year at all. Maybe Hunter playing solid would have lined us up for a swap for Holmes with PHI or something along those lines.

I just don't see the value with Young for the Celtics. If I had to choose between the two I would choose the guy who might actually play THIS year, since neither are likely to be around longer than that.

[Curmudgeon]

The Celtics hae until 10/31 to pick up Young's option for 2017-18. Stay tuned.

[Dogen]

This was the right choice I think. Young still has potential. He'll get very limited minutes this year most likely even if he's on the active roster and he'll either start to live up to that potential or he'll simply be off contract and replaced next season. I liked the pick when it was made, and we knew it might be a few seasons for him to mature, so here it is.

If he doesn't produce results, there will be Yabs, Zeeks, a high pick and a few 2nds next year to take his place.

Good luck RJ! You'll get picked up sure enough.

[sam_I_am]

Sucks that RJ was cut on his 23rd birthday

[Banks2Pierce]

I just don't see the value with Young for the Celtics. If I had to choose between the two I would choose the guy who might actually play THIS year, since neither are likely to be around longer than that.

Hunter was more advanced than Young last season, but it looked like a negligible difference to me this preseason. Young's shooting might play in certain situations as he's actually shot >40% from 3 in the DLeague on high volume.

[DarkAzcura]

Neither are likely here after this season anyway with Yabs, Zizic, the BKN pick and our 2nds coming up, but that's another reason why I thought Hunter would have been the right choice.

Young might have some more overall potential, but Hunter was in a position where he could have actually seen NBA minutes this season. And that might have resulted in him being a (very) low-level trade asset as opposed to Young who isn't going to really see the court this year at all. Maybe Hunter playing solid would have lined us up for a swap for Holmes with PHI or something along those lines.

I just don't see the value with Young for the Celtics. If I had to choose between the two I would choose the guy who might actually play THIS year, since neither are likely to be around longer than that.

The bolded..not sure I totally agree. Maybe I'm missing something with Hunter, but I've never really been as impressed with him as some here in those limited minutes he played last year. Yeah, he makes a nice pass here and there, but overall, he seems to make really, really dumb plays quite often (30 foot 3 pointers early in the shot clock, passing into crowded paint). Also combine that with his weak body..I don't know. Hunter seems to play way above his talent level with some of the things he tries out there.

Young definitely seems to not understand the game as well (that's why he seems invisible out there most of the time), but I rarely see him make absurdly dumb mistakes. He's a bit slow making the right read, but at the very least I know he won't be forcing passes and taking 30 foot 3's which are pretty much automatic turnovers from RJ.

For a team looking to contend, I'd prefer the 15th man to be a guy who won't make big mistakes and try to play above his head. Really, though, both players really have some significant negatives holding them back from getting real rotation minutes.

[Dogen]

The Celtics hae until 10/31 to pick up Young's option for 2017-18. Stay tuned.

A lot can happen in a week and if an opportunity to improve the team comes up (another team's waived player?), Young could be gone soon. Having said that, I think he's going to stick around and his option picked up. Like Mickey, he's still developing and the team seems to like him, or at least sees something in him that many posters here don't.

[shawn unkempt]

Young was the better of two choices. Young wont be a Celtics next year. 100% gone in 2017-2018

Exactly how I feel. Young will get his usual garbage time minutes but nothing beyond that, and then he's gone. Whoever we cut was merely just a topic of curiosity more than anything.

[165bows]

Adam Himmelsbach ‏@AdamHimmelsbach

James Young: "I feel like this is even better than the draft really, earning this position."

My favorite part of the James Young experience so far by far. Nice statement.

[bucknersrevenge]

I mean unless Young finally shows through this season, he's probably going to be gone by next season also anyway.

I don't mind the decision. I've always hoped for one of Young or Hunter to turn into that spot up shooter we've been wanting for a few years, but it was always unlikely either would up being that guy with the roster crunch. I don't think there has ever been much separation between the two, and the love Hunter got relative to Young kinda always surprised me. Hunter's shot selection is utterly terrible, and while he makes a nice pass or two every now and then, he also makes incredibly dumb ones, often forcing a pass into the paint resulting in a turnover (seemed to happen a lot this past pre-season..could have been Hunter trying to make home run plays to save his roster spot honestly). Where as with Young, you have a player who tends to be completely invisible when he's out there (changed a bit this past pre-season so credit to Young there). Both are bad things in their own way.

In the end, you have two players who have literally proven nothing in this league. One of them is two years younger and bigger. Despite being in the league one year longer, Young does still have more raw potential considering his age and size relative to Hunter..even if that raw potential is eh.

Eloquent as ever DA. I was actualy leaning more toward Hunter. I was thinking that Young's years here would work against him. That we haven't seen a ton of improvement in the 2+ years he's been here whereas RJ has only been here for 1 year. Young has looked a little more visible during this preseason as you said but I equated it to too little too late for a kid who for whatever reason displayed no suddenness, no burst in his game and likely never will. Always looks like he's playing at half-speed out there, mentally and physically.

In fact, his years may have worked to his benefit. Younger player, more history, longer investment with the organization. Still younger than RJ makes him potentially a better trade asset down the line if he can build off of his preseason improvements. Not sure I agree with the selection but I do understand why it happened the way it did.

[London2Boston]

Honesty not fussed. They both suck and Young won't be here next year bar a miracle.