Nick Young: Time to Step Up

Most people like Nick Young and want him to succeed. He is nice, he is funny and he has style. He can be a prolific scorer, and when his game is “on,” he can eliminate a deficit on the scoreboard in the blink of an eye all by himself.

The problem is, he has not been “on” this season. In truth, he has not been “on” much of his career. Yet, for better or worse, the Lakers have chosen Young to be the new face of the franchise. With Kobe Bryant likely out for the season, Young is the second highest-paid player on the active roster and the only player with a long term contract. Young needs to reward the Lakers for the confidence they have shown in him by giving the same maximum effort for the team that he shows in promoting himself off the court.

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Things have gotten so bad for Young this season that he was benched for the entire second half of Sunday night’s game. Actually, since returning from injury earlier this season, he has not played big minutes all year, most likely because Byron Scott considers him a defensive liability. Most times he is not in the game at the end, which is when you want your best players on the floor if the game is at all competitive. Even worse, when Scott was asked about it after Sunday night’s game, he remarked that it did not appear Young “really wanted to play”. There are not many things a coach could say about a player that would be more insulting, or provocative.

Young can sulk over this latest incident, but hopefully he will use it as a wake-up call. What he needs to do is meet the challenge of becoming a leader. He can start by going to the coach and demanding to start. There is a theory, which even Young has bought into, that he is better coming off the bench. Maybe that would be true on a different team, but on this Lakers’ squad, with so little talent and almost no consistent scoring from anyone, Young needs to start. Who has ever heard of an NBA player who does not want to start, who thinks he is better coming off the bench (even if it is true)?

How did Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin take it when they were demoted earlier in the season? They were angry because they wanted to start and felt they should be starting, even though they are both better suited for a reserve role, especially Boozer who has thrived coming off the bench. Young needs to banish from his mind the thought that he can’t start.

Furthermore, as Scott has suggested, Young needs to get involved in other facets of the game especially when his shot is not falling. He is one of the few players on the team who can attack the rim. How about if he drives to the basket and rather than throwing up a terrible, off-balanced shot, he dishes to a teammate for an assist? On defense, it is not so much that he is terrible, it is that when he misses a shot he sulks and does not run back. Defense is about effort, and Young could put in more effort. Effort is the one thing any player can control for himself each night.

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Finally, no one wants Young to lose his swag and his sense of humor, but he can take the comedic act too far and that makes others question whether he really wants to be an entertainer or a basketball player. The Lakers need for Young to be a basketball player, to prove that basketball is his number one priority. Young always brings his best with the media, in post-game interviews, on TMZ, and in print ads. What the Lakers need is for him to bring his best when he is on the basketball court, not just before and after the game.

Nick Young is at a cross-roads, not only with the Lakers but in his NBA career. He is at risk of losing the support of his coach, and perhaps the entire organization. At this stage of his life he does not want to find himself traded to Charlotte or Orlando. He is no longer a young player with an entire career ahead of him. He should be in his prime, and he has been given a major opportunity to become the on-court leader of the storied Lakers franchise. That is something he probably dreamed of when he starred for Cleveland High School in the San Fernando Valley all those years ago. It is up to Young to make the most of this opportunity.

It is not too late, as there are many games still to be played this season, even though so far he has dribbled the ball off his foot. Laker fans should root for Young to dig deep inside himself and find the strength and determination to make the most of this opportunity at a time when the Lakers badly need for that to happen.

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