Chris Forsberg's great article on James Young's development

[PAOBoston]

[dang]. Young has a silky smooth shot. He reminds me of Michael Redd. That guy could flat out score. Hopefully he just not as injury prone or a defensive liability.

I'm actually all for him getting playing time  in the D League right now. Our bench is too crowded for him to get meaningful minutes. Might be more minutes to go around after the trade deadline.

[tazzmaniac]

On young, I wish the article has been more specific on exactly how is young is improving. Still, a nice read and good to see he takes defense seriously.

The Maine Red Claws games are available on youtube so you can see how he looks in games with very little d.       

[hwangjini_1]

On young, I wish the article has been more specific on exactly how is young is improving. Still, a nice read and good to see he takes defense seriously.

The Maine Red Claws games are available on youtube so you can see how he looks in games with very little d.     

thanks. i thought about that, but am not sure i want to devote THAT much time to watching young play. hence my lazy comment about hoping to have someone digest that info and feed it to me. 

[LooseCannon]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

[jpotter33]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

Has there been a problem with him not wanting to play D? I haven't heard anything about that, but it'd definitely be discouraging if that's the case.

If you have one, could you post a link discussing this issue about Young? Thanks.

[hwangjini_1]

found these concerning his defense.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/24/6342021/setting-expectations-for-boston-celtics-rookie-wing-james-young-kentucky-nba-draft-2014-analysis

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/analyzing-kind-player-james-young-090002355.html

both articles emphasize his lack of technique on defense. the second one also mentions his attitude as being poor. but whether this is coachable is a different question. we may have to wait and see.

quote from the second article:

"Young, as far as I'm concerned, was a terrible defender. At Kentucky he displayed poor footwork, off-ball awareness, and what appeared to be a lackadaisical attitude."

[Chris22]

found these concerning his defense.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/24/6342021/setting-expectations-for-boston-celtics-rookie-wing-james-young-kentucky-nba-draft-2014-analysis

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/analyzing-kind-player-james-young-090002355.html

both articles emphasize his lack of technique on defense. the second one also mentions his attitude as being poor. but whether this is coachable is a different question. we may have to wait and see.

quote from the second article:

"Young, as far as I'm concerned, was a terrible defender. At Kentucky he displayed poor footwork, off-ball awareness, and what appeared to be a lackadaisical attitude."

Wait....are we talking about Jeff Green or Young?

[KeepRondo]

found these concerning his defense.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/24/6342021/setting-expectations-for-boston-celtics-rookie-wing-james-young-kentucky-nba-draft-2014-analysis

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/analyzing-kind-player-james-young-090002355.html

both articles emphasize his lack of technique on defense. the second one also mentions his attitude as being poor. but whether this is coachable is a different question. we may have to wait and see.

quote from the second article:

"Young, as far as I'm concerned, was a terrible defender. At Kentucky he displayed poor footwork, off-ball awareness, and what appeared to be a lackadaisical attitude."

Wait....are we talking about Jeff Green or Young?

That would be great if we sent Jeff Green to the D league to work on his D.

[LooseCannon]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

Has there been a problem with him not wanting to play D? I haven't heard anything about that, but it'd definitely be discouraging if that's the case.

If you have one, could you post a link discussing this issue about Young? Thanks.

After the draft, this was written:

Young, however, is objectively not a good defender yet. He's inattentive, he's frequently late recovering to shooters, and he has a tendency to reach around defenders who beat him rather than fighting to stay in front of them.

All of these defensive problems are tendencies you'll see from teenagers at the local YMCA, and all are tendencies that will need correction as soon as possible at the NBA level. If they aren't, Young might be regarding in much the same way James Harden is, and it would take a minor miracle for Young to ever be as productive offensively as Harden.

The little I have seen of him playing suggests that this description is accurate.  There is a reason he has been called "Harden-esque" and the worst defender drafted in the first round.  Those are flaws that he can learn to correct in the D-League.

Maybe he needs the experience of being inserted into an NBA game early in the second quarter, hitting a couple of shots, then being yanked immediately for making a defensive mistake and sat for the rest of the game as a way to humble him.

Right now, I think the goal is to get him to be able to defend both wing positions so he is good enough to be usable as instant offense of the bench at either spot.

[jpotter33]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

Has there been a problem with him not wanting to play D? I haven't heard anything about that, but it'd definitely be discouraging if that's the case.

If you have one, could you post a link discussing this issue about Young? Thanks.

After the draft, this was written:

Young, however, is objectively not a good defender yet. He's inattentive, he's frequently late recovering to shooters, and he has a tendency to reach around defenders who beat him rather than fighting to stay in front of them.

All of these defensive problems are tendencies you'll see from teenagers at the local YMCA, and all are tendencies that will need correction as soon as possible at the NBA level. If they aren't, Young might be regarding in much the same way James Harden is, and it would take a minor miracle for Young to ever be as productive offensively as Harden.

The little I have seen of him playing suggests that this description is accurate.  There is a reason he has been called "Harden-esque" and the worst defender drafted in the first round.  Those are flaws that he can learn to correct in the D-League.

Maybe he needs the experience of being inserted into an NBA game early in the second quarter, hitting a couple of shots, then being yanked immediately for making a defensive mistake and sat for the rest of the game as a way to humble him.

Right now, I think the goal is to get him to be able to defend both wing positions so he is good enough to be usable as instant offense of the bench at either spot.

Hmmm, I knew his defense was horrible, but from what I've seen/heard from him I never would've thought it would've been an attitude/laziness problem. Apparently, Smart and Young are total opposites in alot of regards.

[Beat LA]

I really don't care about his defense at all, lol. He's still only 19, and you can always teach defense, but you can't teach this kid's love for the big moment, let alone that silky smooth shot of his.  Jameer Nelson is getting minutes and he can't guard anyone, Thornton and Turner are about average in this regard (at best), as well, and KO is meh (even though he's improved on that end so far this year). It's not like Young is trying to break into the rotation of a contender where the only way he'll get on the floor is if he plays defense.  I don't think that Pierce was required to be a good defender as a rookie, either, because guess what - just like now, we absolutely sucked, lol.  LET HIM PLAY.

[KeepRondo]

I really don't care about his defense at all, lol. He's still only 19, and you can always teach defense, but you can't teach this kid's love for the big moment, let alone that silky smooth shot of his.  Jameer Nelson is getting minutes and he can't guard anyone, Thornton and Turner are about average in this regard (at best), as well, and KO is meh (even though he's improved on that end so far this year). It's not like Young is trying to break into the rotation of a contender where the only way he'll get on the floor is if he plays defense.  I don't think that Pierce was required to be a good defender as a rookie, either, because guess what - just like now, we absolutely sucked, lol.  LET HIM PLAY.

I'm with you.

LET HIM PLAY

[tazzmaniac]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

Has there been a problem with him not wanting to play D? I haven't heard anything about that, but it'd definitely be discouraging if that's the case.

If you have one, could you post a link discussing this issue about Young? Thanks.

After the draft, this was written:

Young, however, is objectively not a good defender yet. He's inattentive, he's frequently late recovering to shooters, and he has a tendency to reach around defenders who beat him rather than fighting to stay in front of them.

All of these defensive problems are tendencies you'll see from teenagers at the local YMCA, and all are tendencies that will need correction as soon as possible at the NBA level. If they aren't, Young might be regarding in much the same way James Harden is, and it would take a minor miracle for Young to ever be as productive offensively as Harden.

The little I have seen of him playing suggests that this description is accurate.  There is a reason he has been called "Harden-esque" and the worst defender drafted in the first round.  Those are flaws that he can learn to correct in the D-League.

Maybe he needs the experience of being inserted into an NBA game early in the second quarter, hitting a couple of shots, then being yanked immediately for making a defensive mistake and sat for the rest of the game as a way to humble him.

Right now, I think the goal is to get him to be able to defend both wing positions so he is good enough to be usable as instant offense of the bench at either spot.

Hmmm, I knew his defense was horrible, but from what I've seen/heard from him I never would've thought it would've been an attitude/laziness problem. Apparently, Smart and Young are total opposites in alot of regards.

I wouldn't call it an attitude/laziness problem.  His on-ball defense doesn't look that bad but I'd expect large SFs to out muscle him.  The inattentive description is accurate.  He seems to watch the ball too much and lose track of the player he's supposed to be defending.  I don't see anything preventing him from becoming a reasonable defender. 

[knuckleballer]

Young's biggest deficiency is his defense which isn't going to improve in the no-D league.  With some experience, he should develop into an average NBA defender. Offensively he pretty much plants himself behind the 3pt line and waits for someone to get him the ball.  He's excellent at the catch and shoot but needs improvement on creating his own shot.  He's definitely not shy about shooting.  He seems to be a decent ball handler and passer.  At worst, I see him as a potent bench scorer but he's got the talents to become a quality starter.

One of his apparent problems is not just his defense but his attitude towards defense.  Forcing him to stay in the D-League until he fixes that makes sense to me.

Has there been a problem with him not wanting to play D? I haven't heard anything about that, but it'd definitely be discouraging if that's the case.

If you have one, could you post a link discussing this issue about Young? Thanks.

After the draft, this was written:

Young, however, is objectively not a good defender yet. He's inattentive, he's frequently late recovering to shooters, and he has a tendency to reach around defenders who beat him rather than fighting to stay in front of them.

All of these defensive problems are tendencies you'll see from teenagers at the local YMCA, and all are tendencies that will need correction as soon as possible at the NBA level. If they aren't, Young might be regarding in much the same way James Harden is, and it would take a minor miracle for Young to ever be as productive offensively as Harden.

The little I have seen of him playing suggests that this description is accurate.  There is a reason he has been called "Harden-esque" and the worst defender drafted in the first round.  Those are flaws that he can learn to correct in the D-League.

Maybe he needs the experience of being inserted into an NBA game early in the second quarter, hitting a couple of shots, then being yanked immediately for making a defensive mistake and sat for the rest of the game as a way to humble him.

Right now, I think the goal is to get him to be able to defend both wing positions so he is good enough to be usable as instant offense of the bench at either spot.

Hmmm, I knew his defense was horrible, but from what I've seen/heard from him I never would've thought it would've been an attitude/laziness problem. Apparently, Smart and Young are total opposites in alot of regards.

I wouldn't call it an attitude/laziness problem.  His on-ball defense doesn't look that bad but I'd expect large SFs to out muscle him.  The inattentive description is accurate.  He seems to watch the ball too much and lose track of the player he's supposed to be defending.  I don't see anything preventing him from becoming a reasonable defender.

He has said that he thinks his target weight should be 240.  If he can get there in a few years, he should have no problem at SF.

[Tr1boy]

James Young could become the next Kyle Korver for us.  Not overly athletic or quick  but deadly 3 pt shooter, underrated scorer. Young has to get bigger, stronger ,meaner and a little dirtier(especially on the defensive end). Like Korver.