The knock on Nick Young is simple. He scores. A LOT. And he does so because he’s a bit of a black hole. The numbers bear that out. Last season it took him 14.6 shots per game to average 17.4 points. His usage rate (24.46) is higher than Stephen Curry, Deron Williams, Paul Pierce, John Wall, Chris Bosh and Tim Duncan to name a few. But his PER (14.49) and his adjusted PER (13.88) are below average. And last season he assisted on 6.6% of his teammates baskets while he was on the floor.
Ok, by now we get it. Nick Young is a gunner.
Now, to the fun part.
Nick Young set a Drew League record by dropping 60 points in a game. That’s six-zero, as in one more than 59. And, what makes this a perfect Nick Young story is that his team lost. And the loss made them miss the playoffs.
So how does a summer league team with an NBA player who is capable of scoring 43 points in a single game lose when he goes off and not make the playoffs? When that player is Nick Young. He’s the NBA’s version of a designated hitter in baseball. He can only do one thing. He’ll do it well enough to stick around and keep getting shots. But it’s pretty obvious this is all he’s going to be good for.
