NBA Draft 2015: 5 second-round bargains
By Brad Rowland
Joe Young, PG/SG Oregon
While the majority of basketball fans on the East Coast were fast asleep, Oregon’s Joe Young was putting on a show in Eugene this season. Young averaged 20.7 points per game while capably leading an NCAA Tournament team as a senior, and his final campaign doubled as his third consecutive season (including one as a member of the Houston Cougars) with a scoring average of 18.0 points per game or greater.
In short, Joe Young gets buckets.
Frankly, Young is a victim of his own size concerns, as he stands just 6-foot-2 with a 6-foot-5 wingspan. That coupled with the fact that he is probably a shooting guard at the NBA level knocks his perceived value down a peg or two, but in the free-flowing world of today’s association, there is certainly a place for a high-end scorer.
Young is certainly that, and because he is a very capable shooter from long range, a specialist role comes into view. The four-year collegiate starter shot “just” 35.7% from three as a senior, but prior to that, Young topped 41% from long range in consecutive seasons, and an increase in shot attempts (read: aggressive shot attempts) as a senior (7.1 threes per game) explains the dip in efficiency.
Defense is going to be the concern at the next level, but if he lands in the right system and alongside the right backcourt partner, Young can be hidden because he is willing to compete on that end. Again, no second-round pick is “perfect” and that is why they are second-round picks, but Joe Young soundly fits the profile of a prolific bench guard in the NBA, and getting buckets is always something we can stand behind.