great Jordan Mickey article: his mindset, influences, and contract

[kraidstar]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/08/10/celtics-rookie-jordan-mickey-getting-jump-nba-career/59OeRsdiFp1ipSZx3k1AhI/story.html

Great article from last year in the Globe about players and coaches that influenced our young stud, and techniques he seeks to master. Could prove to be prophetic.

Some (lengthy) quotes:

Mickey and Wright would study footage of the NBA’s most relentless interior players. They focused on Dennis Rodman, the eccentric forward who thrived by rebounding, defending, and being an overall nuisance.
“Jordan and I would really look at how Rodman knew the trajectory of a shot,” Wright said by telephone. “He had an ability to read a shot when it’s taken, determine where a ball is going to hit the rim, and where it might go after it does.”

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Mickey noticed how players such as Amar’e Stoudemire and Dwight Howard were often most dangerous as shot blockers on their second jumps, meaning that if their first attempt was mistimed or otherwise unsuccessful, they could leap again before opportunity vanished.

So Mickey made that a focus of his training, spending hours with a jump rope and practicing his leaps in a flurry, as someone might do if they were standing on hot pavement.

Rodman was an elite rebounder despite being just 6 feet 7 inches and 220 pounds, and it seemed that Mickey — who is now 6-8, 235 — would develop a similar frame. Rodman was a physical menace, but it was no accident that he was consistently in the area of missed shots.

----

Mickey joined Shaquille O’Neal as the only Tigers to register 100 blocked shots in a season, and he did it twice. As a sophomore last season, he led the nation with 3.64 blocks per game and also gathered 9.9 rebounds per contest.

Mickey was mostly slotted at power forward as a freshman and at center as a sophomore, which sometimes made it difficult to display the midrange offensive game he had developed. He did not want to disturb team chemistry, but those close to him were concerned that the limited offensive opportunities were hurting his draft stock.

Jones said some NBA teams were leery of Mickey’s shooting abilities, particularly as a potentially undersized power forward. But the coach’s response was clear: Mickey is a capable shooter, and teams that pass on him because of their uncertainty would regret it.

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Mickey’s camp wanted a three-year contract with two guaranteed years, believing he would prove to be more valuable than his rookie deal. But the Celtics pressed for a four-year agreement.

“They made it obvious they wanted to sign a longer deal, and I’ve got to admit, at the beginning we just weren’t hearing that,” Wright Sr. said. “We didn’t want a four-year deal. We wanted a chance to get back to the table earlier.

“But Jordan, his mother, and I sat and talked and decided it made the most sense to just work this thing out, because this is the team he wants to play for.”

---

His approach has not changed much since he was 14 and trying to learn his way on the AAU circuit. He has 24-hour access to the gym at Southern Hills Church of Christ in Dallas, and he is working on adding a pull-up jump shot to his arsenal.

He would like to extend his shooting range beyond the 3-point line, as stretch forwards have become tremendously valuable in today’s NBA. But he also will not stray from what helped him reach this point.

[manl_lui]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

[arctic 3.0]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

If he cracks the rotation this year it will be a bonus. from what little I've seen I think he could be on his way to taking the majority of zeller's minutes.
If he does the ramifications are huge.
A mobile shot blocking swing/ big to pair with Amir, sully, and Oly only makes us stronger.
And we didn't have to give up any assets at the deadline.

[manl_lui]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

If he cracks the rotation this year it will be a bonus. from what little I've seen I think he could be on his way to taking the majority of zeller's minutes.
If he does the ramifications are huge.
A mobile shot blocking swing/ big to pair with Amir, sully, and Oly only makes us stronger.
And we didn't have to loose any assets at the deadline.

I was thinking more or less he will be taking more and more of Jerebko's minutes lol.

[Dino Pitino]

Fascinating, the training. Shows that a lot of what we assume is "talent" is practice and imagination. Who are we to cast shade on Jordan Mickey's goal of approximating Rodman...plus threes, and blocks. Dream big, Jordan, shoot for the stars, land on the moon, keep jumping rope. That mid-air left-to-right hand-switch block from his DLeague highlights is one of the most impressive blocks I've ever seen. He could have a big future ahead of him. Dying to see him get 10-20 minutes a few times before Kelly returns.

[kraidstar]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

the fact that he got 4 years guaranteed as a second round pick tells us the c's must think very highly of him. that deal is going to be looking pretty sweet if he reaches his potential, especially with the cap climbing to near $100M. he could be one of our best players, making ~1% of our cap. crazy.

i also liked how his family wanted to gamble on a shorter contract because of his talent level, but they acquiesced because mickey wants to be in boston. good stuff, hope it works out for everyone involved.

[CFAN38]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

If he cracks the rotation this year it will be a bonus. from what little I've seen I think he could be on his way to taking the majority of zeller's minutes.
If he does the ramifications are huge.
A mobile shot blocking swing/ big to pair with Amir, sully, and Oly only makes us stronger.
And we didn't have to give up any assets at the deadline.

I really like Mickey but doubt he sees much PT once KO is back. Longer term I really like him as the Cs 4th big. In the perfect world the Cs will see some big changes to the 4 and 5 positions this off-season. Ultimately I hope to see both positions upgraded from the current starting pair of Sully and Amir. How this happens is the big mystery. Then leave KO as the 3rd big and Mickey the 4th. In the long term I would really like to see the Celtics play a small ball lineup with Mickey at the 5 allowing constant switching ala D Green.

[danglertx]

I know the blocked shots stand out on the stat sheet, and the block of Gordan Hayward was spectacular, but I thought his defense without the blocks was great as was his rebounding positioning.  He caused one 24second clock violation by sticking to his man just off the block and was just generally solid.  The kind of things KO does that don't always get noticed and never make it in the stat column other than +/- which people don't seem to trust.

[sofutomygaha]

Let's remember these good times, because soon Stevens will give Mickey 20 minutes and he's going to have his first bad game. The next morning, there will be an awesome thread about how this team is going nowhere and Ainge is a terrible drafter for passing on Richaun Holmes or something.

[saltlover]

Given he is a rookie and yesterday was the first time he saw meaningful minutes ever in the NBA. I have to say,. I am feeling optimistic on Mickey. 7 minute time he blocked shots and rebounded, and ran the floor. I love what I see and hope he is earning those minutes. It seems our real use of him may start paying off this year but I realistically see him in the lineup next year. I firmly believe it was a good investment on our part to be patient and sign him to a 4 year deal.

the fact that he got 4 years guaranteed as a second round pick tells us the c's must think very highly of him. that deal is going to be looking pretty sweet if he reaches his potential, especially with the cap climbing to near $100M. he could be one of our best players, making ~1% of our cap. crazy.

i also liked how his family wanted to gamble on a shorter contract because of his talent level, but they acquiesced because mickey wants to be in boston. good stuff, hope it works out for everyone involved.

To clarify, he was given 2 years guaranteed.  The final two years are not guaranteed.  In addition, the Celtics have a team option in the final year, which if they decline would make him a restricted free agent.  (This allows him to be traded on draft night of 2018, which a simple team option without a non-guaranteed season would prevent.)

[KeepRondo]

Thx for sharing.

Hopefully Mickey turns out to be a solid player because Roz, RJ and Young seem real iffy right now.

[CoachBS#1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5j182njMzk


His shooting release is very good.

[aingeforthree]

Thx for sharing.

Hopefully Mickey turns out to be a solid player because Roz, RJ and Young seem real iffy right now.

This isn't the 76ers.  You might feel they are 'iffy' but I doubt Brad Stevens feels that way.

This organization knows how to develop the young players the correct way.  They all still have a shot at being great, IMO

[Tr1boy]

Thx for sharing.

Hopefully Mickey turns out to be a solid player because Roz, RJ and Young seem real iffy right now.

They are rookies . have faith keeprondo

[KeepRondo]

Thx for sharing.

Hopefully Mickey turns out to be a solid player because Roz, RJ and Young seem real iffy right now.

This isn't the 76ers.  You might feel they are 'iffy' but I doubt Brad Stevens feels that way.

This organization knows how to develop the young players the correct way.  They all still have a shot at being great, IMO

In two years from now we won't be able to keep all these players. There are only 15 roster spots. So either some of these guys will get dropped or traded. And if they get traded, a guy like Young or Roz are not getting you much back in value.

This is a swim or sink team for rookies and young players.

Forget developing. These guys have a small window to improve before more guys are added on top of the ones they are already behind of.