Giving Playing Time to James Young is Useless

It’s time to pull the plug on the former first round pick and move on

James Young at only 20-years old is in the midst of his second NBA season with the Boston Celtics. The high-flying shooting guard was selected based off of potential in last year’s draft. He showed great athleticism while at Kentucky, and flashed his ability to score throughout his freshman season, but not enough to sufficiently warrant a first round selection.

The Celtics have now lost Jae Crowder for the foreseeable future and Brad Stevens is looking towards the young guys to give minutes to. While James Young didn’t play against the Indiana Pacers or Toronto Raptors (until late), he saw 22 minutes in their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The idea of James Young becoming a decent role player for a team down the road is not out of the question, but it won’t be with the Boston Celtics.

Young has shown close to nothing in his 57 career appearances with Boston, and giving him playing time in the midst of a playoff race will not change that. Not to mention that rookies, Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter, have barely seen the court this season and now have the opportunity to get consistent minutes.

The ship has sailed on Young. The Celtics are already one of the deepest teams in the league, have three rookies, and three first round draft picks in this upcoming draft — one that is a probable top-five selection. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for Young on the roster, let alone the rotation.

It’s true that Young has not gotten the amount of playing time normal first round picks get during their first two seasons, however, even when he sees time on the court he is non-existent.

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Over his first two seasons, he has played 20-29 minutes four times and has recorded a lowly 5.3 points, 2.3 assists, and two rebounds per game. That’s to go along with a 33.3 field goal percentage and 17.6 three-point percentage.

In 17 games in which he played 10-19 minutes, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, and his field goal percentage dropped to a dreadful 30.8 percent.

If that doesn’t prove his lack of production on the court, his 84 offensive rating and 106 defensive rating should do the trick.

There is a reason he has not been given much time within the Celtics’ rotation. It’s hard to trust a young player who can barely produce at the D-league level. He doesn’t light up the scoreboard with Maine, shoots the ball inefficiently, and isn’t anything special on defense.

The fact of the matter is, Danny Ainge drafted a rare bust. Young came in as supposedly someone who could develop a shot, despite shooting 40.7 percent from the field at Kentucky. Boston already picked up his team option for next season, meaning he will rarely get out of Maine next season.

Even after a year in the NBA, Young was unable to contribute anything to Boston during his second season. In mid-December, he had a stretch of five games where he saw at least 13 minutes per game, but only was able to score in two of them. His stat lines looked like someone who saw five minutes on the court, not near 20. He shot poorly, and barely put up any shots. He may not be a huge part of the offense but it shows his lack of confidence and aggressiveness.

More recently, in 22 minutes against the Thunder, he shot 0-3 and recorded no points, two rebounds, and two assists, but also committed two turnovers and three fouls. He was a non-factor for Boston as he was unable to get in the lane, having all his shots being three-point attempts.

Young is athletic and being able to get into the lane is something he should use to his advantage. At Kentucky, he showed his ability to finish at the rim after driving the lane.

You hate to give up on a player who came in with so much potential, but that’s exactly what you have to do. At least Terry Rozier has shown flashes in the D-league and NBA, and R.J. Hunter has had fewer opportunities than Young.

The silver lining with Jae Crowder going down is that younger players will get an opportunity, but that should mostly be focused on the rookies. Boston has had two years to evaluate Young, but not a lot of time to see Rozier and Hunter at the NBA level. Especially with Jonas Jerebko dealing with an ankle injury, minutes are at an all-time high for these guys. It’s better to find out what you have in Hunter and Rozier before going into free agency and the draft.

Next: How Far Could the Celtics Fall?

Hunter played well against the Raptors, and Rozier has impressed a lot of people as well. James Young got his chance, it’s time to focus on Hunter and Rozier and implement them into the rotation for a couple of weeks.

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