Young improved on D?

[BballTim]

I don't doubt you because there are 20 or so scout/mock sources. I know you just doubt me lol

  Maybe you should re-read your posts before you say you don't doubt me.

[Csfan1984]

I don't doubt you because there are 20 or so scout/mock sources. I know you just doubt me lol

  Maybe you should re-read your posts before you say you don't doubt me.

I am assuming you could have seen a early different mock at any point. Not the last week ones is all. Giving you that as as compromise. Based on stuff I saw, up to day stuff Pierce was not top 3. I stand on that. Plus Pierce didn't go top three so obviously you saw an old one or a not very good one.

[nickagneta]

I don't doubt you because there are 20 or so scout/mock sources. I know you just doubt me lol

  Maybe you should re-read your posts before you say you don't doubt me.

I am assuming you could have seen a early different mock at any point. Not the last week ones is all. Giving you that as as compromise. Based on stuff I saw, up to day stuff Pierce was not top 3. I stand on that. Plus Pierce didn't go top three so obviously you saw an old one or a not very good one.

Color me skeptical that you saw any last minute, up to date mocks that had Pierce dropping out of the top three and yet never saw an earlier mock, and there were tons at the reliable sites, that didn't have him top 3. I followed that draft extremely closely and even the Globe had Pierce top 3 that day.

Its off topic and I have spent way too much time talking about it but let me just say, I really don't believe you saw anything reliable that had Pierce dropping since the televised draft was shocked that Pierce wasn't top 3 and made a huge deal of the fact that he dropped and dropped and because everything I saw during those mocks had him top 3.

[chambers]

I'll urge CBers to keep the James Young /pierce comparisons at bay- that kind of comparison is unfair and Pierce although older at draft night- was a much more complete player with inherit natural ability in 'can't teach' fields like footwork and anticipation that the great players generally come into the league with ie Jabari Parker, Irving, embid etc...
Young is waaaay off in some of these critical areas, and while he's got time to develop, it's still unfair to expect him to be more than a role playing bench small forward/ deadeye shooter.

Patience and low expectations are probably fair to label our hopes for James Young.
Of course that's just my opinion, ignore it if you choose.

[DarkAzcura]

I'll urge CBers to keep the James Young /pierce comparisons at bay- that kind of comparison is unfair and Pierce although older at draft night- was a much more complete player with inherit natural ability in 'can't teach' fields like footwork and anticipation that the great players generally come into the league with ie Jabari Parker, Irving, embid etc...
Young is waaaay off in some of these critical areas, and while he's got time to develop, it's still unfair to expect him to be more than a role playing bench small forward/ deadeye shooter.

Patience and low expectations are probably fair to label our hopes for James Young.
Of course that's just my opinion, ignore it if you choose.

I agree with you generally, but I think it's far too early to judge whether Young has that 'inherit natural ability', though. He is 18 after all. I never saw Pierce play in his freshman year, but Young was actually only a little worse as a college freshman than Pierce statistically per minute. Doesn't really mean much, though, if Pierce had that smooth footwork even in his freshman year.

Young may be the Paul Pierce of this draft. Pierce had love and hate from day one. A lot of people didn't think Pierce was on the level of a lot of the guys drafted ahead of him. Pierce improved and was killer for this team. An all time great top 150 player for sure. Young could do the same things as an over judged scorer who has all the tools to dominate games in the future. Just like Pierce did in the past.

I know this is supposed to be a pro-Paul Pierce post, but top 150 is selling him way short.  He's easily in the top 60 and has an argument for top 40 in my opinion.

[Vermont Green]

For the comparison of Young and Pierce, I think the big difference is that when drafted, Pierce was 21 years old and had played 3 seasons at Kansas.  Young is 18 and has one year at Kentucky.

Young is an upside risk pick, almost like picking a guy out of high school.  Pierce had a solid established resume but maybe the teams that passed on him thought he had less ceiling.

This just shows that there is luck and chance involved in drafting, maybe as much as 50% vs. science.  If Pierce had been taken earlier, we easily could have ended up with one of the busts of the draft.

As for Young, we will just have to wait and see.  I don't expect an 18 year old to do much his first year or two.  It is nice to hear he is picking up defensive philosophies and seems to understand how important it is.  That can be half the battle.

I don't believe Pierce turned 21 until October of the year he was drafted. Young turned 19 in August.  Also, Young played one year of college, while Pierce played two. So the difference is two years in age and one year in college experience.

Expectations were definitely higher for Pierce, but they were both in pretty good drafts.

I think you are completely wrong about Pierce's college career; not sure why you are calling me out on that.

                 MIN   FG%   3P%   FT%  RPG  APG  TPG  BPG  SPG   PPG
95-96 Kansas     25.4  41.9  30.4  60.6  5.3  1.8  2.4  0.8  1.3  11.9
96-97 Kansas     28.1  48.8  46.5  71.7  6.8  2.1  3.0  0.8  1.7  16.3
97-98 Kansas     30.4  51.3  33.9  73.8  6.7  2.6  2.9  1.1  1.1  20.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS           28.1  48.1  35.5  69.7  6.3  2.2  2.8  0.9  1.4  16.4

Pierce was born Oct 1977 and Drafted in June of 1998, age 20 years 9 months.

Young was born Aug 1995, drafted June 2014, age 18 years 10 months (so yes, I rounded off one but not the other and exaggerated the age difference).

The difference is 2 years of age and two seasons of big time college basketball.  To me, those two years of maturity and those two seasons of experience are a huge difference.