Cup of Joe. Gerald Wallace has some advice for James Young

Gerald Wallace is not afraid to speak his mind about James Young

“You know what, this whole season should be a lesson for him,” Wallace said of Young. “You can pick any message you want to give him. It’s up to him to pay attention. It’s like talking to a parrot, you know? You can only talk for so long. Eventually he’s got to understand and want it, and it’s got to sink in to him. They only understand and repeat the words that they want to understand and repeat. But it is what it is.”

“He’s got to realize when his chance comes again that not only are you in a situation where there are guys that are sitting behind you waiting for their opportunity, but you’ve got other guys that are coming into this league next year that are looking to do the same thing.

Source: Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald

I kind of like this Gerald Wallace. The guy whose embraced his role as a veteran, whose most valuable skills are his experience and ability to mentor.

He's hard on Young here, but he's not wrong, either. We're roughly 2/3rds of the way through the season, and James Young's progress has flatlined. He is as good now as he was when he entered the league, if not worse. There's plenty of stats floating around that detail his shooting regression and disastrous defense, but none of that is anywhere near as damning as the eye ball test. He's as lost as I've ever seen a player defensively, and it's clearly effecting his play on the other end of the floor; he started this season looking like a natural, now, he seems like a guy whose doing his best to remember what he's supposed to do next.

That's not to say he won't ever get it, and his career is done by absolutely any means. We're still very early into his career here, he's by all accounts a very good kid, and he has all the physical tools to be a very good player in this league. But to Wallace's point, he needs to 'pay attention' and at some point, it's all got to click.

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