Is Yabu a bust?

[SHAQATTACK]

Born to be a star in the Chinese Leagues

[Walker Wiggle]

Hard to say that a 23 year old playing in his 2nd NBA season is a bust. Especially one that hasn't had much of a chance to play. Also, the term "bust" is usually a reference to a higher pick, as in a Fultz or an Olawakandi. (Even in Fultz's case, I'd be careful using that term because, again, so young and inexperienced.)

[Triplenickle]

Well, I really believe he AND Williams would contribute to any other team than this one.

Seen him back people down around the rim to be useful, but of course Brad has no use for that and want more threes and running around chasing point guards.

[PhoSita]

Can you be a bust if you never appeared to be a likely NBA caliber prospect in the first place?

[PhoSita]

I am not sure you can really a player a bust when they are outside of the lottery. 

Teams get value out of mid-late 1st round picks all the time.

If you miss on a pick in the 25-30 range (e.g. RJ Hunter, JaJuan Johnson, etc) then that's fair enough, I suppose.  If you never find value in that range, you perhaps don't have as much of an excuse, but that's always a low percentage range to draft at.

15-20, or even 20-25 though, in that range there's always a good number of players available who end up contributing to teams.


So for example, the fact that James Young was never a useful NBA player isn't shocking nor is it a disaster for the Celtics, but it's also fair to point out that half a dozen players taken in the 1st round after James Young have earned playing time in the NBA and been at least somewhat useful.




The bottom line with Yabusele is that the greatest value he offered to the Celtics as a draft prospect was that he was willing to stay overseas for a year and not eat into the cap.

It would have been better if Ainge could have traded that pick for future value, but my assumption is that the offers weren't good.

[smokeablount]

Can you be a bust if you never appeared to be a likely NBA caliber prospect in the first place?

TP, this was basically my only strong disagreement with the late, great Saltlover (over whether RJ Hunter was a bust).

I said you can't be a bust without high expectations placed on you, and I think I maintain the same stance now with Yabu.

[PhoSita]

Can you be a bust if you never appeared to be a likely NBA caliber prospect in the first place?

TP, this was basically my only strong disagreement with the late, great Saltlover (over whether RJ Hunter was a bust).

I said you can't be a bust without high expectations placed on you, and I think I maintain the same stance now with Yabu.

I want to be clear though -- picking a guy who did not and still does not look like an NBA player at #16 is a questionable choice, at best.

Trading that 1st rounder for a couple future second round picks would have been a better option, especially if those 2nd rounders stand a good chance of being in the 30-35 range.

[Who]

Hard to say that a 23 year old playing in his 2nd NBA season is a bust. Especially one that hasn't had much of a chance to play.

It is his 3rd year isn't it?

It can't be only 2 years. Feels like he has been around (and stagnating) here for ages.

[Moranis]

Absolutely unequivocally a bust.  You don't expect every #16 pick to be John Stockton, but you should absolutely expect a credible rotation player at least and a guy that will see a long term 2nd contract.  Starting in 2007, these are the #16 picks

Nick Young
Marreseese Speights
James Johnson
Luke Babbitt
Nikola Vucevic
Lucas Nogueira
Royce White
Jusuf Nurkic
Terry Rozier
Guerschon Yabusele
Justin Patton
Zhaire Smith

Yabu stands out like a sore thumb in that list (aside from White and his mental issues and the 2 injured more recent picks).  Even Babbitt ended up with an 8 year career at 14 mpg.  Even going back farther where there were more less than stellar picks (Rodney Carney, Joey Graham, Kirk Snyder) they at least all managed 15 mpg for the life of their rookie contracts.  Aside from Houston's gamble on White in 2012, only Troy Bell in 2004 and Kirk Haston in 2001 have been worse #16 picks until you go all the way back to Maurice Martin in 1986. 

Yabu was a bust, plain and simple.  There really is no way around that.

[CF033]

Considering that Semi (2nd round/37th pick) is well ahead of him in the rotation then there is a chance you might think of him as a bust as this point. He isn't getting minutes because the coaching staff hasn't seen much from him to warrant more minutes to this point. Possibly on a team with less of a logjam of talent he could be seeing more time on the court.

I always forget that he was a 1st round/16th pick, I always think of him as a late second rounder.

Overall I don't think the jury is out on him yet, but I don't see high odds of him becoming a big contributor at this point.

[PhoSita]

I always forget that he was a 1st round/16th pick, I always think of him as a late second rounder.

Exactly.  I think that says it all, actually. 

[Wretch]

People forget our roster back then. Yabu was picked both for his potential/physical tools and his ability/willingness to be stashed for a year. I'm not saying I'm not disappointed that he hasn't gotten more run but a player picked outside of the lottery has long odds to make a second contract.

I remember a quote from Tommy way back when that end of bench players are often kept for the effort they put in during practice against "stars.". They may not have a great chance to play but they need to make the starters work every day in practice.

[apc]

Given an opportunity he could be at least as good as big baby (only better teammate and team player)

[tstorey_97]

With a bunch of injuries Yabu starts.

Would he be as effective as big baby was in the playoffs?

No.

Gino time = Yabu = bust

[smokeablount]

Can you be a bust if you never appeared to be a likely NBA caliber prospect in the first place?

TP, this was basically my only strong disagreement with the late, great Saltlover (over whether RJ Hunter was a bust).

I said you can't be a bust without high expectations placed on you, and I think I maintain the same stance now with Yabu.

I want to be clear though -- picking a guy who did not and still does not look like an NBA player at #16 is a questionable choice, at best.

Trading that 1st rounder for a couple future second round picks would have been a better option, especially if those 2nd rounders stand a good chance of being in the 30-35 range.

Oh 100%, it def wasn't a good choice.  Either kicking the can down the road on the pick like you proposed, or pick at #16 and just cut Young/Hunter/both outright (there were some intriguing options & higher upside gambles on the board like Levert, Skal, etc). 

EDIT - Hindsight is 50/50 but this seemed obvious at the time.  I was hoping for Skal or Levert and when we drafted Yabu, I wasn't happy.  I would've been fine with Zizic at #16 and an American in the 20's too, but Yabu at #16 was frustrating.