Keys To The Palace: Where Nick Young Makes His Case As The Wizards' Best Scorer
by Jake Whitacre on Nov 29, 2010 1:00 PM EST
in Keys To The Palace
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PrintRight now, Nick Young is fourth on the team in points per game, coming through with a career-high 11.8 points per game so far this season, but the case can certainly be made that Young is at least the most efficient, if not the best scoring option the Wizards have this season.
Young is averaging 20.2 points per 36 minutes, highest on the team. More importantly, he's leading the team without increasing his usage and lowering his turnovers. His effective field goal percentage right now stands at 56.6 percent, good enough for the ninth best percentage among all guards this season and the 22nd best in the league as a whole.
Sure, John Wall, Gilbert Arenas and maybe even Andray Blatche are guys who you want with the ball most of the time, because they can hurt you with the score and the pass more effectively. But so far this season, there hasn't been a player who has put the ball in the bucket better than Nick Young.
After the jump, we'll hand out the rest of the Palace keys and find out who was a turkey this week.
Keys to the Palace
| Player | Week 5 PER | Week 4 PER | Difference | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Young | 17.7 | 15.7 | 2 | Remarkably, Young avoided a negative plus/minus in every game this week, including Thursday's 20 point loss to Atlanta. He averaged 20 points per game this week, while only averaging one turnover. |
| Alonzo Gee | 15.1 | N/A | N/A | It didn't take long for Gee to get back into rhythm after his summer swing with the Spurs. He provided all the stuffing against the Magic, going for 8 points, 7 rebounds (5 on the offensive glass), 4 steals, 2 assists and a block in 30 minutes. He may not have the stuff to crack the rotation of a true contender, but he still has plenty of value on a team that will take all the young talent it can find. |
| JaVale McGee | 19.5 | 18.9 | 0.6 | It's a good thing McGee got in such an amazing performance against the Sixers (24 points, 18 rebounds) because there's no way he could sustain that against Al Horford and Dwight Howard. As Samuel Chamberlain noted, he's come a long way, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. |
Guest Passes
| Player | Week 5 PER | Week 4 PER | Difference | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Wall | 18.8 | 18.5 | 0.3 | It's hard to take too much from this week for Wall, as he made his return from injury against Philadelphia and proceeded to get injured again when he faced Atlanta. It's a shame because he really could have been the difference between a moral victory and an actual victory against the Magic on Saturday. |
| Gilbert Arenas | 15.3 | 14 | 1.3 | When John Wall isn't in the game, Arenas has shown he can still score in the same ways he did in his prime. Against Orlando, he set a season high in free throw attempts (14) and points (31). I'll still take his more efficient three point shooting and fewer turnovers that come with playing alongside Wall, but it's nice to see he's still got it. |
| Trevor Booker | 8.4 | 9.7 | -1.3 | Booker continues to get minutes with Yi on the shelf, and has shown some good signs. Through 35 minutes of play this week, he finished with a plus/minus of -2 (ironically, the -2 came against the Sixers, he was even against Atlanta and Orlando). His shooting percentages and rebounds are a little below what you'd like, but his defensive efforts are keeping him on the floor while the rest of his game catches up. |
| Andray Blatche | 13.9 | 14.2 | -0.3 | Blatche struggled against Atlanta, only going for 12 points and 4 rebounds in 23 minutes, thanks in part to being poked in the eye on a put back. But he showed some good resillience against the Magic, going for a double-double and chipping in four assists and two blocks in the near upset. |
| Cartier Martin | 14.2 | 14.9 | -0.7 | Even with the addition of Alonzo Gee, Martin still got a 5-10 minute chunk of playing time throughout the week. He's filling his role just about as well as you could ask, but would it be too much to ask for an assist? I realize his role doesn't call on him to distribute the ball much, but still, he hasn't notched an assist all season. |
Locked Out
| Player | Week 5 PER | Week 4 PER | Difference | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirk Hinrich | 12.9 | 13.9 | -1 | Mike has already gone over the issues with the three-guard lineup in detail, but you really see the issues when you look at Hinrich's numbers against Atlanta. In 25 minutes of action, he only had one rebound and one assists. He serves valiantly guarding players who overmatch him physically, but Hinrich needs to be put in better positions to help the team, whether it comes as a starter or off the bench. |
| Hilton Armstrong | 10.2 | 11 | -0.8 | After some solid play, over the last few weeks, Armstrong fell back to earth against some stiffer competition this week. Finishing -15 in 24 minutes of burn is no way to earn a spot at the Thanksgiving feast at the palace. |
NOTE: Yi Jianlian and Josh Howard were not included in this week's Keys to the Palace because they did not receive playing time. Hamady Ndiaye and Al Thornton were excluded because they played less than 10 minutes this week.
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I would lke to tear up 'Dray's guest pass please.
PER doesn’t measure how disappointed I am by him this season. Seriously though, if it wasn’t for a lack of options, I feel like we would totally be better off without him right now.
"Because once someone knows the whole story, I don’t see how they can disagree with my position."
This should appear at the top of every blog on the internet.
-cuppettcj & MR
by returnofswagger on Nov 29, 2010 1:12 PM EST reply actions
I still think we need to cut dray some slack.
He didn’t play basketball all summer, and is forced to play 35 minutes per game because our frontcourt is so thin. He’s limping his way to a 16 and 8, which is still better production than most teams get at the 4 spot. I expect him to play much better when he’s in better shape, he should be much quicker, and wont have to force those fadeaways.
Wizard's best lineup right now is probably
Wall
Young
Martin
AB
JM
Flip wants Wall to have the ball in his hands 80% of the time, that effectively shuts out Kirk and Gil from being as good as they should be. Nick is currently catching the ball and either shooting or passing within 5secs, compliments perfectly to Wall.
Still giving CMartin the nod at 3 despite Gee’s nice effort. Cartier is not quite the defender/rebounder that Gee probably is, but he’s solid there and a better distance shooter.
COSIGN
I agree Rez! After watching the games this early in the season, it just seems logical that if the Wiz are going to go with a youth movement, than you better see what you got to build on with the current players on the roster. You know what you get with Gil and Hinrich, however, if you are trying to build a championship contender, players like Young, Martin, and McGee will be should be playing minutes similar to that of a team in the playoffs. Flip will never do this, however, so I will temper my expectations!
by KonartistNupe on Nov 29, 2010 3:34 PM EST up reply actions
"But [Andray Blatche] showed some good resillience against the Magic, going for a double-double"
Andray shouldn’t get credit for the rebounds. The only player who rebounds on Orlando is Dwight Howard. Our centers did all the hard work by doing a fantastic job of boxing him out. Dray’s rebounds were the easy kind.
i'm not sure nick young can sustain those numbers
but he definitely looks better this year
by DarrellWalkerFan on Nov 29, 2010 1:27 PM EST reply actions
I'd like to hear the reasoning that people are using to justify Young starting
I love the improvement, but the ball stops with him most of the time. This is great on a second unit that needs scoring, but not beneficial when you have Arenas and Blatche operating as ball stoppers on the starters.
The artist formerly known as ledellforlife.
But Hinrich does all the things that Nick Young doesn't
I’m really confused by the mentality that if you’re not scoring over 10 a game then you aren’t productive. Hinrich’s role is facilitate ball movement, run sets, and provide gritty defense. I think Nick Young provides one out of the three things mentioned above. I accede to Rook’s point about Nick Young’s passing off on closed out screens, and his defense has been phenomenal. I’m just not sure as to why you would take your primary bench scorer and attempt to turn him into something he’s not.
Young is succeeding because his responsibilities have been decreased to the two things he does well, shoot and play man defense. I think asking him to do more is only going to hurt his performance.
The artist formerly known as ledellforlife.
Hinrich
I disagree that Hinrich does a good job of facilitating ball movement. He pounds the rock too much when he would be better off delivering to Arenas or Wall on the wing and letting them facilitate. He also doesn’t seem to do a good job spotting the open player in transition, instead dribbling around looking for an opening that never materializes while the defense resets. Of course, he’s better than Young at facilitating, but I’m not sure he’s a better player (and not because Young’s that good).
Getting buckets since 2003.
by Icantfeelmyface on Nov 29, 2010 4:42 PM EST up reply actions
Hinrich's gritty defense looks more rep than reality right now.
Probably because Flip continually puts him in un-winnable situations.
I'm not sure about that
I think Hinrich has done an above average job at identifying cutting players and hitting the targets off of screens, his rock pounding mostly coincides with players refusing to move on offense or standing around the perimeter. I think Young has outplayed him for the most part this year (at least offensively), but I believe that Hinrich is still the better player in driving the offense and working the different sets.
The artist formerly known as ledellforlife.
i also think hinrich has been okay
neither play should start, but both have contributed
by DarrellWalkerFan on Nov 29, 2010 5:52 PM EST up reply actions
Well whether its his fault or not - Wall or Arenas should be creating
Hinrich just isn’t very good at that. He’s serviceable in a pinch, but I don’t like him initiating on a regular basis. Young does a couple things well, while Hinrich does a couple of things average or slightly above. Granted, they are different things, so take your pick who to play more.
Getting buckets since 2003.
by Icantfeelmyface on Nov 30, 2010 12:56 AM EST up reply actions
but the ball stops with him most of the time.
That was certainly true last year, and in years past…. however, THIS YEAR pay close attention to the number of times Nick comes off screens, and doesn’t have a clean shot and he simply passes back to the point…. reverses his field, and runs around multiple screens again – trying to get an OPEN shot.
He’s not getting assists, but he’s not shooting the ball every time he touches it either; as some posters have asserted here recently.
He has cut his turn over rate in half (from a very good 7.8 last year to an almost unheard of 3.7 this year…) – His usage rate is down, and his rebounds are up.
But I agree with you – - – Don’t start him… He’s providing quick scoring punch off the bench… good perimeter defense – passes the ball when he’s not open – – – and almost never turns the ball over. Why start him? He’s putting up 20 points a night as a reserve, shooting over 50% from the field, while averaging over 28 minutes per game (last 7 games) and playing in crunch time… Right now, he’s almost the perfect sixth man for this team.
He's "delightfully cranky"
Why start him?
So we arent always down 10-15pts by the time he comes in the game.
Yeah - I can see it now....
Starters: Wall, Gil, Young, Blatche, McGee
Bench: Hinrich, Alonzo Gee, Hilton Armstrong, Trevor Booker
Where do you get ANY scoring from your bench?
He's "delightfully cranky"
NIck starting
takes shots away from Blatche, Gil and Wall….
Nick coming off the bench – he can take ALL the shots he can get open for…
He's "delightfully cranky"
He's shooting over 50%, he deserves shots.
This team regularly scores 20pts or less in the 1st quarter, I’d say worrying about scoring from the starters is a bigger priority than worries about the bench.
regularly scores 20pts or less in the 1st quarter
Sure, the last 4 games, while John Wall has been hurt (or hobbled), the Wizards scored 20 points or less…. but in the previous 4, with a healthy Wall, they scored 25, 28, 27, and 25 in the first quarter….
Adding Young to the starting line up only depletes the bench…. It doesn’t ADD scoring chances to the starting line up… it only adds one more scorer to divide the shots between…
He's "delightfully cranky"
Can Gil slowly acclimate to becoming a second option to Wall and change his offensive role on this team?
I think yes.
But I do not think bringing him off the bench would work for longer than a week. That is way too much talent to have sitting on the bench for a one dimensional scorer like Nick Young who will likely not keep this hot of a hot streak going for the next ten years of his career. Because he is on just that, a hot streak. And I like Nick, but Gilbert is a better player. Not only does Gil know he is doesn’t belong on the bench, but it just wouldn’t be smart to bring maybe your best player off of the bench.
The only way a healthy Gil doesn’t start, IMO, is if the organization is very confident that they have a way of getting him off the roster by next season.
"Because once someone knows the whole story, I don’t see how they can disagree with my position."
This should appear at the top of every blog on the internet.
-cuppettcj & MR
by returnofswagger on Nov 29, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions
Gilbert is a better player, of course.
But he needs the ball in a way Nick doesnt, which is why I think NY is the better fit with Wall….not that we’ll ever see it.
I just think bringing a player like Gilbert off the becnh negates the talent.
Not only is it less PT but it would get into a guy like that’s head, permanently coming off the bench.
But like you said, I guess not a ton of point discussing it, because we probably will never see it.
"Because once someone knows the whole story, I don’t see how they can disagree with my position."
This should appear at the top of every blog on the internet.
-cuppettcj & MR
by returnofswagger on Nov 29, 2010 3:22 PM EST up reply actions
You have to start Gil
Because he does more things, and because his trade value still needs to be reclaimed.
His trade value is a different issue altogether.
As far as best unit on the floor, so far I’m not sure Wall and Gil look like our most effective tandem.
Kirk and Gil play well together...
And often Gil hands the ball off to Kirk and Kirk dribbles it all over the place. Certainly on those plays Gil is not hogging the ball. I don’t see why Wall and Gil can’t do the same thing. And I think they might. If Wall is as smart as we all think he is, he’s noticed that Gil is a pretty good player.
Second unit scoring
Gil should be getting the back up PG minutes. That solves your scoring problem.
Gil should start, but he should rest early so he can be fresh and ready to come back in when Wall sits. Gil starts, gets starters minutes, but splits his time between SG (alongside Wall) and PG (when Wall sits).
Start him, because he does his best defending when he's defending the best
Tell him to do his best to shut down a great wing scorer, and he’ll do a great job.
On the other hand, tell him to use his judgment to provide good help D while also stopping a role player, and he gets lost. Judgment is not Nick’s strong suit.
Match him against the best. That means starting him.
Seriously!!!!
Please tell me where this team is getting the most production out of its 2 position???? I’ll wait!
by KonartistNupe on Nov 29, 2010 3:37 PM EST up reply actions
is it just me or
Is nick young looking more and more like the perfect compliment to wall. I know he has been playing out of his mind lately and probably can’t sustain this type of play all the time but even if his production slips a little I would still take it. Wiz fans have been in search of the right compliment alongside wall since the moment we landed the first pick, a guy who can stroke it, will come off screens and knock down shots, strap up on D and leave the creating to wall. How huge would it be for the organization if we already have that guy in NY. For some reason I still don’t fully trust him but I am really excited to see what he does the rest of the season. He is a really fun player to watch and it’s nice to know the wiz might have some options in the future, at the very least if he keeps playing like this we can pick up his player option and see if he is the answer to become wall’s backcourt mate. I know I am getting ahead of myself but it’s very encouraging to see. Also, just curious on this one but do you think Gil’s big performance against the magic gives gm Otis Smith a little more desire to trade for Arenas? Everyone knows he loves gil and is in search of one more superstar, anyone think that might have been in the back of gil’s mind the other night? Just throwing it out there. Either way I loved his determination
by jeffco01 on Nov 29, 2010 1:53 PM EST via mobile reply actions 1 recs
i believe you guys mean complement
although i’m sure Wall and Young also compliment each other all the time. The two seem to have a developing chemistry/friendship starting from before summer league.
by Marine4Life51 on Nov 29, 2010 2:17 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
the compliments are still rolling in...
I think its most frequent usage error on all English-language blogs world-wide… but grammar is purely complementary to content.
haha yeah
I hate being a grammar Nazi but i’m one of those people who feels OCD bout spelling/grammar mistakes, they just bug me for some reason.
by Marine4Life51 on Nov 29, 2010 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah
I’m the same way about abbreviated typing… like leaving off one letter to shorten the number of keystrokes… like that saved some time or something…
He's "delightfully cranky"
Or like running two complete sentences together
People frequently run two sentences together, it really bugs me.
He's "delightfully cranky"
I like the idea
Of starting Nick Young and drafting either an explosive SF or a potentially dominant C! We will be a lottery team at best this year with the way that we are playing (although we are in the east and anything can happen). We need to maximize what we have now and prepare them for potential playoff runs in the future. With more minutes and confidence from the coaching staff, this team could grow up real fast!
by KonartistNupe on Nov 29, 2010 3:40 PM EST up reply actions
But
the right kind of players…..
NOT a tall, long, skinny, uber-athletic Center… but a tall, bulky, strong beastly Center….. Unfortunately, other than Enis Kantor (Kentucky) I don’t see anyone that fits that bill….
And
A SF with some length (6’8"?) that can shoot with range – and defend the big SF’s in the League… Terrence Jones ( or Perry Jones, or any number of other very good SF prospects in the upcoming 2011 draft )
He's "delightfully cranky"
Konartist, what do you think of
Jared Jeffries out of Indiana? (projected to go 11th)?
Or Jarvis Hayes from Georgia? (projected to go 10th)?
their are many others two
"hindsight is 50-50" - Steve Spurrier
by little stevie colter on Nov 29, 2010 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
I'm comfortable with Nick coming off the bench
Like others have stated before, having Nick come off the bench gives the second unit a scoring punch, while having him start would just limit the number of shots available for a group of high-usage players.
I believe this was the same thinking that led Memphis to bring OJ Mayo off the bench. His potential and abilities simply weren’t being maximized when he had to share the floor with guys like Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and a newly aggressive Mike Conley. The kid is a damn sharpshooter who’s capable of becoming a borderline all-star, but it would be damn near impossible for Mayo to put up all-star numbers playing with that starting unit.
I have to say I'm intrigued by Gee as a starter
at the 3. like the diversity that he brings. i think he could be a really good fit there, better than Al. then nick comes in for him.
"hindsight is 50-50" - Steve Spurrier
by little stevie colter on Nov 29, 2010 2:41 PM EST reply actions
I'm torn.
I love what I’m seeing out of Nick Young, but I’m not sure if I’m seeing another Rip Hamilton, or another Eddie House. Don’t get me wrong – I’d be happy with either one (I mean, if Eddie House was 6’ 7", yikes) – but I don’t know what his role should be.
I’m pretty comfortable with him coming off the bench for now. He’s put hot streaks together before, and I don’t quite trust him yet. That being said, he should be getting Hinrich’s minutes, especially when Wall is healthy.
If I were Flip, I’d make sure to always have Wall or Arenas in the game, and let Nick complement them – he’s played damn well with Arenas too. I’d be giving Hinrich spot minutes – he pounds the ball too much with too little production, and his D has not been as advertised.
That said, if Nick starts (especially with Wall out), I’ll be OK with it.
The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.
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