Before the H2H league draft, I was convinced that in 5 years James Young would be one of the 10 best players in the entire draft. During my researching, most article that I read had him playing in the DLeague most of this season. To raw. No D. Needs time to mature. However, my gut told me that he would not only stay with the big club most/all of the year, but that he would also make an impact this season.
The more I thought about how he would get minutes though, the more confused I became. The Cs have soooooo many middle of the road SG/SFs. By draft-day, I was waffling on him a little bit. I decided to go with my gut on him and the rest of the draft.
Once the draft kicked off, things started to take shape and I estimated that I had about a 50/50 shot at him with the #16 pick. I knew MMSB was considering him at #13 b/c he needed guards and already selected Marcus, but he went LaVine (who I also really like).
The Juggs were on the clock. I was pretty confident that Webkins would select Bruno at #15, but the Juggs were the wildcard. He already messed up my #7 pick (and a contingency trade) by picking Elfid Payton at #6. The whole Utah Flash front office had a collective exhale when he went with Payne(who I can't get a handle on) at #14.
The Utah Flash were relieved & super excited to select Young at #1. The pick felt
GOOD.
IMO, the only reason that he was available at #16 was b/c he missed summer league. Had he played, I highly doubt he would have slipped past the Gambler at #10/#11. Now that camp is in full swing, the cat is out of the bag on Young. My gut, and C fans all over the place, are feeling that Young will make a better than expected impact this season.
Where will the minutes come from? I am not sure, but talent rises and Young may be the most talented guy on the Cs roster.
Mk
P.S. " I was convinced that in 5 years James Young would be one of the
10 5 best players in the entire draft."
P.P.S. 19 y/o Jusuf Nurkic, aka "The Bosnian Bear" also didn't play in the NBA Summer League. He's much more raw and project than Young, not ready for primetime. However he would have went a bit higher than #18, had more people got to see him play this summer. Plus, his father is a 7 foot tall, 400 pound cop.