Los Angeles Lakers Should Sit Nick Young For Rest Of Season
By Pablo Jacobo
The Los Angeles Lakers only destination moving forward is the 2015 draft lottery. They’ve managed to win 16 games this season. Countless injuries have contributed to their miserable year. All that’s left for the Lakers is to not mess it up.
Nick Young “is not having a good year” according to Byron Scott. Truer words have never been spoken. The self-proclaimed “Swaggy P” is in the midst of his career-worst shooting season. His field-goal percentage currently sits at 36.6. He is a career 42.3-percent shooter.
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Young has been out for the last seven games with a bum knee. Aside from other various maladies he’s had to overcome, there is absolutely no reason for him to continue playing. It’s not like he’s lighting up the scoreboard. The Lakers should just shut him down and let him recover physically and mentally.
He missed the beginning of the 2014-15 season, as he was recovering from thumb surgery stemming from a knock he picked up in training camp. Shortly after his return he went through a horrendous shooting slump that greatly affected his confidence. To add to the list of injuries, he suffered a foot injury before the All-Star break. Luckily he had nine days to recover.
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His ailing knee has sidelined Young the past few games. According to Coach Scott, he could be out a further three weeks. Young is still feeling discomfort in his swollen knee. It would be best to not risk further injury to Young’s knee. He signed a 4-year 21.5M extension over the summer and I don’t think the Lakers would want to jeopardize their investment.
Young’s focus has not been there all season. Numerous distractions have contributed to Swaggy’s dismal year. He’s scoring 13.4 points as opposed to last season’s 17.9. He shot a career-best 43.5-percent from the field and earned himself a nice pay day. Only good thing going for him is his career-high free-throw percentage (89.9). What happened to the swag?
What happened to the swag?
Young has allegedly been fined by the Head Coach a few times for his tardiness. Scott actually interrupted one of his pre-game interviews to let Swaggy know of the fine. Young has been involved in two twitter spats defending his girlfriend, Iggy Azalea. These are clearly signs of a player that is not all there.
Scott has hammered Young’s game especially during his horrendous shooting slump. He wanted more from the 6-foot-7 guard out of USC. Scott wanted the 30-year-old guard/forward to evolve from a one dimensional player. He expected more contributions from Young on the defensive end. For whatever reason, Young did not respond.
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Swaggy P is a tremendous player when he is on. He is capable of dropping 20 points on a given night. He will be a key piece for the Lakers rebuild. It would be best if the organization cuts his season short and lets Young get healthy. They have already lost Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Julius Randle, Xavier Henry and Ronnie Price to season-ending injuries. The Lakers should play-out the rest of the year without Young.