I have written, on more than one occasion, that Nick Young would not/should not be on this year’s Lakers. The drama from last year mixed with the two pretty bad seasons left little reason to feel good about a Young return this year.
But, to be completely honest, I am mostly indifferent about Young. I know this is pretty rare for Lakers fans, though. There is a large swath of fans who see him as not just a bad player on the court, but a bad influence off it. Then, I know others who see him as — in the right sized role — a useful talent who is just a quirky, mostly harmless dude who likes to have fun on and off the court.
If I had to really self examine my opinions, I’d say I fall somewhere in the middle. Young can be useful and can be a good natured guy who simply enjoys himself (especially enjoying living in Los Angeles while being a Laker). Thing is, Young also can be a severe drag on lineups due to ball-hoggery and low efficiency while exhibiting the type of immaturity off the floor which can be too negative an influence on young (and potentially impressionable) teammates.
For those who have their minds made up about Young, there is no reconciling these differing views. He is one or the other and no amount of explaining is going to change a mind. And, really, I don’t want to go down that route anyway nor do I blame folks for seeing things the way they do. There is enough evidence on both sides to come to a conclusion either way and, to be fair, Young isn’t so good a player where arguing over such things makes sense to me. No offense if you’re reading this, Nick.
Whatever you think if Young, though, he’s likely going to make the Lakers’ final roster. I know this because, well, when given an opportunity in preseason to prove he should make the team he has played well enough to do just that. Consider the following:
- After not appearing in the team’s 1st preseason game, Young has appeared in the other 4 games and played 10, 23, 32, and 13 minutes
- In those minutes he has scored 6, 14, 14, and 9 points
- He is shooting 51.7% from the field (15-29), including 57.9% from behind the arc (11-19)
- Per 36 minutes he is 3rd on the team in scoring
- He currently has a PER of 22.5 which is 3rd on the team behind Russell (23.9) and Clarkson (22.9)
And this says nothing of him actually looking like he gives a damn on defense, being attentive and engaged on that end of the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Young will never be an impactful defender who you lean on to get stops. But he has been someone who is competing on that end, effectively staying with his own man when guarding the ball, and doing enough in help situations to imply he actually cares on that end. Doing that as a 6’7″ wing has at least neutral value, which is more than can be said of other Lakers’ defenders.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like a lot. And maybe it’s actually not. But when asked about him playing better on that end of the floor he said the following:
Young on improved defense: “It helps when you have a coach that will talk to you about it & prepare you, try to help you.” (via @SpectrumSN)
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) October 14, 2016
This quote isn’t some proof he’s actually good defensively, but it does imply two things to me: 1). He is cognizant of trying to play better defense and how that impacts his ability to get on the floor, and 2). He trusts this coaching staff and is, seemingly, buying in to what they’re telling him.
Yes, there’s enough shade thrown at Byron Scott in that quote to block out the sun while standing on Mercury. But I think the point stands. Nick Young is trying for this coach and it is showing up in his play. Whether he was trying or not for the last coach is something you can ask him about, but I think the answer to that question also showed up in his play.
Now, I’m not saying Young has come to some sort of crossroads at his career and he’s come out the other side as a changed player. That doesn’t happen a decade into a player’s career. Young is, basically, who he is as at this point. The question is whether that player, with his skill set channeled the way it can be under Walton and when engaged with positive buy-in, can be of use to the Lakers over the long term or whether this short stretch of good play in the preseason is some sort of anomaly.
The people who have made up their minds about Young will be happy to tell you the answer to this question. I, for one, don’t know. What I do know is that Nick Young is very likely to make the final roster and, if he actually does keep playing like he is, he’s also likely to earn some minutes. Considering what I have said in the past, this is no small thing to me. Whether or not it will one day make me be less indifferent will depend on a variety of factors, but for now I can at least say I am happy to see him do well.
new rr says
Posted this in the other thread:
Young: I said in the off-season that it ultimately probably doesn’t matter all that much. If Young is willing to play like he is playing now, then keeping him really doesn’t hurt. Even so, I would rather that Walton give those minutes to Anthony Brown. I think it is pretty clear that Walton, like Kerr, is a gifted communicator, and I suspect that he simply communicated with Young in a clear but respectful way about what Young needed to do for the team, and so far, it is working.
Williams: Nothing has changed. He has a very specific skillset, does what he does, and is good at it. But he doesn’t fit with the Lakers’ situation now, and he didn’t fit when the FO signed him. Maybe the FO can get something for him.
Mozgov: The problems with the Mozgov deal have nothing to do with the granular on-floor skills—setting hard screens, taking up space around the rim—that he brings to the table. He is a better player than Hibbert or Sacre, and the Lakers had to have somebody reasonably competent to put at the 5 in order to stabilize the roster/rotation and to start stabilizing the team defense. The problems are that he is 30 years old, that the deal is four years, fully guaranteed, that there were other options, and that the money that they will be paying him in 2017, 2018 and 2019 may be money that they could use to try to get an actual All-Star caliber player.
Wishwash says
Young is an interesting prospect, I first thought that any of his shots would just be shots taken away from other players with no advantage to their development, however, after more analysis, Young is doing an amazing job opening up the floor, actually Young, Lou, Clarckson and D Russ.
It’s hard to imagine a game where all four of those dynamic scorers would all be cold in the same game, and one hot player will loosen the defensive pressure on the others. D Russ is young and its a huge advantage to his game if he is able to explore the floor without constantly being doubled or focused on because the opposing team does not care about others getting hot. Young Clarkson and Lou are scary when hot and can drop several threes in a row if ignored.
Unless Young’s stock rises to the level where we can receive a young prospect with Potential or a pick, He actually seems like his game can benefit the younger players. I am glad.
mattal says
rr – Solid take as always.
Not sure if your comments regarding Mozgov extend to Deng. In my mind they do. While Luol is a far better player, he is older and has ‘Thibs Bull’ on his resume (lots of minutes and miles). The added concern with Deng is that the Lakers signed him as a Three but he’s far more effective as a Four at this point in his career. It’s likely the Lakers get one year of him at SF and next year he becomes a very expensive reserve. While I applaud the FO for wanting stabilizing vets on the roster the length of these deals are problematic.
The argument for them is that the Lakers won’t truly compete until their contracts are done anyway. Like you, I feel there were less expensive options available. Plus if the kids continue to make progress the Lakers would have been attractive to far better players, via free agency, going forward ( as soon as next summer).
The Lakers have avoided paying the bar tab from the Jim Buss party days. That bill comes due in a big way as they still owe two of the next three first round picks to the Sixers and Magic. The bill would be reduced to one first rounder (to the Sixers) if they keep the pick this year. An argument could be made to let organic growth drive the Lakers this year in an effort to increase the odds of keeping their lottery pick in this loaded draft. Mozgov and Deng figure to make their biggest contribution this year and may push a 25 win team to 30 wins.
Of course many feel that we don’t need anymore young talent. I never understood that argument as asset acquisition provides a franchise options and flexibility going forward.
Anyway, such a long post to say I agree with you.
fern16 says
Im glad that he has been professional enough to put that fiasco with DAR behind. And im happy that he is listening to his coach and triying harder on both ends of the floor. That being said, is only preseason. It’s just too early too tell, would be great if he play himself into a trade…
new rr says
mattal
Nice post and thanks for the positive words.
Mozgov and Deng: I
said at the time that I wish the FO had gone with Biyombo if they wanted to
spend big on a 5. As a young, agile guy who plays a low-usage game focused on
rim protection, he seemed to be a better fit with Russell/Clarkson/Ingram/Randle.
There have been rumors that Biyombo is older than his listed age of 24, he
actually has more NBA minutes than Mozgov, and his game is limited. But even
with that, I thought he was the guy to go with in that price range, especially
since he signed with Orlando, where he is an awkward fit. But, again, the
Lakers apparently really wanted Mozgov and think they know something about him;
they went after him in the first three hours of FA. It seems clear that Walton
and Shaw influenced this move.
As to Deng, more evidence exists that he is a leader/mentor
kind of guy than exists that Mozgov is a guy like that. Deng made a very classy
and powerful public statement after the Danny Ferry flap a couple of years ago;
Deng has also won a couple of awards for leadership/off-court behavior, and on
the floor, he is still a pretty good two-way player. But yeah: he is 31 with a ton of mileage, and
with Ingram, Randle, and Nance all presumably on the team long-term, it is hard
to see how Deng fits at 18M a year on the 2017-18 or 2018-19 Lakers.
Basically, I think I would be more comfortable with the
roster situation and the big picture if they had spent big on either a 3 or a
5, rather than on both, and had gone cheaper and/or younger at the other spot, thus
creating more flexibility down the road. We will see how it plays out.
matt24 says
I recall nick young playing well right after the trade deadline last year, he was rumored to be traded, then the d’angelo video came out. And he fell asleep.
jlawsonswi says
mattal The argument about too much youth is what you see in Philly. So many young kids, no direction, no one to teach them the right habits, how to be professional, how to win, etc.
jlawsonswi says
new rr mattal Sometimes the value of a player is what he brings to those younger guys. If his presence, his teachings, his habits and influence cause these younger kids to grow astronomically and severely outperform their small contracts, then his value becomes justified in their play vs his own play in his contracts. I’m sure Deng will still see plenty of minutes over the years. He’s been a steady, healthy player who has that ability still to slip to the 4 spot as he wanes down. With the positionless way the game is going, you could have Russell at PG, Ingram at SG, Randle at SF, Deng at PF and Nance at C and it would work. Ingram with all that length is quick enough and the type of shooter to play SG with an ability to sag off his man with his size, Randle, Deng, and Nance all have the ability to switch around on each others men, even Russell can cover SG’s with Ingram able go guard PG’s.
new rr says
jlawsonswi new rr mattal
The mentoring thing was one off-season argument made in favor of the deals, although I only heard it after the Deng and Mozgov deals were done.
The other argument on Deng was the “positionless” thing, and I said at the time that ISTM that Walton is trying to create a Warriors-Lite vibe with the Lakers’ personnel. We will see how that, and the mentoring/culture angle, go. But in the meantime, what we know for sure is that Deng is 31 with a lot of mileage and that his deal is guaranteed for four full years at 18M a year.
As to the 76ers, their fate hinges on Embiid and Simmons staying on the floor and hitting their ceilings.