Rodney Hood is a real trickey pick. If he would've ended up anywhere but Utah (including here) I would be more excited. Of all the 3's outside of Jabari Parker, I think he was the most ready for both sides of the ball in the NBA. His basement is rotation player long-term. His ceiling is..my gut says 'Decent starter'. Kind of a 'you got what you got' kinda guy.
which was my primary reason for going with him over Young and some others. Hood can play on both sides of the ball and is more of a sure-thing at that stage than Young. I still see Young as a gamble -- hopefully a pleasant surprise -- but still a gamble he becomes anything useful.
But I think that was the whole point. Since we had two first round picks, why not take more of a gamble with one of them. Smart was I pretty safe pick so I like the strategy of going with the risky upside guy with the second pick. We are going to need to get really lucky in the draft along the way in order to get anywhere.
this time around, in a draft this deep and with their second pick only as far back as #17, I disagree that the point should have been to take a risk when there were arguably less-risky players still on the board in Hood and Harris. Hairston too for that matter.
I'm not against Young since we're still 2-3 years from when we'll be in a position to count on him to deliver but I really think Hood will get to the same level Young hopes to reach but years sooner. I still can't believe Danny passed on both Hood and Harris for Young but if Young fills out a bit he could very well be our starting SF after we jettison Green, Wallace and Turner.
I'm all for James Young. Kentucky would have almost definitely won the National Championship had Willie Cauly Stein been playing and James was a huge player for them. Personally, I believe James Young is a better prospect than Michael Kidd Gilchrest who was picked 2nd overall in 2012, some may say winning the championship played a minor role in his selection. Well, James was on an absolute stacked team and managed to put up 15ppg.
Anyways, James was the 2nd youngest kid drafted and will undoubtedly grow in many ways over the next year. I am really looking forward to him playing, hopefully he will be playing shooting guard though because it would suit him and the team better...imo