Poll: Exercise or Decline Yabusele's Third-Year Option?

[bogg]

The Celtics are going to need some cheap talent going forward and I think Yabu still has a lot of potential. He'll likely be worth the (relatively) small amount of money.

What is his NBA skill?

He's a 270-pound block of muscle with good wheels and a level of comfort operating with the ball in space that's better than most centers out there. It's not hard to see the physical tools that make him an interesting project. The question is whether he puts the game together mentally to actually harness those tools. Whether or not he actually accomplishes that, it was always going to take more than a couple months of sitting the bench for a conference finalist after spending the previous year playing glorified pickup games in China.

[KGs Knee]

The Celtics are going to need some cheap talent going forward and I think Yabu still has a lot of potential. He'll likely be worth the (relatively) small amount of money.

What is his NBA skill?

He's a 270-pound block of muscle with good wheels and a level of comfort operating with the ball in space that's better than most centers out there. It's not hard to see the physical tools that make him an interesting project. The question is whether he puts the game together mentally to actually harness those tools. Whether or not he actually accomplishes that, it was always going to take more than a couple months of sitting the bench for a conference finalist after spending the previous year playing glorified pickup games in China.

Yabu would have been better served by spending a few more years getting consistent PT against quality competition in Europe.  He did himself a disservice by demanding to be brought over so soon, and not be afforded the opportunity to better develop his game.  Few NBA teams can afford the luxury of giving consistent PT to someone so raw.

[gouki88]

Definitely exercise. Too early to give up on him

[CelticSooner]

I assume exercise because the C's will already be over the tax next season and he could always be used as salary filler if need be.

[action781]

We will already have guaranteed contracts to Hayward, Horford, Kyrie (if resigns as expected), Smart, Tatum, Brown, Baynes, Robert Williams (8 players).  We have team option for Semi at half the price and is already a better player that we should exercise over Yabu (9 players).  We could have three first round draft picks this season (up to 12 players).  Rozier, Morris, and Theis could be resigned with bird rights (up to 15 players).

I don't know that we'll have all those players and draft picks next season, but we will probably bring several of them in and might find some MLE or BAE players available that are better than Yabu.  So I'll say unsure.  I'm not feeling so confident that Yabu is ever going to be a rotational player in the NBA.

[gouki88]

We will already have guaranteed contracts to Hayward, Horford, Kyrie (if resigns as expected), Smart, Tatum, Brown, Baynes, Robert Williams (8 players).  We have team option for Semi at half the price and is already a better player that we should exercise over Yabu (9 players).  We could have three first round draft picks this season (up to 12 players).  Rozier, Morris, and Theis could be resigned with bird rights (up to 15 players).

I don't know that we'll have all those players and draft picks next season, but we will probably bring several of them in and might find some MLE or BAE players available that are better than Yabu.  So I'll say unsure.  I'm not feeling so confident that Yabu is ever going to be a rotational player in the NBA.

If what we’ve seen from Semi is the “development” he’s made since last season, then he is imo unequivocally worse than Yabusele - Semi is just more versatile.
He’s also younger

[Celtics4ever]

He is too inconsistent for my tastes.  Good game and bad game, the preseason he has looked a little better but to read the posts here, you would think he is a world beater, which he is not.

[More Banners]

Just no room on the roster, barring a trade. A minimum contract vet would probably be both better and cheaper. No room for projects - that's what 2-ways are for.

And let's remember that in addition to the long rotation of very good players we have now, we could add a high lotto pick next year as well, possibly bumping Yabu further down the line.

If you love him, let him go...maybe he could get minutes elsewhere.

[Rosco917]

Yabu is an end of the bench player and that's about all he'll ever be. He's showed little growth, other than his posterior side, in the last two seasons. He's not fast, he's not athletic, he can't hit the 3 anywhere near consistently. He does have the ability to carve up space in the paint and score with his back to the basket a little...against second-line defenses.

I could never understand why Danny chose him in the draft in the first place, other than at that time he was a young stashable asset okay with playing in Europe for a season or two.

When I see other players like that Guard Lemon we have trying to make the team, I wonder that maybe we can do better.

[coco]

Yabu and Semi shouldn't get significant minutes during regular season.

[OldSchoolDude]

The Celtics are going to need some cheap talent going forward and I think Yabu still has a lot of potential. He'll likely be worth the (relatively) small amount of money.

What is his NBA skill?

He's a 270-pound block of muscle with good wheels and a level of comfort operating with the ball in space that's better than most centers out there. It's not hard to see the physical tools that make him an interesting project. The question is whether he puts the game together mentally to actually harness those tools. Whether or not he actually accomplishes that, it was always going to take more than a couple months of sitting the bench for a conference finalist after spending the previous year playing glorified pickup games in China.

I agree I think we should  take a shot on Zion Williamson.   I know the post is about Yabusele, but I think Zion is everything we hoped Yabusele could be right now. 

I don't see Yabusele with the team long term. but I would pick his offer up and try and trade him.  If we weren't looking at two lottery picks, the Kings and Grizzles picks, I would say Yabusele could stick around for the remainder  of his rookie deal, but now I'm thinking he'll need to go to make space for Zion Williamson and Bol Bol. 

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Bye bye, Yabu. You've been entirely underwhelming.

[BitterJim]

Yabu is too interesting a project to let him walk right now. I think you pick up the option, with the knowledge that you may have to pay someone to take it next summer. I don't think the possible downside of keeping him (needing to pay a team to take him next summer) matches the possible downside of declining the option now (losing years of cheap team control of a rotation player)

[mqtcelticsfan]

I’m pretty low on Yabusele, but given our current cap situation, I don’t really see the point in declining his option. We’ll be in the same spot financially with or without him, and at least with him you have a prospect with perhaps some untapped potential hanging around.

[nickagneta]

I think you exercise the option. Now that doesn't mean he will be making next year's team. We could have 4 up to 1st round draft picks next year. Maybe Morris and Theis get re-signed and Williams becomes something special. Lots could happen and if Yabu doesn't develop this year you can always trade him to open up a spot for one of our draft picks or a FA signing the taxpayer MLE.