Swaggy P Heading To O-Town
Nick Young has agreed to a one-year, $5.2 million deal with the Golden State Warriors. How will Swaggy P fit with the reigning world champs?
After spending the last four years playing for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers, Nick Young has agreed to a one-year, $5.2 million deal to join the Golden State Warriors. Using their middle-level exception, the Warriors have added yet another piece to their already-dominant bench in Young. Young reportedly also received interest from the Pelicans, Timberwolves and Thunder, but getting the opportunity to compete for a championship clearly meant more to the 10-year veteran.
Nick Young 2016–17 Stats:
13.2 points, 1.0 assist, 2.3 rebounds, 0.2 blocks, 0.6 steals
Fit:
If your initial reaction to the Golden State Warriors signing Nick Young is a hardy laugh, there’s a good chance you didn’t watch Young play a single game of basketball last season. Sure, he can be a little much off the court sometimes, but the 32-year-old swingman out of USC still has a lot in the tank on the court, and the Warriors couldn’t have picked him up at a better time.
After back-to-back turbulent seasons in Los Angeles, which included a public feud with one of his teammates and a high-profile divorce from a low-profile rapper, Young finally got his act together last season. Whether it was the long leash he was given under Head Coach Luke Walton, or the fact that he was playing for his NBA life, Young came back a different player.
Last season, Young was one of six players to shoot above 40 percent from behind the arc while attempting at least seven 3-pointers per game. Two of the other six players on that list, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, will now be on the same team as him.
Had he not been shut down at the end of the season, there was a good chance Young would have broken Nick Van Exel’s franchise record for most 3-point field goals in a single season (183). Yes, that Nick Young.
Offensively, the fit could not be better. Defensively, he’s not the worst.
When he’s engaged, Young is an above-average defender. Unfortunately, that’s rarely been the case for Young throughout the course of his career. In fact, Young has never had a positive Box Plus/Minus in his career. The closest he got was -0.7 last year.
Luckily, Young will be surrounded by capable defenders in Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, so he will likely be asked to do the bare minimum on defense. However, because both Livingston and Iguodala both struggle shooting from the 3-point line, expect Young to have the green light whenever he’s on the floor with the second unit.
At 32 years old, Young’s athletic prime might be well behind him. But, if he buys into Steve Kerr’s system in Oakland, there’s a good chance his best days of basketball are ahead of him.
Grade: A
