Is It Time To Trade Nick Young?
Despite the dreariness of an ugly season, Nick Young had his best year (2013-14) playing for Mike D’antoni in the Freedom Offense. His numbers weren’t staggering but they were career highs in points scored, steals, assists, offensive rebounds, free throws, field goals and field goal attempts.
Given the context of a 27 win season, a 40 point beating by the Clippers, embarrassed (and laughed at) routinely, Young’s personal triumphs were a testament to his talent and his desire to entertain, as well as D’antoni’s fast paced offense that once upon a time made Leandro Barbosa look like an All-Star. Throw into the mix Nick Young as the optimist’s optimist, someone who looks at the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, someone who loves to play and smile at the same time, and you have a memorable season for a basketball player, who before last year, was routinely criticized for his inability to play basketball, to rebound, pass the ball, set screens and play off the dribble.
Nick Young has been around long enough to know the NBA is clear about what it demands from its most marketable players: toughness and versatility and the ability to deliver victories on national television when everyone is watching. Sprinkle that in with a Sportscenter highlight or two, a great sound bite, a sensational nickname, an off-court lifestyle many envy and you complete the diagram of NBA nirvana. But, with Nick Young, you get a little of one thing but not so much of the other, which means he disappoints when he should surprise.
Dec 26, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick Young (0) reacts during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
This year his highlights are sparse. He is having a ridiculously horrible shooting season (37%) that got off on the wrong foot when he needed surgery on his wrist. He hasn’t gotten much better with time. In November he shot 39%. In December, 40%. In January, 32%. In February 30%.
More from Lake Show Life
- Darvin Ham adds to Max Christie hype train after Lakers preseason opener
- Is LeBron James playing tonight? Latest Lakers vs Warriors update
- Can Darvin Ham put all of the Lakers puzzle pieces together?
- Lakers news: Darvin Ham knows his fifth starter, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino praise
- Michael Malone’s painfully ironic comment has Lakers fans heated
The one thing Young knows how to do is score the ball. But, he doesn’t do that any longer, not since teams have figured out Young is terrible at contested shots, is an average dribbler, doesn’t like to pass the ball, plays with little energy on defense and is mentally fragile. From 3-10 feet he is shooting .09%. He was 2-19 against Orlando. He was 4-15 against the Clippers. He was 2-11 against Miami. He was 6-24 against the Pelicans. All shooters have bad nights but add up the total assists in those four games and you get 10.
The only thing Nick Young can compare this season to is his one year in Philadelphia, coached by Doug Collins. But even with Collins breathing down his neck in a similar style to Scott, Young recovered his shooting stroke. Then (2011-12), Young had the luxury of knowing he was a free agent by the time it was over.
In the next day and a half, the hometown kid has to wonder if his Los Angeles stay has reached that epic moment, over before it could really begin. The latest Nick Young trade scenario is a Phoenix package for Isaiah Thomas and Mason Plumlee. It may mean nothing by the time the trade deadline ends Thursday afternoon and Young is still on the team but the inclusion of his name in trade rumors is a testament to his rocky footing on Lakers ground.
NBA guards and small forwards who have played for Mike D’antoni love him because he encourages offense and shooting as much as possible, and defense is an afterthought. D’antoni is not a prison guard, he doesn’t believe in punishing players. He is the proverbial players coach, often to the extreme, not holding players accountable, a theory and practice that does not survive Byron Scott’s personal code of ethics.
Before his last competition, pre-game, Nick Young was entertaining the media with stories about dolphins. Byron Scott interrupted the reverie and announced Young was being fined for lateness. Instantly, Young was sullen, like a child scolded by his father.
Running out of patience and often pissed, Scott is no longer hiding his unhappiness with Young. He wants Nick Young to do more things on the court than score but Young has never been anything more than a shoot-or-die player. Every coach he has ever had has wanted Nick Young to study film and rebound and set screens and move the ball to the open man. It has never been Young’s game nor his on court personality which is heavy on the things that make the crowd scream and light on just about everything else.
And so here you are. A coach who is experienced with the highest level of basketball and a player who is experienced with having a good time (who, by the way, doesn’t respond to hard-ass coaching).
Dec 26, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick Young (0) reacts during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
It’s a reasonable question to ask: can they coexist?
If the answer is no, if they can’t find some middle ground and make this work, if it is no better than a Pau Gasol-Mike D’antoni civil war only couched in equal parts humor and resentment, if their relationship has already reached a point where Nick Young is worn down by Byron’s bitterness and Byron is annoyed by how casual Young takes the game, then a move has to be made to save both of them. Before Nick Young has no trade value left. And Byron Scott’s head explodes.