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Celtics nab Kentucky’s James Young at 17

Chuck - Red's Army June 26, 2014 Celtics News 33 Comments

You may remember James Young from Kentucky’s Final Four team. He’s 6-7, 215 and just 18 years old.

The scouting report:

Super scoring wing
Excellent penetrator
Improving shooter with range
Good motor
Needs to improve his consistency from 3-point range

Jay Bilas calls Young a “high ceiling” guy. Let’s hope he’s good enough to make us forget about Jeff Green.

Draft Express Scouting Report

eddysamson

Psyched with this pick. Happy with the draft. For everyone bummed, this is what we had to do with we didn’t get Love.
- CP37
  
  The K.Love door hasn’t been shut completely.
  - eddysamson
    
    Oh I know, he likes us.
    - CP37
      
      Indeed, not to mention we still have about 7 1st rounders left in the armory. If DA finally makes his best offer or we can get a 3rd team involved to mix their established talent with about 3 of our future picks, we could be in business.
      - Rich Jensen
        
        Philly played last year’s draft over again. They took an injured center and a PG. They’re not making the playoffs next year either, pretty sure, so I’m guessing one of those 1st rounders is going to be 2 2nd rounders.
      - CP37
        
        Thanks, I had previously thought that they only owed us a pick if they made the playoffs. How do you feel about the way the C’s drafted & what personal grade would you give them?
      - Rich Jensen
        
        Okay. I’m not too excited. I don’t think they had a lot of opportunities to draft an impact wing or center (their biggest needs), so these were probably the best alternatives.
        
        I don’t see Smart as a FT PG. But I do think he’s going to be an impact player. He’s got the body & the drive. I hope Stevens is the right coach for him. Someone needs to convince him to drop some of the showboating stuff: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/other-colleges/20130202-markel-brown-marcus-smart-carry-ok-state-to-huge-upset-of-no.-2-kansas.ece Time in a professional organization could make a world of difference with Smart.
        
        I don’t know much about Young. My concern isn’t Green so much as it is the lack of depth in that position.
        
        So, B, I guess?
      - CoachAJ
        
        I think the Young pick will push Green to be more consistent, because when someone is one the bench that could get some of your minutes, some folks do tend to play a lot better. Same goes for Smart and Bradley. Now maybe Bradley comes down from 8-9 per year to 6-7 per year with a gradual increase to 9. I’m liking this draft. We could’ve been than our record, IF we were playing to win, but were playing to develop. We instantly got deeper with these two young guys. For the record I’m all for bring back Iverson too. He and Faverani might not be rim protectors but along with Sully they are a lot of beef.
      - CP37
        
        I think B is a good grade as well. The Embiid slide didn’t make it as far down the mountain as we had hoped, but Philly could be really scary down the line following the OKC building model that they’ve chosen to emulate. Though Smart isn’t the shooter or pure PG that we’d like him to be, you’re right in saying he’ll be an impact player. He’s bigger than Bradley and he’s got a hell of a motor (not to mention he’s forced his match-ups into some pretty bad shooting percentages) and this wouldn’t be the first “volatile” personality that the C’s have straightened out. I heard earlier tonight that the Pelicans might be looking to move Rivers and/or Anderson and they might be the dance partner we’ve been looking for to help us land Love. How possible do you think a scenario like this I concocted in the trade machine is?
        
        http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=nfusm4o
        (Minny would get 2-3 picks from us in addition of course)
      - Rich Jensen
        
        I think it’s too many players to Minny, and too little long-term benefit to the Pelicans. If Minny doesn’t want to trade Love, I think Boston’s best bet is a FA pitch next summer.
        
        Also, I’m not really worried about Philly, because they’re dragging this ‘rebuild’ thing out too long–you get a culture of losing, you wreck players that you think you’re going to build with. However, I’d be curious to see if Boston can pick up Noel for either the Clips 1st rounder, or their own 2015 pick, since Philly has no apparent interest in being good for the next two years.
        
        My ideal scenario is that Stevens assembles this core into a competent group that needs a #1 scorer; next summer, Ainge convinces Rondo to hold off making a decision until the Celts see if they can land Love. If they can get Love, Rondo will absolutely, positively, take a less-than-max deal, because Rondo is *not* about the money, if it gets him a shot to win. And I think picking up Love w/minimal loss in draft picks is a huge opportunity to build a juggernaut.
      - CP37
        
        I think you hit the nail on the head on all points, especially the K.Love front. It’d pain me (and a lot of other C’s fans) to have to wade through another year of mediocrity, but getting Love without having to surrender much and maybe even get another high quality pick next year would be quite the coup and we’d still have the Brooklyn picks and many other assets to flip into a possible 3rd star, which is exactly why it makes no sense to trade Rondo at all because you still have a good shot at pairing him & Love together next year.
Lewis35

Couldn’t agree more love the picks!!!
tvor03

Young is a 2, not a 3. So his selection has little bearing about what happens to Green. I think they’d actually play really well together.

James Young – just another part of the large shared history between the Wildcats and the Celtics. Marcus Smart is part of that too as his coach at OK St. is my all-time favorite Kentucky player, Travis Ford.
- chuckmckenney
  
  Scouting reports have him as a swingman.
  - tvor03
    
    He calls himself a SG.
  - CoachAJ
    
    Only 18 years old, dude will still grow, and fill out the jersey as well.
Jaedre

Jeff Green will prob be traded this summer… I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Washington
- Curt Hays
  
  One can only hope. Green for Gortat!
Mannie

Love the pick! I like this one more than the Marcus Smart pick.
Mannie

Your Morning Dump… Where Shabazz Napier envisioned himself as a Celtic

Mannie • 2 months ago

I think Celtics should pick James young with that second pick if they’ll still have it. He looks to have better potential than green, and he’s a great defender.

I called it!
- stevemb34
  
  Been saying the same. Haven’t had a “real” 2 since the Courtney Lee cameo days/Ray Allen. LOVE this kid’s ceiling and ability and, if th elack of handle holds him to just a spot up guy with defense and athleticism, that’s still fine. He will not be a bust.
adam

Yay, we draft 2 guards again! (NBA has young listed as a shooting guard)
- Curt Hays
  
  Nah, he’s a poor man’s Ray Allen.
  - adam
    
    That isn’t totally bad….
KWAPT

Some young highlights from last season:
LA Flake

So what will happen to our backcourt???
- stevemb34
  
  Ummm, pretty sure we just drafted it. Rajon’s gone and Avery may be too if the offers really reach $9M like is rumored. OR we trade them both for Love. This is good either way.
  - CoachAJ
    
    Nah I don’t think either is gone. Our starting backcourt is a good one, but after RR and AB, who else did we have for depth? Bayless? Nah, that’s not enough to even remain competitive. Johnson, Babb, Pressey are filler, 3rd string filler. We draft two guys that can be 2nd string right now. For whatever faults he has Rondo has been chomping to lead this franchise, I think when he resigns, he leaves a lot of money on the table. Especially for some unknown center to gobble up.
bill_nair

He would’ve been a lottery pick had he not gotten injured recently. I didn’t think he would be there. Very happy.
Lee in Oregon

Great pick and I like Smart too. I think DA did a good job in what I suspect will be one of the more over-rated drafts of all time.
dingding

the Celtics picks reminds me of JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore, lol
BillRussell

Solid Picks- I know it wld have been almost impossible, but I wanted Embiid for the Celtics so bad its incredible- uggghhh- the ever allusive big man.
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