Pittsburgh Basketball: Mike Young joins Washington Wizards on a two-way contract
Former Pittsburgh Panthers forward Mike Young will get a shot with the Washington Wizards.
The Washington Wizards inked Mike Young to a two-way contract on July 1 though the team did not make an official announcement until July 5. The ex-Pitt forward went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was ranked as Draft Express’ No. 81 draft prospect.
Young had an excellent — albeit unspectacular — career at Pitt. Young improved in each of his four seasons with the Panthers after entering college as a top-100 recruit. He was selected to the All-ACC third team in 2016 and 2017.
Young led the ACC with 19.6 points a game last season. The 6’9″ combo-forward scored in double figures in 34 of 35 games, which includes 12 games of at least 20-points and three 30-point efforts.
Young can score inside and out. He is best suited to play in anup-tempoo offense where he can create mismatches.
Young is also a good defensive rebounder and decent passer. He produced six double-doubles last season, hauling in 15.6% of the available defensive rebounds while he was on the floor. He doled out a career-high 90 assists in 2016-17 though he still turned the ball over 71 times — which was nine less turnovers than he committed in 2015-16.
Young finished his Pitt career as the only player to finish with 1,800 points, 800 rebounds, and 200 assists. He averaged 6.2 boards a game in 2016-17.
Young is slated to play for the Wizards’ Las Vegas Summer League team, which will begin July 8. He will also take part in the team’s training camp. Young will likely begin the season with the Delaware 87ers, affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, since Washington does not currently have a G League franchise.
Will Young play for the Wizards in 2017-18?
Young already has an NBA body and has shown throughout his collegiate career that he can score. He also has a high motor and will get after it on the defensive end.
However, there are quite a few questions surrounding Young’s game.
Young does not possess elite athleticism. His perimeter shooting and defense are also concerns.
Young improved his three-point shooting in 2016-17, making a career-best 1.3 triples a game. But he still only made 34.1% of his attempts (42-of-123) from beyond the arc. He was a career 33.9% shooter from long range (61-of-180).
Generally speaking, a player’s three-point percentage goes down a couple of percentage points when they move to the NBA, and Young hasn’t necessarily shown that he has range out to 24 feet.
Young was a satisfactory defensive player over his collegiate career. Although he was not very good last season, registering a 109.7 defensive rating and a defensive box score plus-minus rating of 0.8, he did post a PER of 24.3 in 2016-17 and 22.3 PER for his career.
Young’s biggest defensive issue on the next level will be whether he has the lateral quickness to guard small forwards on the perimeter. He is very strong and moves his feet well, so guarding post players shouldn’t be an issue unless they have a considerable size advantage. He doesn’t get a lot of steals nor is he a shot-blocker,
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It is hard to imagine that Young will play for the Wizards this year. Washington is expected to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in 2017-18, and The Wizards are near the 15 player limit after signing Mike Scott and Jodie Meeks during free agency. Plus, Washington has the ability to sign another player to a two-way contract.