youngs defence is soooo bad

[danglertx]

When he's on the ball he can stay in front of guys but he just doesn't have the strength to prevent anybody around his size or bigger from getting wherever they want to go and getting whatever shot they want to take.

Off the ball, he's mostly useless.

He seems to be better off the ball this summer league, imo.

His issue seems to be that he has slow feet. He's not quick enough to get to the hoop on offense, or quick enough to stay with guys on defense.

On offense he can hit open 3's but isn't good at getting himself open. If he wants to succeed he should be constantly moving to get himself open for 3's. Right now he stays on one side and just hopes his defender help off him. This leads to him disappearing for long stretches of games.

He's never going to be an elite defender, or a guy who creates off the dribble imo, so to stick in the NBA he's going to need to shoot 40%+ from 3 and find ways to get himself open for a lot of quality shots.

I would be surprised if he isn't dealt in the off season.

I think a large part of the problem is that he stands straight legged, bends at the waist, and reaches instead of moving his feet.  Yeah he got a few steals but my gosh he was a turnstile.

[Kuberski33]

Young's lack of progress illustrates the difficulty in drafting young players.  You have to project what they're going to turn into and that's not the easiest thing in the world to do.  It's not his fault.  What we see right now may be as good as he's ever going to get.

He has one sort of serviceable NBA skill - his shot - but he rarely shoots well when given actual minutes by Brad.  And as has been accurately pointed out...he can't defend or do a whole lot else well.  He sure as heck can't score off the dribble.

Based on Danny's comments last night, he may not be long for a Celtics uniform.

[walker834]

 I think people are reading too much into Ainge's comments although again Ainge might be reading the internet too much these days.  Or he's just listening and surrounded by people who aren't as smart as him and do.

I still like James young.  You are all right and wrong in your analysis at face value.  He may never get it but if he ever does.

The James Young pundits are out though.

[PickNRoll]

SHAQ nailed it.  He plays half a second behind.  At the NBA level, that's fatal.  Even much less athletic guys like Anderson can out-think him.

[slamtheking]

to be fair, no one on the team has really looked all that good on D.  Everyone has been getting burned, not just Young. 

having said that, he does seem to get burned more than most.

[chiken Green]

I loved the few shots that went in, that was cool but he gave up sooooo many shots.. his +/- has to be super negative..

CBS cannot afford to have a turnstile on Defense...
He is super slow and there is nothing strong about his game..
And I don't know about anybody else, maybe i'm just officially old now but for a guy scrapping to make the team why do you have a fresh nose ring at this time of the year?  What was he doing during the off season because judging by his play - not much..  Defense has always been the thing that's keeping him off the court and he seems to be just as lost and this is summer league mind you..

Young cant make the team over Hunter or Jackson for that matter..  IMO He needed a really strong summer league and it's not happening at this point.

[droopdog7]

Young strikes me as the type of guy who needed to stay in college and develop more. He might just need a while to become an NBA player (role player). I don't think it'll be with the Celtics though.

guys develop a lot more in the nba than in college.

[PickNRoll]

tangent, but Jackson has the quicks, strength and IQ to be a solid NBA defender.  A little smaller than you would like, but should do fine against PG's.  Also has advanced handles, breaks pressure with ease -- that's something we lost with Turner.

[Atzar]

He appears uncoordinated.  Poor balance, high center of gravity, slow reflexes and a poor handle even with his strong hand. 

It's just difficult to mold a common 6'6" wing with those flaws into a good NBA player.  I'm not sure how fixable they are in the first place, but there's too much competition at his position - he doesn't have time.  Even since we drafted him, we picked up an arguably better prospect at SG/SF in Hunter and an unquestionably better prospect at SF in Brown.

[PickNRoll]

He appears uncoordinated.  Poor balance, high center of gravity, slow reflexes and a poor handle even with his strong hand. 

It's just difficult to mold a common 6'6" wing with those flaws into a good NBA player.  I'm not sure how fixable they are in the first place, but there's too much competition at his position - he doesn't have time.  Even since we drafted him, we picked up an arguably better prospect at SG/SF in Hunter and an unquestionably better prospect at SF in Brown.

Bingo.  These things are overlooked so often.  Re: the weak base, poor balance, high center of gravity -- these are the same problems I had with Bender as a prospect.  It's nigh impossible to correct or improve and it's a death sentence.

[rollie mass]

the last two minutes of first quarter was disgaceful -got blown by for extended layup
didn't sprint back but sauntered back on d  and rebound fell right where he could have been
the a half assed closeout on a corner 3  and to top it off falls for up fake and gets blown by-
if i were danny i would have come out of stands and sent him packing-
cornrows and nose ring-i think he spent the summer smokin some strong stuff-
there is something not right up there in his head-

[Kuberski33]

I'd like to see them give Miller an extended look. He's been decent so far - and he can get to the hoop off the dribble.