Celtics sign second-round pick Mickey

by **bobheckler** Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:53 pm

Celtics sign second-round pick Mickey
38m
Chris Forsberg, ESPN Staff Writer

The Boston Celtics signed second-round pick Jordan Mickey, the team announced on Monday.

The Celtics used available cap space to sign Mickey to a four-year, $5 million deal that includes guaranteed money in the first two seasons, according to sources.

Mickey, the 33rd pick in last month's draft, starred at summer leagues in Utah and Vegas. This deal guarantees him modest money early in the deal and helps Boston keep him under its long-term control.

The 21-year-old Mickey will compete for minutes in Boston's overstocked frontcourt.

bob

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by **bobheckler** Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:07 pm

I believe that makes 13 guaranteed contracts, not including Perry Jones III, Rozier or Hunter.

Smart
Bradley
IT
Sully
Kelly
Jerebko
Johnson
Lee
Zeller
Turner
Crowder
Young
Mickey

Somebody's going bye-bye. Perry Jones might get bought out using the money we got in the trade but then who backs up at 3?

Depth chart - () means secondary position; [] means unsigned as yet

1. Thomas, Smart, [Rozier]
2. Bradley, (Smart), [Hunter], (Young)
3. Turner, Crowder, Jones
4. Johnson, Lee, Jerebko, Sully, (Kelly), Mickey, (Jones)
5. Zeller, Kelly, (Sully), (Lee)

bob

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by **worcester** Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:19 pm

Bob, Please explain to me why we are keeping Young. Is this in homage to the Rod Stewart song? I can hardly think of another reason, given that we need to sign Hunter and Rozier. Trade bait possibly to some overly optimistic GM? That might make sense.

by **bobheckler** Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:44 pm

worcester wrote:Bob, Please explain to me why we are keeping Young. Is this in homage to the Rod Stewart song? I can hardly think of another reason, given that we need to sign Hunter and Rozier. Trade bait possibly to some overly optimistic GM? That might make sense.

worcester,

You're asking the wrong guy. I have seen very little of James Young that has impressed or intrigued me. His being 19 doesn't carry much weight with me. If he came out of the UK incubator too early that was his mistake, one could make the same argument about Beasley, but he's playing with the big dogs now. This isn't golf, there's no handicap awarded to offset/compensate for inferior play. You can ball with everybody else, or you can't. He got lots of reps last year in Portland that he would not have gotten if he had stayed with the team in Boston. His $1.75M contract isn't that much smaller than Perry Jones' $2.03M one. That's who he's competing with and it's going to be tough. Unless Hunter shows, in the pre-season, that the higher level of competition is enough to derail him there won't be many minutes for him at SG with Bradley and Smart and some for Hunter sucking up those minutes, so 6'6" James Young will be going, essentially, head-to-head with 6'11" Jones for minutes at backing up the back up at SF. That's a guy who did a helluva job coming in for Durant when he was out until he himself got injured. Jones can play both SF and PF. Can Young play SG as well as SF? Can Young even play SF? I don't think he's quick enough to play SG and he doesn't use his body to his advantage, relying upon his jumpshooting. At SF, he's undersized at 6'6" and he doesn't use, what should be, a speed advantage on his bigger and presumably slower defenders.

I sure hope not "Forever Young". That is the Stewart song you were referring to, right? Not "Cut Across, Shorty"?

bob

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by **Sam** Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:50 pm

W,

The Celtics (aka Ainge and friends) seem determined to keep the faith that Young can produce big dividends in the long run. Perhaps the problem is that the definition of "long" for Ainge is over several years while the definition of "long" for the average fan is "Oops, wanna see it again?"

It's hard to believe that one Summer League game could make much of an impact on Danny's thinking; but perhaps Young's decent (not great) performance in the last game gave Danny pause for thought. Or perhaps Ainge doesn't want to dump Young for nothing return so Danny's waiting as long as possible to see if he can use Young to make a trade work.

I find it hilarious that some people still talk about Young's age as being 18. In actuality, he'll be 20 on August 16th. Apparently James ages more slowly than even Jack Benny did.

To illustrate what passed for funny many years ago and how pedestrian a lot of it seems today, I recall when one of Benny's running jokes on radio was the he was age 38. "How old are you Jack?" (Long pause while the audience inhaled, literally in breathless anticipation.) "38." And the crowd would exhale in unison with a 30-second roar of laughter.

Finally, after several years of this, in his first show of the season, someone asked, "How old are you Jack?' (Pause, inhale.) "39." And the crowd nearly expired with laughter.

Simpler days. Simpler people (speaking autobiographically of course).

Sam

by **worcester** Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:36 pm

Jack Benny's first violin teacher was Otto Graham, Sr. Jack was such a mensch. I loved his shows and schtick. I especially appreciated that he portrayed Eddie Rochester Anderson as a person in full and didn't pile a lot of racial stereotypes on him.

by **gyso** Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:58 pm

Sam,

What's the "radio"? Can I get it on youtube?

by **Sam** Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:34 pm

gyso,

Sure. Just google "Vacuum Tubes 'R' Us."

Sam

by **Sam** Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:35 pm

Back to Mickey. I was a bit concerned when I read that talks between The Mouse and the Celtics had "broken off." Stupid me for ignoring my own advice and actually placing some value in what the media says.

Sam

by **dboss** Mon Jul 20, 2015 4:51 pm

There was no way Danny boy was gonna let this one slip by.

This was really a great deal for the Celtics more so than Mickey.

he will be on the allstar ballot before he gets really paid.

He is an impressive young man

dboss

by **worcester** Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:19 pm

Savvy Danny Selects Dazzlingly again. What a good draft class this was.

by **rambone** Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:19 pm

Poor Mickey. He could have made that 5 million dollars next year alone, if he had taken the one year minimum contract that was his right.

Pretty sure Lloyds of London would have insured him for good money, and taken a chunk of that second contract next year.

Good for Boston though.

But for example, KJ McDaniels, second round pick last year, played it smart, signed the one year minimum, and just signed a 3 million per year contract with the Rockets, even though he wasn't even in their rotation much at all last year.

With the cap going up so much next year, it's actually difficult to fathom how much Mickey could have earned on the open market, even if he rode the pine all year.

But wow what a coup for the Celtics, and at least Mickey has his financial security.

by **rambone** Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:28 pm

As far as James Young, the one thing he can do that Hunter and Rozier cannot is passably(?) defend small forwards, and the bulldozer shooting guards.

Young has 30 lbs on Hunter and Rozier, and at 19 years old, he'll get even stronger.

And while I like Hunter a lot more as a player, if he gets hurt this team would be right back to relying on guys like Turner, Crowder, and Smart for their 3 point shooting from their perimeter players.

Also, if the Celtics can trade for a star at some point, Young has enough trade value to keep around in the meantime.

I also think his training with Durant will be a big confidence boost for Young.

And if Young still isn't showing much during training camp, he can always be cut/traded then.

by **wide clyde** Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:06 pm

Ainge absolutely has to maintain that Young is going to "make it". He has no choice if he has any plans for getting something back in return for this guy. Not sure how much he can get back, but he definitely will get much less back if he (Ainge) ever admits how bad Young really is. If there is a chance that Young "makes it" in Boston these chances are going to be greatly reduced if Ainge and Stevens publicly throw him under the bus.

Ram, I am not sure that I can agree with your thoughts of Young being able to defend small forwards at all. He is still looking very lost out there. Yes, he fits the small forward spot better with his body size, but either he can or he can't defend whether he is bigger than Rozier and Hunter or not. I do agree with you in that neither Rozier nor Hunter can probably defend good NBA small forwards either, but I still think that they would do a better job than Mr. Young.

I don't like to be down on Young, and very much hope that he can develop enough to help the Celtics, but so far he has just not shown me much. The NBA is not a league that seems to wait around for 6'6" guys to develop like they might do with a 7 foot center, in my opinion, because there are just too many of these guys available every year.

Expect Ainge to keep saying great things about Young's potential and his improvements even if we don't seem to see Young in the same light that Ainge speaks about this kid. It is just part of what a GM has to do to get the best value from each and every player on his roster.

by **dboss** Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:32 pm

Wide Clyde

Agree. Too bad he disclosed negative things about Sully.

Dboss

by **rambone** Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:55 pm

but so far he has just not shown me much. The NBA is not a league that seems to wait around for 6'6" guys to develop like they might do with a 7 foot center, in my opinion, because there are just too many of these guys available every year.

He showed he could basically dominate the D-League at the same age this year's one-and-done rookies were still in college. That's something, not nothing. Even if you personally don't think Young will pan out, him dominating D-League at 18-19 is more than nothing to somebody. And by somebody I mean every front office in the league.

And while Young may be 6'6.5", he has a 7 foot wingspan and a 8'8" standing reach. Guys with that length may be a dime a dozen, but not guys that size who can shoot the 3 ball and create their own shot.

Luckily for Boston, we have lots of guys even bigger, way bigger, who can shoot the 3, in KO, Jerebko, and now Holmes.

While Holmes may be more of a PF than a SF, I suspect his defense on NBA SFs won't be much if any drop-off from Young's defense on SFs, but given that Holmes is like 3 years older than Young, if push came to shove I'd take Holmes, but I might find somebody else to push than Young. Or I might not.

The good thing about this roster, especially with Jerebko back and Holmes hopefully in the fold now, is that the development of Young is a mere detail, and at worst a footnote in Celtics history.

by **cowens/oldschool** Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:37 pm

when have we ever seen Young create his own shot? alot of shots I saw him hit in DL on tape were wide open jumpers. I didn't see anything in SL that showed me he can defend at the 2 or 3.

by **bobheckler** Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:54 am

wide clyde wrote:Ainge absolutely has to maintain that Young is going to "make it". He has no choice if he has any plans for getting something back in return for this guy. Not sure how much he can get back, but he definitely will get much less back if he (Ainge) ever admits how bad Young really is. If there is a chance that Young "makes it" in Boston these chances are going to be greatly reduced if Ainge and Stevens publicly throw him under the bus.

Ram, I am not sure that I can agree with your thoughts of Young being able to defend small forwards at all. He is still looking very lost out there. Yes, he fits the small forward spot better with his body size, but either he can or he can't defend whether he is bigger than Rozier and Hunter or not. I do agree with you in that neither Rozier nor Hunter can probably defend good NBA small forwards either, but I still think that they would do a better job than Mr. Young.

I don't like to be down on Young, and very much hope that he can develop enough to help the Celtics, but so far he has just not shown me much. The NBA is not a league that seems to wait around for 6'6" guys to develop like they might do with a 7 foot center, in my opinion, because there are just too many of these guys available every year.

Expect Ainge to keep saying great things about Young's potential and his improvements even if we don't seem to see Young in the same light that Ainge speaks about this kid. It is just part of what a GM has to do to get the best value from each and every player on his roster.

clyde,

I agree with everything you said.

Danny has to smile and say wonderful things about James Young, no matter what. I cannot explain why he said bad things about Sully's conditioning, it's unlike him not to say a whole lotta nothing (but making it sound really, really positive and hopeful!). I suspect some of it is because no coach or GM in the league coudn't see Sully's caboose coming from a mile away and trying to claim he was in good physical shape would have hurt his credibility. You know the old saying "where's there's smoke, there's fire"? Well, maybe, but maybe only if there's a lot of smoke. A little smoke might just be steam. It's an art form creating just the right amount of smoke to make people not call the fire department but instead make people think a new pope has been chosen, especially when so many GMs have gotten the short end of the stick with Danny. They don't think The Gahden is the Vatican.

I have yet to see any evidence that James Young can defend anybody, at any position, at any level of competition more than a possession or two at the max. I don't care about the size of his body, I care about the size of his head and his heart. Draymond Green defended at center during the playoffs, as did 6'6" Jae Crowder. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog and James Young's work ethic has been called into question more than once. He has been called out on it by Gerald Wallace both publicly and privately. Sure, being 6'6" and now 220# should make it easier for him to guard players that Hunter can't, but that doesn't mean he can or will. I used to have a dog, a lab/shepherd mix. It looked like a tall lab, all black with the floppy ears and all, but she weighed almost 75#. That's big, even for a male lab, and she was as tall as a shepherd. She loved to play with other dogs but when a dog her size or bigger joined the pack her ears laid back and she became quite submissive. In other words, she thought and acted like she was a hot shit with smaller dogs than her but when a dog as big as her came over she shrank. She had the size of a shepherd but the mentality of a lab, friendly as all get out but NOT aggressive. Maybe that's James Young. He's just a 19 year old labrador retriever. Rambone said that Young can defend the "bulldozing shooting guards". Only if he has the heart to do so, and I haven't seen evidence of that. I would rather have 6'2", 180# Avery Bradley guarding 6'3", 220# DWade before 6'6", 220# James Young any day. As I have stated in another post, I believe Young's competition isn't Hunter, and certainly not PG/SG Terry Rozier, it's Jones. If Young is competing with Hunter for SG, he loses. Big time. Hunter is just SO much more complete a player it isn't even close and if they are competing at SG the players they will be defending will be more Hunter's size and not 6'8"-6'9", 230# like Jeff Green, Paul George and, yes, Perry Jones III at 6'11". Those will be the size of the players James Young will be up against if he plays SF. If Hunter is on one of them it's because we got caught in a mismatch, NOT because he was assigned to them. The quandary Brad and Danny face is "which Perry Jones will show up and how long will he stick around?". When Jones is "on", he will beat James Young like a drum. The problem is his consistency, his continued focus, his ability to stay at a high level of preparedness despite not getting steady, predictable minutes. So, he could obliterate Young, get him traded, and then do a Jeff Green "here today, gone for a week" act. Either way, it's an upgrade, not only over James Young but over Jeff Green who was an inconsistent starter playing heavy minutes, Perry Jones would be a bench player. A "once-in-a-while" is better than a "never is". James Young ripped up D-league. Now, he has to decide whether he wants to serve in heaven (that would be The Gahden, playing in green) or rule over Hell. This summer league should have been his coming out party, especially all the hype about his new body and attitude, etc. Didn't happen.

It's a back court heavy league. Wings are a dime-a-dozen. Phil Pressey's game is more NBA-ready than Young's and he's unemployed. The reason why James Young still has a job, at least as of today, is thanks to John Calipari and NOT James Young. Calipari's program, and the success it has produced, is what got James Young his #17 pick and the longterm contract that mid-first round picks get. Compare him to Marcus Thornton, who is Portland or Europe-bound. Whose game is better? Mr. Darwin, allow me to introduce you to James Young. Mr. Young, Charles Darwin.

bob

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by **Sam** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:06 am

Danny also has to say good things about Young to boost the kid's confidence. After all, James is still a Celtic. If, by some chance, he remains a Celtic, best that he be as motivated as possible.

Sam

by **cowens/oldschool** Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:13 am

bob good post, agree with everything you said.

One more thing on Jeff Green, his last month and then into the playoffs for the Grizz, he couldn't even do the "once in a while", he was just an athletic no show that got ripped on separate occasions by Shaq and Barkley as a player that has the talent to help his team and is frustrating to watch because he never comes through. He is a player that playing off talented HoF players like Durant and Westbrook or Pierce and KG still can't help carry enough of a load playing with elite talent and if hes your primary option, well just fuhgittabout it !!!!

Guy is a bum.

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