Summer Quandaries 6: Small Forward, Whole or Hole?

http://celticsgreen.blogspot.com/2015/07/sq6-small-forward-whole-or-hole.html



SQ6: Small Forward, Whole or Hole?


By Lee Lauderdale








I see a lot of media bemoaning the dearth of Celtics players to adequately man the three. The heir apparent is Jae Crowder, and the incumbent is “point forward” Evan Turner. Playing up from shooting guard, we have James Young who was for too spindly last year but has added some 15-20 pounds of muscle. I have even seen rookie R. J. Hunter mentioned for time at small forward but not only is he far too slight but why play a natural shooting guard out of position, or force a rookie to learn a second position for which he is less well suited? In addition Ainge has mentioned that they feel that Marcus Smart can cover the three in some small ball situations. In the opposite of small we have Jonas Jerebko and newcomer (short-timer?) Perry Jones III as extremely tall (power) three's and I don't see any reason not to include rookie Jordan Mickey in this group. So do the Celtics have one small forward (Jae Crowder) or do they have more than half the roster capable of manning the position? I'd say somewhere in between.

I'd eliminate Smart, Hunter, and Mickey from consideration unless injury forced adjustments. Foolish to force-fit your starting point guard into a role in which he will be giving up 2-5 inches. Equally foolish to force rookies to play out of their natural position. I don't think Young is ready to contribute yet, and if he is, he would be a better fit at the two. I don't see a pressing need for Turner's ball dominance this year with an improved cast across the board. I very much hope that PJ3 is reborn and claims the majority of backup minutes at the three; but I also see Jerebko as a viable backup—either will have some decided advantages against other small forwards. Each also has the height and length to bother the increasingly robust three's proliferating through the league.

Throughout the NBA there is a lot of firepower at small forward. Still, even at their most potent, I think LeBron or Durant will have a long, tiring night being checked by a tag team of Crowder, Jones, Jerebko, and maybe even a few minutes of Jordan Mickey. Perhaps apropos is a line that emerged from WWII: quantity has a quality all its own. Sometimes a deep even talent level wears down even the great ONE's.

60 days until camp



bob




.

Lee hits on one of my favorite gripes—playing guys (especially young guys) out of position(s) where they feel comfortable. What better way to diminish their confidence and stunt their growth at their true position(s)? Perhaps that's been a major problem of James Young—at least defensively—and he would have fared much better as a SG. (How's that for grasping at straws?)

Sam

Sam,

I very much agree that young players at any level and even in any sport need to play as much as possible at positions at which they are most comfortable. Let them make as big a contribution as they possibly can before asking them to "play out of position".

Not sure that I can agree with James Young being a better defender at the guard position than he was (or wasn't?) at the small forward position. Guards are often quicker than even small forwards and he (at least last season) could not stay with any of the forwards that he was assigned to guard. He may or may not have "it" on defense no matter who he is trying to cover. I hope he improves dramatically, but worry that he will.

Our stating small forward is Evan Turner.  He also doubles as a point forward.  His decision making improved throughout last season.

His backup could be a number of players including Crowder, the most likely SF rotation player as well as Perry Jones, and even James Young.

Turner is far from perfect but he probably is our best option at SF.  While we have a lot of options at the SF position most of those options have flaws.  

Our Options include

Turner - is a point forward that plays best with the ball in his hands, needs to work on his perimeter shooting and defense.  Not a flyer getting up and down

Crowder - Not a natural shooter, limited ball handling ability, defense in the post is far superior than his perimeter defense.  Is not particularly quick getting up and down.

Perry  Jones - superior athlete with more upside to play SF than either Turner or Crowder.  Needs a real opportunity to play but he will be  battling Crowder for backup minutes.  He may see some time on the floor with Turner and Crowder.

James Young is a shooting guard who can shoot the basketball but has yet to prove he can make wide open shots.  He is very limited in his ball handling skills and is still very much a work in progress.  We have not seen one single thing that he does well.  As he develops more physical strength he could play some small forward but until he becomes a better shot maker he will fight for minutes at the end of the bench and from his location in Maine.

My conclusion at this point is that our SF options are more hole then whole. That is the main reason that Danny Ainge was willing to part with FOUR first round picks.

dboss

I can see that the small forward position appears to be somewhat of a weakness heading into this next season, but Turner did more than an acceptable job there last season and since he is still a young guy it is likely that he will improve again this season.  Stevens and his staff have made me a believer that they are very strong at building skills in their players from year to year.

With that said, I think that Jones is going to win the starting spot at small forward by the time the season opens.  This guy has to be super motivated to say the least after not being able to reach the court very much while in Oklahoma and playing behind Durant.  If he indeed possesses the athletic ability that he is supposed to have, he has to know that he is at least looked by some NBA executives as a failure to date so failing again (this time in Boston) may be the end of his career.  

I will be very disappointed if this guy does not show up to camp in great shape and raring to go in late September.  I will almost guess that he is already at the practice facility as a means of being as ready as he can be for September.

It will be interesting to see what Young can do in the pre-season.  As a Cs fan, I hope that he does exceptionally well, but as more of a realist I am not sure that he has much more to show the coaching staff.  He may just have too many parts of his game to fix and not enough time to fix them.

DBoss, I liked Winslow a lot, but wonder if Ainge offered so much for him to not only get him but also to judge the value of his many draft picks.  Unfortunately, six picks were not enough to get Winslow and also may have shown that the number of picks he has may not have the value he (and we) had hoped for.  Learning such a lesson may determine that he needs to at least think of a different direction for improving the talent on the roster.

Clyde,

I don't believe Young would defend the "2" any better than the "3." Just trying to cut the kid some slack at this point in his career.

Sam

Sam,

I do not think that James Young needs any 'slack' at this time of his career even though I detected a little of the Sam sarcasm in your post.

Yes, he is only a second year player and his age in years is actually working against him, but he is now a professional athlete and needs to realize that every team's general manager and coaching staff is always out to find better players to fill their team's uniforms.  It is not like high school, where a coach can kind of wait around hoping that his sophomore who has some talent will blossom into a star by the time he becomes a junior or senior.

There are tons of 6"6" guys playing basketball all around the world who would love a chance at Young's roster spot on the Celtics.  They may or may not have more talent than Young possesses, but 'they' are out there.  Not sure how many guys leave college ball every year who are in the 6'6" height range, but 'they" are out there every single year, too.  Some may even do things better than Young already.  An example might be this year's second round draft pick.

Not sure if James will be able to stay ahead of such a wide range of hungry competition, but he cannot sit back and rely on Danny Ainge to keep him around forever just because Ainge used a draft pick to secure his services in June of 2014.

So, the question is "is this young man going to figure it all out?"  The answers right now range from "hopefully, maybe, possibly, might, might not, won't, can't (and you can add a bunch of other similar responses)".  From what was written last winter we know that at least one guy, Gerald Wallace, has told Young about his deficiencies as a pro basketball player.   Can he/will he listen and make the necessary adjustments?  They certainly need to made soon rather than later if this kid has a chance to succeed in Boston.  Year one in Boston was a certified flop for this kid.

Wide Clyde

Some of the best trades are the ones that were not made.

Glad mj is a fool.

Young is not good enough...no handle...no game.

Dboss

Clyde,

No sarcasm intended. I just hated to be totally negative about someone who I assume was putting out a reasonable effort. As far as I'm concerned he should have been gone before Wallace; and lord knows I'd been wanting them to shed Wallace's salary despite his effort and leadership qualities. As far as James is concerned, he may stand as the best example yet of what I had come to think of as the Fab Melo yawning gap between the DL and the NBA.

Sam