Wizards to Nick Young: Get mean
Nick Young, NBA Draft '07
A couple of hours before Nick Young posed for the photo you see to the left, I sat down with him in a hotel lobby and talked about his life leading up to the ‘07 NBA Draft.
Nick Young has been through a lot. When he was five, his oldest brother was killed in a case of mistaken gang identity. In the aftermath of that tragedy, another of Nick’s brothers suffered a mental breakdown and was committed to an institution. As a teenager, Nick flunked out of two high schools before finding a home at Cleveland H.S. in Los Angeles, where his senior year and struggles to get into college were documented in a film called Second Chance Season. And while Nick was at USC, teammate Ryan Francis was murdered during a visit to his hometown Baton Rouge.
“I’m tired of going to funerals,” Nick told me before the Draft. You wouldn’t know about all this just by looking at him, though, because Nick is always smiling. He told me he keeps that smile on his face because he feels blessed, and because it’s his way of coping. As they say, laughing to keep from crying.
After Nick dropped 36 points in a summer-league game last night, he was described in Smack as somebody who can have a breakout season for the Wizards: “A cross between J.R. Smith without the rough edge and Jason Terry without a conscience.”
As it turns out, the Wizards want to do something about that edge. From the Washington Post earlier this week:
Coach Flip Saunders has challenged the talented shooting guard to ditch the smile and develop a mean streak. He wants Young to play with a chip on his shoulder, like he has something to prove.
“Nick is a very happy-go-lucky guy and he smiles a lot. I think as a young player, you don’t always need to smile,” Saunders said. “You’re better off having a little of that nastiness. You never saw Michael Jordan smile. The only time he smiled was when he was kicking your butt.”
Saunders has also been working with Young to help him become more effective shooting off screens and making plays for others. The coach may have more success with that, though, than getting Young to stop grinning.
“It’s been kind of hard. I can’t not have fun,” Young said, sporting a freshly cut mini-Mohawk while flashing a grin, after the Wizards concluded minicamp yesterday. “When I have fun, I smile a lot. He told me, ‘Just go out there in kill mode.’ I’ve been trying it a little bit, but at times, I catch myself smiling and joking. That’s natural for me. But if they want me to change, I have to change a little bit.”
Young contends that his playful nature shouldn’t be confused with him not taking basketball seriously. “I feel like I’m serious,” he said. “I just happen to smile all the time. I guess that’s something people think is a weakness, but it got me here.”
During one of our inter-office arguments about Nate Robinson yesterday, I put together a half-thought-out list of the best scoring guards off the bench in the League, and Young cracked the Top-10. He’s got the size (6-7, 205) and skills to be a lethal offensive weapon — he averaged 10.9 points last season and had 12 games where he scored 20-plus — and should benefit from spending more time on the court with Gilbert Arenas.
He’s progressing at a good pace so far, so I wonder if he even needs to develop the mean streak — or just the perception of a mean streak — that the Wizards are talking about. Young says he takes the game seriously and isn’t giving an inch out there, but his smile alone gives opponents another idea.
Does a player need to have a visible mean streak to reach his full potential?
July 15th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
wiz says:
nick young 2010 NBA sixth man of the year, slam-dunk champion
July 15th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
vince says:
but with arenas/foye/mike miller/james/crittenton that backcourt is a bit crowded
July 15th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
wiz says:
dont forget my boy stevenson lol,
arenas/foye/crinttenton
stevenson/young
caron/miller
twan/mcguire
haywood/mcgee
July 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Luigi says:
seriously. haha NY should be 6th man. if he isnt im gonna sue the wiz. lol but really NY’s really improvin i cant wait for this year as a Wiz fan!
startin 5.
Gil
Foye
Caron
Twan
Haywood
Bench
NY
Deshawn
Miller
Dom
Blatche
Crit
Mcgee.
Mike James
i honestly think we should trade Mike n Deshawn. or someone on the bench not named Mike or Nick. but thas my opinion
July 15th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Funny that you should mention Stevenson. Unfortunately I see Young being like Stevenson in the sense that he has the skills but will never quite understand how to manifest those skills into a great player. He’ll be a decent role player during his career but nothing special.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
JHUSTLE says:
2 answer the question, NO a player doesn’t need a mean streak to reach his full potential. even tho i say all the time that if dwight howard had a bully type personality he would win MVP i still think it comes down to game. whatever makes a player tick deep down on the inside is what makes the great ones so great. for some players its being mad and having that killer mentality but its not like that for everyone. just look at tim duncan. i remember one time when kg was cursin and spittin all in tims face and punked him in front of everybody on the court but duncan never retaliated or even gave him back the ice grill. he just kept killin kg on the low block and as we all know tim duncan has won multiple rings and u would never call him an imposing or mean and nasty type player. same for parker and ginobli they just let their game speak and kill you time and time again without ever having to bully you or intimidate you. parker flashes the biggest smile at times but that doesn’t mean he wont bust u up on the court. All that being said i think NY is only gonna shine brighter now that the wiz have a better squad this year
July 15th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
POPPI GEE says:
I don’t think the mean streak has to be visible but i do think that is does indeed have to be there. Think of the next level a player like Yao could go to if there was just that mean streak there.
It’s just like if someone knocks Yao down, then he doesn’t take it personal and he is the type that will take the blame first and says he fell rather then blaming someone.
I think you can smile but you can’t just be no punk either.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
wiz says:
why keep mike james? And why have all wizards fans turned thier backs on deshawn mean he was hurt last year now everyone writing him off, but it was cool when he was beefing with lebron
July 15th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Coop says:
I think Young probably realises, unlike many, that basketball is just a game is really doesn’t mean anything. He’s right to stick 2 fingers up to anyone who questions his personality. Anyone chatting this and that about being ‘mean’ has issues with their own masculinity.
Peace
July 15th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
beanz says:
Ryan Francis was murdered in Baton Rouge which was his hometown not N.O.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Darkness says:
Could he stand to get more aggressive – yes. But that won’t prevent him reaching his poyential. He is who he is, and don’t tell me the Wizards didn’t realize this when they were scouting him outta college. It’s difficult to change a player’s (or any person, for that matter) general demeanor on the court. With all that said, he may be the type who’s assertiveness grows with experience, development, and accomplishments. Kobe wasn’t giving his teatmmates the Cyclops grill this early in his career, and look how that turned out.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
BiG ShoT BoB says:
Two Words: Dwight Howard
Go back and check my writing this is the main reason I predicted D12 wouldn’t win the championship this year and here we are.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Chris From LB CALI says:
NickY needs to hit the Weight Room!
July 15th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
MissChick says:
“Nick flunked out of two high schools before finding a home at Cleveland H.S. in Los Angeles”
LOL, lots of inner city kids came out to the Valley, especially at Cleveland in Northridge.
Anyways props to Nick for sticking it together, don’t mess it up buddy!
July 15th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
jonathan says:
nick young has to be one of the funniest nba players today
July 15th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
jzsmoove says:
In a couple of years Nick Young will get paid, will become a household name. Dude is ultra-athletic and talented. He seems like a humble dude too and just has fun out there playing. Hey Nick come to the Raptors.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
"Tha Boddy" Bad Like Michael says:
Wow can I get a shout out dime I been telling you all Nick Young has been lookin like young Kobe at times with the offensive skill set and all.And Luigi Young will start over Foye because Young is a shooting guard and Foye is a backup point guard.Stevenson might have been hurt but did you look at the games before his injury???The bum had plenty of wide open shots that he failed to make didn’t he shoot like 36% for sum crap for the season. Stevenson had almost a full season to show he was a good player when Arenas was down.He went from the 10ppg he had alongside Gilbert to the same 10ppg he had in the season without him to like 7ppg (pre injury).The future of the Wizards shooting guard position is Nick Young and they should embrace him. I don’t want them to ruin him like they did with Jarvis Hayes confidence by giving his mins to a so called vet and letting him rot on the bench.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am
KnicksFan84 says:
Nick Young is an okay player. I think he needs to go to another squad to blossom.