why is young athletic

[rollie mass]

in one article this morning he was called a freak athlete,also athletic often is thrown around is this label justified
i don't see any lateral or burst,no quickness in elevation or that much vertical  but he has 7 ft wingspan or any speed dribbling the ball-
is this label just residue of that one uconn  dunk

[moiso]

Seems like that dunk made people overrate his athleticism.  He looks like a very poor athlete for his position to me.

[Maurice98]

Link of the article
http://hardwoodhoudini.com/2016/09/09/boston-celtics-james-youngs-age-shouldnt-matter/

"He is a freak athlete, as he showed at Kentucky, but you can’t get by on pure athleticism."

In my opinion, James is a below average athlete with above average physical tools.

[Csfan1984]

He maybe just plays slow. I know in my playing days I played well below my top speed on the court. Mostly to avoid injury to others and myself. But due to today's game being mostly about ball movement and 3s a player who plays slow isn't really ever going to have a chance to burst unless he gets a little selfish. For Young his confidence isn't there to get selfish. This camp he will be fighting for his playing career though so maybe he becomes more selfish. And by selfish I mean wanting the ball to drive or create more. As well as to want to break opponents down and show domination on offense and defense.

[spikelovetheCelts]

He maybe just plays slow. I know in my playing days I played well below my top speed on the court. Mostly to avoid injury to others and myself. But due to today's game being mostly about ball movement and 3s a player who plays slow isn't really ever going to have a chance to burst unless he gets a little selfish. For Young his confidence isn't there to get selfish. This camp he will be fighting for his playing career though so maybe he becomes more selfish. And by selfish I mean wanting the ball to drive or create more. As well as to want to break opponents down and show domination on offense and defense.

I am very curious to see how this all plays out. I am hopeful he shows enough to at least bring something in trade. Maybe he out plays Green and we can trade Green for a pick.

[Atzar]

IMO he's a good, not great athlete whose athleticism plays down because the mind is usually one step behind the game.

[CFAN38]

Youngs length has allowed him to create some highlight dunk. The greatest example being the Uconn dunk. By NBA standards I would guess that he is an average run jump athlete with just below average lateral quickness on the wing. At 6'6 235lbs with a 7' wingspan he has all the needed physical tools to excel he just needs to put it together mentally.

[KG Living Legend]

 He's not a good athlete at all, never was. Rodney Hood was a better athlete at the time, and what's frustrating is that Young shot .349% from three to Hood's .420%.

 So Hood is the better athlete, shooter, and Player. But Young does have longer arms by 5 inches lol.

[coffee425]

He's definitely not athletic. There is no strength, quickness, verticality, or speed.

He has above average length. But that's 80% of the league.

[Eja117]

Smart, Avery, Crowder, IT, Jaylen, Rozier = athletic

James Young....probably not.

You can be athletic but if you eat McDs every day and don't work out you won't be athletic for long

[kraidstar]

If he's a great athlete, I haven't seen any evidence of it.

Watched him play a million times in Maine, and i don't recall him ever taking a guy to the rim and throwing down a dunk. He is rarely above the rim.

He is just an "ok" defender, lateral quickness isn't great.

Not super quick to loose balls.

Footwork isn't great getting open for a shot.

He has decent up and down speed running the court i guess.

Maybe these problems are all mental, and he isn't smart enough to get himself in a position to use this hidden athleticism - but i doubt it. I think as far as practical NBA basketball goes whatever athleticism he has is extremely mediocre at best.

[CelticPride2016]

I agree with everyone who is a bit confused on where the writer is seeing James Young as athletic.

I think the decision has already been made that Young is gone. Maybe Danny is trying to fit him into one more trade for before the season gets going or giving him one last chance out of respect. Danny has tried hard to be fair with all the guys on the way out except for Bogans, and Bogans kind of asked for that treatment with his arrogance and divisive attitude.

Zeller never complained and now he's coming back or at least got a decent reward for his loyalty and will be traded or collect dust on the bench. Maybe he stays and somehow gets minutes. I don't know.

James Young is a nice guy and is not simply being coldly shown the door. I don't think James Young has any chance of becoming an NBA player. I could be wrong, but then a lot of us would be wrong.

[Bucketgetter]

He's definitely not athletic. There is no strength, quickness, verticality, or speed.

He has above average length. But that's 80% of the league.

Lol 80% can't be above average.

[Celtics4ever]

The dunk in the NCAAs final made people think he was athletic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlARGQ1yrW0

Turns out it was not the norm.

[Eja117]

He's definitely not athletic. There is no strength, quickness, verticality, or speed.

He has above average length. But that's 80% of the league.

Lol 80% can't be above average.

I guess 80% could be above the average that gets measured at the combine