Where Could Perry Jones Fit?

http://hardwoodhoudini.com/2015/08/30/where-could-perry-jones-fit/




Where Could Perry Jones Fit?
by Joshua Bateman 1d ago





When Perry Jones joined the Boston Celtics it was anticipated that it would be a very short stint. The Celtics have too many guaranteed contracts on the books and the early favourite to be on his way out was the newest addition in Jones.

Fortunately, the offseason has gone much better than Jones could have expected with the Celtics and he now has a legitimate chance to remain with the team during the regular season. It appears as though Jones will be battling with Evan Turner in order to secure the final roster spot.

Now that it is a serious possibility that Jones will remain with the Celtics it is time to explore what kind of role he may have with the team and where he can fit into the rotation.


The good news for Jones is that the Celtics have very few players that can match him physically. Jones is 6’11 and 235 pounds and the only Celtics bigs that can match Jones’ height are far less athletic.





The biggest obstacle in Jones’ way will be the depth at the power forward position. The Celtics have Jared Sullinger, Amir Johnson, David Lee, Jonas Jerebko and Jordan Mickey who will all be battling for minutes and it is hard to imagine Jones leap frogging over enough of them to have a large role on the team.

Jones does have a height advantage over all of them other than Sullinger but with how often the Celtics play small ball he may be better off looking to a different position.

Jones may have the size that suggests he is primarily a power forward but in two out of his three seasons he has primarily been a small forward and that is fantastic news for him. An unfortunate circumstance of having so much guard and power forward depth is that it has left the Celtics with absolutely no small forward depth.

Jones will be hard pressed to surpass Jae Crowder but he can provide a fantastic change of pace from the bench. Jones brings a significant height increase over Crowder and he can become very valuable in the moments when the Celtics do not play small ball.

Jones is unlikely to be as good of a defender as Crowder but he can have a more dynamic offensive impact. Last season was a nightmare form three point range for Jones but the season before that he shot a solid 36%.

Brad Stevens loves bigs that can stretch the floor and Jones has the potential to be better than both Sullinger and Olynyk. Both Olynyk and Sullinger earned roles on the team largely thanks to their ability to stretch the floor and that has made up for other short comings.




Olynyk is a mess on the defensive end and Sullinger has conditioning issues, giving Jones an opportunity to earn a role stretching the floor.

The problem is that Jones has been a disaster on the defensive end early on in his career. Jones has a defensive box plus minus that has ranged from -2.5 to -8.6 and even by the Celtics’ sorry standards, those numbers are unacceptable.

Jones certainly fits the bill of the kind of big that Brad Stevens has enjoyed using but if he is not able to switch over to the small forward position he will have to show significant improvement to have a role on the team.

Evan Turner also has the potential to switch over to the small forward position but he cannot provide a height boost. Jones will not be in the starting lineup but if Stevens wants to change things up from the small ball Jones may be the best option at small forward.

Jonas Jerebko is another potential option at the small forward position but he may not be as athletically talented as Jones. Jones can bring something to the team that Stevens values highly but there are a lot of bodies ahead of him. Even if Jones beats out Turner for the final roster spot he is unlikely to have that large of a role.



bob
MY NOTE:  I am VERY eager to see what this kid can show us.  A 6'11" SF with springs for legs?  Oh my Gawd!  How's this for a "big" lineup:  Zeller, Kelly (or Lee, or Sully), Jones, Turner and Smart?  That's two 7'ers (or one 7'er and either a 6'10" or 6'9"), a 6'11" SF, a 6'7" and a 6'4" linebacker.  The last time we had a lineup that big was Parish, McHale, Larry, DJ and Danny and that's one 7'er, a 6'11" and a 6'9" SF with a pair of 6'4" guards.  Yeah, I know The Big 3 were quite a bit better than these guys but from a pure size perspective this gang is big. Or put Jones in with Jerebko and height and speed, instead of height and bulk like you'd get with Sully or Lee. Brad will make opposing coaches' heads explode this year.


.

I like your "big" line-up. Especially like that even though there is a ton of size, it is not a lumbering line-up. Could be a weapon.

On a related note, I wonder when someone will look at the "small ball" craze and decide to go in the other direction. Given the popularity of small ball, the value of players who fit this game has gone through the roof. As a result, players suited to big line-ups have a decreased value. Seems to make sense that as an alternative to competing for limited small ball resources, someone could field a "big" team for a reasonable price. Instead of trying to out-small-ball teams, make teams deal with size.

Young is not remotely as talented as P jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPjMeO39ySs

dboss wrote:Young is not remotely as talented as P jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPjMeO39ySs

dboss,

That was a nice taste.  This video is vs the Clips and most of his points came against Griffin.  That's not a team of bums and Griffin is pretty damn athletic too.  He was hitting 3s and going inside and posting up...about the only thing it didn't show was him running on a fast break and I'll bet he can do that real well too.  A real nice display of skills.  If he doesn't make the team, but isn't part of a trade and is just let go, then James Young must have some very incriminating pictures of Danny or Wyc or James Young just had a brain transplant since summer league.

Thanks,


bob

.

Here's some more video of PJ vs Denver.

23 points. Inside. Outside, Driving into the lane. Scoring after contact. A lot of his points were were against Kenneth Faried, who is no pushover and has quite the lively body himself.

James Young has never had a big game in the NBA. Never. PJ has had several, against good teams (Clips, Denver. Ok, at least the Clips) and against good defenders (Blake Griffin and Kenneth Faried).

Enjoy.  The real thing is only a few weeks away.





bob


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Bob

I think we may have something here.

Also watched the Denver video. Perry has some offensive skills.

And he has something that Young lacks....a handle...

Young needed to play better during the summer league games ...that did not happen.
A trade or a cut must happen. The cut option seems a little clearer now. Young is officially the bubble kid.

Dboss

Even before seeing these two video clips there should have been no question that Jones is far superior to anything that Young has been able to show at any level of play beyond high school. Even if he only keeps one eye open on defense his defense will also be better than Young's.

If Jones is not motivated enough to get the small forward spot in Boston, he can just about call his career over in the NBA. There is no question that he has the physical tools to play this position for the Celtics as their starter.

I will stand by my prediction that this guy may turn out to be one of Ainge's best pickups and that he will win the small forward position for the Celtics this season.

wide clyde wrote:Even before seeing these two video clips there should have been no question that Jones is far superior to anything that Young has been able to show at any level of play beyond high school.  Even if he only keeps one eye open on defense his defense will also be better than Young's.

If Jones is not motivated enough to get the small forward spot in Boston, he can just about call his career over in the NBA.  There is no question that he has the physical tools to play this position for the Celtics as their starter.

I will stand by my prediction that this guy may turn out to be one of Ainge's best pickups and that he will win the small forward position for the Celtics this season.

Wide,

Here's hoping your crystal ball is clear and accurate. That would make Jones close to the ultimate bargain.

Young simply left school too soon, apparently had to, and we rolled the dice there. It looks like it came up Snake Eyes, unfortunately.

Regards

Considering that Danny got Perry on the real deal cheap this would rank as an excellent move.

Jones played in Durand's shadow. Now he may have an opportunity to create his own shadow.

He should do quite well in brad's offense.

I do not think that Young left school too early despite the obvious lack of development. If he had stayed in school for 4 years would he be able to effectively handle the ball?

Dboss

dboss

wide clyde wrote:Even before seeing these two video clips there should have been no question that Jones is far superior to anything that Young has been able to show at any level of play beyond high school.  Even if he only keeps one eye open on defense his defense will also be better than Young's.

If Jones is not motivated enough to get the small forward spot in Boston, he can just about call his career over in the NBA.  There is no question that he has the physical tools to play this position for the Celtics as their starter.

I will stand by my prediction that this guy may turn out to be one of Ainge's best pickups and that he will win the small forward position for the Celtics this season.

clyde,

I'm quite excited by what Jones can do for us and agree with you that he may be extra motivated this year, but I'm not as willing to go out on a limb and predict he'll be our starting SF this season.  My reasons for this are that, if you look at our likely starting 5 (assuming Trader Danny goes into hibernation, which is highly, if not extremely, unlikely given we have too many guaranteed contracts already) who do we have?  

Zeller, a PF of your choice (Sully, Amir or Lee.  Jerebko almost certainly comes off the bench as does Kelly as back up center), Bradley, Smart and a SF.  If the starting SF is Evan Turner, then there is exactly one ballhandler on that starting unit (forgive me for being underwhelmed by Marcus Smart's ballhandling skills).  If the starting SF is Jones, then there are none.  If Thomas replaces one of the guards and starts then there's a ballhandler, which might allow you to replace Turner with Jones, but then what happens to our second unit's offense with Thomas now a starter and a relative non-shooter like Turner taking his place?

If it boiled down to pure athleticism, pure talent and the ability to create and exploit mismatches then I might agree with you but if you look at it as a skill set depth chart like Brad does (i.e. ballhandlers, wings and bigs) then a starting unit that replaces Turner with Jones but doesn't replace a second player with a ballhandler is going to look very choppy offensively.

Once again, I say for the record for the millionth time, Danny never sleeps and this is all written in pencil until after the trade deadline.


bob


.

bob,

Good points about the starting lineup having to jell together. I had not looked at this angle when I made the prediction that Jones could start.

So, I guess that I could be wrong in my prediction, but not wrong because of his lack of talent and hopefully not wrong because of his motivation.

Also, a good point about Young not leaving school too early. He may just never be ready, but perhaps he will figure it out like the last similarly talented young forward the Cs drafted who bounced around for years before finally showing enough on the mental side to actually get some NBA playing time. Getting old and can't remember his name, but will remember it quickly when you mention it.

dboss wrote:Considering that Danny got Perry on the real deal cheap this would rank as an excellent move.

Jones played in Durand's shadow.  Now he may have an opportunity to create his own shadow.  

He should do quite well in brad's offense.

I do not think that Young left school too early despite the obvious lack of development.  If he had stayed in school for 4 years would he be able to effectively handle the ball?  

Dboss

dboss

dboss,

I don't know about ball handling improving further, he's just got so many other holes in his game I don't think he had the playing time needed in a pre-NBA environment.

Regards

wide clyde wrote:bob,

Good points about the starting lineup having to jell together.  I had not looked at this angle when I made the prediction that Jones could start.

So, I guess that I could be wrong in my prediction, but not wrong because of his lack of talent and hopefully not wrong because of his motivation.

Also, a good point about Young not leaving school too early.  He may just never be ready, but perhaps he will figure it out like the last similarly talented young forward the Cs drafted who bounced around for years before finally showing enough on the mental side to actually get some NBA playing time.  Getting old and can't remember his name, but will remember it quickly when you mention it.

clyde,

Until the season starts and we see actual results it's too soon to say who, or what, is right or wrong.  It's all conjecture at this time.

One of my personal little projects is to try to focus on what is and what I believe will be, in many facets of my life, and not so much on what was.  I'm actively trying to embrace Brad Stevens' viewpoint of "ball handlers, wings, swings and bigs" and think less as "center, power forward, small/shooting forward, shooting guard and point guard".  That's not because I think Brad's way is better, it's because that's how he thinks about it and, if I'm trying to project what kind of noise we're going to make this year and next, then I should look at the league, the team and the players the way Wyc, Danny and Brad look at them and not as Walter Brown, Red and KC Jones looked at them.  For better or worse, and many consider today worse, that was then and this is now.  You see some of this personal internal struggle on display when I go back and forth with Cowens about the need for a traditional center.  It's not about what I like, I tell myself, it's about where the league is and is going and what Danny and Brad have to work with and they think we need. In point of fact, I share many of Cowens' prejudices and preferences. I have said many times that he and I like the same type of players, but that was then and this is now and I want to win now. Adapt or die.



bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

One of my personal little projects is to try to focus on what is and what I believe will be, in many facets of my life, and not so much on what was.  I'm actively trying to embrace Brad Stevens' viewpoint of "ball handlers, wings, swings and bigs" and think less as "center, power forward, small/shooting forward, shooting guard and point guard".  That's not because I think Brad's way is better, it's because that's how he thinks about it and, if I'm trying to project what kind of noise we're going to make this year and next, then I should look at the league, the team and the players the way Wyc, Danny and Brad look at them and not as Walter Brown, Red and KC Jones looked at them. . . It's not about what I like, I tell myself, it's about where the league is and is going and what Danny and Brad have to work with and they think we need.  
.

Bob,

I'm not a doctor (or NBA coach) and don't play one on TV but...

I'd say that's a healthy attitude when it comes to the Celtics, the NBA, or anything else in life for that matter.

Regards

NYCelt wrote:

wide clyde wrote:Even before seeing these two video clips there should have been no question that Jones is far superior to anything that Young has been able to show at any level of play beyond high school.  Even if he only keeps one eye open on defense his defense will also be better than Young's.

If Jones is not motivated enough to get the small forward spot in Boston, he can just about call his career over in the NBA.  There is no question that he has the physical tools to play this position for the Celtics as their starter.

I will stand by my prediction that this guy may turn out to be one of Ainge's best pickups and that he will win the small forward position for the Celtics this season.

Wide,

Here's hoping your crystal ball is clear and accurate.  That would make Jones close to the ultimate bargain.  

Young simply left school too soon, apparently had to, and we rolled the dice there.  It looks like it came up Snake Eyes, unfortunately.

Regards

James Young had more success in college than Jones, then got drafted higher than Jones, then dominated D-League at barely 19 years old.

Anonymous front office types said this summer that Young would probably be a lottery pick, or top 10, if he had stayed in school for his sophomore year.

Meanwhile, OKC had to basically pay Boston to take PJ3 off their hands.

And yet Young is somehow a clear cut bust who has never accomplished anything beyond high school, and leaving college too early has ruined his entire career, and he should be released from the Celtics?

An opposing d-league coach said that James Young was the best player he ever saw in d-league last year. So much for not accomplishing anything after high school.

And it's not just Young's ppg in d-league, or his 3 point %. What's most impressive, and almost unheard of, is how Young shot such a high 3 point % on an incredibly high number of 3 point shots, like 8 per game. Normally, the more 3s a player takes the more their % drops. The "fluke" factor drops dramatically when a player shows a specific skill so repeatedly and consistently.

And yet somehow Young's d-league domination doesn't even count, but his summer league stats do.

Young at the very least will be a 14 ppg shooting specialist off the bench in the NBA. And at SF, with a 3 point shot, those guys are somewhat rare. Even if Young is always a defensive liability, as he very well may remain for his career, he'll still have something similar to a Nick Young type career, a guy with terrible defense, like a ton of other scorers in the NBA.

Hyper-ventalating every time a nervous James Young misses a shot in his first summer league, at 19 years old, doesn't change the fact that the entire NBA scouting/front office community, including Danny and Brad, see an obvious and highly predictable solid career for James Young.

If PJ3 makes the roster, the odds are it won't come at the expense of James Young, all emotions aside.

Brad is definitely a miracle worker though. I have no doubt he can turn PJ3 into something useful, as with James Young. As with Jordan Crawford, Turner, Marcus Thornton the first, and most everybody else who has come through boston.

In fact, Brad probably had some small effect on Marcus Smart shooting a solid 33.5% from three, on a super high number of shots, many ill-advised.

If you go back through recent NBA history, you won't find many rookies who made as many 3s as a rookie as Marcus Smart did.

And all the so-called experts were saying Smart had a broken jump shot and his 3 was just about as bad as it gets.

rambone wrote:

NYCelt wrote:

wide clyde wrote:Even before seeing these two video clips there should have been no question that Jones is far superior to anything that Young has been able to show at any level of play beyond high school.  Even if he only keeps one eye open on defense his defense will also be better than Young's.

If Jones is not motivated enough to get the small forward spot in Boston, he can just about call his career over in the NBA.  There is no question that he has the physical tools to play this position for the Celtics as their starter.

I will stand by my prediction that this guy may turn out to be one of Ainge's best pickups and that he will win the small forward position for the Celtics this season.

Wide,

Here's hoping your crystal ball is clear and accurate.  That would make Jones close to the ultimate bargain.  

Young simply left school too soon, apparently had to, and we rolled the dice there.  It looks like it came up Snake Eyes, unfortunately.

Regards

James Young had more success in college than Jones, then got drafted higher than Jones, then dominated D-League at barely 19 years old.

Anonymous front office types said this summer that Young would probably be a lottery pick, or top 10, if he had stayed in school for his sophomore year.

Meanwhile, OKC had to basically pay Boston to take PJ3 off their hands.

And yet Young is somehow a clear cut bust who has never accomplished anything beyond high school, and leaving college too early has ruined his entire career, and he should be released from the Celtics?

An opposing d-league coach said that James Young was the best player he ever saw in d-league last year. So much for not accomplishing anything after high school.

And it's not just Young's ppg in d-league, or his 3 point %. What's most impressive, and almost unheard of, is how Young shot such a high 3 point % on an incredibly high number of 3 point shots, like 8 per game. Normally, the more 3s a player takes the more their % drops. The "fluke" factor drops dramatically when a player shows a specific skill so repeatedly and consistently.

And yet somehow Young's d-league domination doesn't even count, but his summer league stats do.

Young at the very least will be a 14 ppg shooting specialist off the bench in the NBA. And at SF, with a 3 point shot, those guys are somewhat rare. Even if Young is always a defensive liability, as he very well may remain for his career, he'll still have something similar to a Nick Young type career, a guy with terrible defense, like a ton of other scorers in the NBA.

Hyper-ventalating every time a nervous James Young misses a shot in his first summer league, at 19 years old, doesn't change the fact that the entire NBA scouting/front office community, including Danny and Brad, see an obvious and highly predictable solid career for James Young.

If PJ3 makes the roster, the odds are it won't come at the expense of James Young, all emotions aside.

rambone,

It isn't just summer league, it's when he played in Boston too.

Did he have some nice games against D-leaguers?  Yep.  Does that impress me?  Nope.  He's the best player in D-league that D-league coach saw last year?  Probably not a lot of players coming out of last year's D-league and making the bigs then.  If you remember, Fab Melo had a few good games in Maine too.  Young had some good games in Maine, came back to Boston and did not show one whit of improvement.

Jones had 32 points against Blake Griffin and the LA Clippers, a good MAJOR pro team and 20+ against Kenneth Faried.  Does that impress me?  Yes.
Jones scored in an assortment of ways.  How many different ways have you seen Young score?

If James Young would have been a top 10 pick this year if he had stayed in that only reinforces my belief that once you get past the top 3-5 picks or so the draft is a crap shoot.

Saying James Young has done nothing since High School is an overstatement.  He has.  He had a good enough college freshman year, and pre-draft workout, to be picked #17 and he impressed a D-league coach.  Being the pick of the litter when you're a beagle doesn't cut the mustard when you're stepping off the porch to play with ill-intentioned Rottweilers and Dobies, and that's what we saw last year and this summer league. He did just fine against the cocker spaniels and poodles of the D-league.

Phil Pressey showed more in the 2 years he was here, and he was undrafted, than #17 James Young.  If he didn't have a guaranteed first round pick's contract he'd be gone already, like Pressey.

Maybe the reasons why those league sources said it anonymously is because they didn't want to get laughed at?

Jones was picked 28th because it was thought his knees would only last a few years.  So far so good.

As far as OKC paying us to take Jones in a salary dump, they saved something like $8.5M in repeat offender luxury taxes.  Keeping Jones would have made him an $11M man to them, the $2+M they would have had to pay him plus $8.5M in luxury tax payments.  Is Jones worth $11m?  No.

James Young has shown me nothing except that he has the attention span of a 3 year old on defense.  His calling card is shooting and his shooting was awful.   Has he done anything since High School?  Yes.  Has he done anything noteworthy in the 332 mostly garbage minutes against other NBA teams' scrubs that Brad saw fit to give him last year?  No.

Let's hope I see a different James Young during the exhibition games.


bob


.

rambone wrote:Brad is definitely a miracle worker though. I have no doubt he can turn PJ3 into something useful, as with James Young. As with Jordan Crawford, Turner, Marcus Thornton the first, and most everybody else who has come through boston.

In fact, Brad probably had some small effect on Marcus Smart shooting a solid 33.5% from three, on a super high number of shots, many ill-advised.

If you go back through recent NBA history, you won't find many rookies who made as many 3s as a rookie as Marcus Smart did.

And all the so-called experts were saying Smart had a broken jump shot and his 3 was just about as bad as it gets.

rambone,


Damien Lillard rookie year, 2012-2013 = 503 3pt fgas, 185 3pt fgm, 36.8%
Stephen Curry rookie year, 2009-2010 = 380 3pt fgas, 166 3pt fgm, 43.7%
Rudy Fernandez rookie year, 2008-2009 = 398 3pt fgas, 159 3pt fgm, 39.9%

Marcus Smart rookie year, 2014-2015 = 272 3pt fgas, 91 3pt fgm, 33.5%


The only one where Smart is even close too, in any category, is Lillard's fg% and Lillard's fg% is the worst of those 3.



bob



.

Before the draft, reports were that in his team interviews he displayed the lowest self-esteem they had ever seen.

It wasn't just his knee, just like it wasn't just Sully's back that made him drop to 21. With Sully, it was skepticism about his attitude and work ethic.
I thought espn college analyst Jay Williams was full of b.s. when he stated flatly during the 2012 combine that Sully simply didn't have the work ethic to succeed in the nba. Three years later, we see exactly what the 20 teams drafting before boston saw during pre-draft interviews with Sully.

Three years later, we see that PJ3 has yet to develop self-confidence. With all the physical tools we are now drooling over, OKC decided PJ3 wasn't worth hanging on to. Hopefully Brad can prove otherwise, and he is a miracle worker.

Next summer, some other fan base is probably going to talk themselves into believing that Sully can develop into a star, or at least not gain 30 lbs in the middle of a season after he gets a nice pay raise.

With James Young, he's four years younger than Phil Pressey. Pressey played 3 years of college ball, and was the son of an NBA player turned NBA coach.

If a few more exhibition games are the limits of your patience for James Young, 20 year old kid, you might ask yourself if you're being too impatient.

If Young is Jeff Green by his 4th year, which I think he's very much on track to become, then he was worth a first round pick without a doubt. Even though it's a long time to wait, and somebody like Rodney Hood could be helping us right now. Hood of course is 2 years older than young, and only weighed 208 at his combine last year, when he was 21. Young is already 220, at 20 y.o., and that must have been part of why Young was drafted over Hood, because Young will be much stronger than Hood, and more able to play SF, after the fully anticipated, multi-year development program.

Just look at our SF stable right now. Young is a much better 3 point shooter than Turner, Crowder, or PJ3. Many/most other teams have a dearth of 3 point shooters at SF.

Young's minutes in Boston came not only at 19 years old, but they came before we got IT4 (and now Rozier, and a healthy, hopefully more explosive Marcus Smart). With a year (or two) experience under his belt, Young will be a steady, reliable threat on the catch and shoot, when more and better shot opportunities are created by quick point guards. And Young has more than just a jump shot, he's developing slowly but surely as a dribble-driver, and he has a feathery touch on his floaters and even a semi running hook.

On a good team, with complementary talent around him, Young can and very likely will be an impact player on a good team, even if it's off the bench.

This team is stacked right now. Having a James Young at the end of the bench is the kind of ace in the hole that could save a season or change a playoff series. You probably noticed his improved aggression in drawing fouls, and getting to the ft line. Sometimes the nba playoffs can seem like a FT fest.

In my opinion, it's just a matter of time before he's putting up similar stats in the NBA that he put up as a 19 year old in the d-league. And he'll be a worthwhile contributor long before he's putting up 18 ppg or whatever he had last year.

But even if James Young is offloaded like Pressey, Pressey still landed on his feet in Portland, Oregon, and probably got promoted from 3rd string to 2nd string pg.

Young will have a nice nba career, whether in Boston or elsewhere.

He's definitely enough of a space cadet that you would want a better shot blocker than Brandon Bass protecting the rim after Young gets burned on a backdoor, lol.

I can't believe it's only a matter of weeks now before we start getting answers to some of these questions, most importantly, who will actually be on the game 1 roster.

bobheckler wrote:

rambone wrote:Brad is definitely a miracle worker though. I have no doubt he can turn PJ3 into something useful, as with James Young. As with Jordan Crawford, Turner, Marcus Thornton the first, and most everybody else who has come through boston.

In fact, Brad probably had some small effect on Marcus Smart shooting a solid 33.5% from three, on a super high number of shots, many ill-advised.

If you go back through recent NBA history, you won't find many rookies who made as many 3s as a rookie as Marcus Smart did.

And all the so-called experts were saying Smart had a broken jump shot and his 3 was just about as bad as it gets.

rambone,


Damien Lillard rookie year, 2012-2013 = 503 3pt fgas, 185 3pt fgm, 36.8%
Stephen Curry rookie year, 2009-2010 = 380 3pt fgas, 166 3pt fgm, 43.7%
Rudy Fernandez rookie year, 2008-2009 = 398 3pt fgas, 159 3pt fgm, 39.9%

Marcus Smart rookie year, 2014-2015 = 272 3pt fgas, 91 3pt fgm, 33.5%


The only one where Smart is even close too, in any category, is Lillard's fg% and Lillard's fg% is the worst of those 3.  



bob



.

Like I said, you won't find many. And the ones you find are pretty good. And Fernandez was like 25 or something when he came over. Smart could hit those Lillard numbers this season, and play 10x the defense.

The near future is looking so bright I've gotta wear goggles.

If you watched the Boston Celtics on Monday night, James Young impressed you. Shot-making, poise, fluidity, length -- the 19-year-old wing flashed all of the offensive potential that made him a first-round draft pick this past summer. En route to 13 points, all in the second half, he pieced together a flurry of hoops that set the TD Garden crowd on fire.

Despite the 104-95 loss to Charlotte, Jimmy Buckets soared in his first extended NBA playing time. You might have been surprised. One D-League coach, Delaware's Kevin Young, probably wasn't.

The following quote, from the Portland Press Herald, came to my attention Tuesday morning. It was delivered after James Young scored 27 points (on 9-for-15 shooting, including 5 of 8 from behind the arc) in his latest D-League appearance Saturday night.

“I don’t know what Danny Ainge and Coach (Brad) Stevens are seeing, but that guy should be getting minutes for the Celtics,” said Delaware’s Young. “Unless he just had his best games of his life against us. This is my eighth year in the D-League and I’ve seen a lot of assignment players come through. He’s got to be the best one I’ve seen. A guy with that size (6-foot-6) and that shooting ability, he’s tough.”

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2015/01/recently_boston_celtics_james.html