From a selfish standpoint, I definitely want Sam Young to come back for his senior season. I can argue all the good reasons for his development and game that say he should come back. Mostly consistency issues. More consistent mid-range jumper needed, attacking the rim when there’s a defender in the vicinity more frequently, defensive effort, etc.
At the very least, Young has to put himself through the NBA draft process before making a final decision. It’s the most responsible thing for him and his family. Find out what the NBA scouts actually say. See who else is coming out and get a better idea of the competition at his spot for next year’s draft.
Then there are these reasons.
Age. Young will be 23 by the time of the draft this season. The NBA likes the players younger because there’s the tantalizing prospect of “upside.” The older, more mature a player is, the less room they see for growth in his game.
Health. We sometimes forget it, because Young has been so healthy on the court this year, but he doesn’t have knees that are in great shape. He continually battles tendonitis in both of them. Often needs both to be encased in ice after games. Given how important his jumping ability is to his game, he has to consider both the risk of injury if he comes back for his final year and the question of how long he can play professionally and earn a living before his knees become too much of an issue.
Strong finish. The season may have ended with a clunk in the NCAA Tournament, but that hardly erases his tremendous performance in the Big East Tournament. Against teams with NBA talent in the front court, like Louisville and Georgetown, Young was the best player out there. He dominated on both ends. Swatting shots, hitting his own. He was a force. In the BET there were plenty of scouts there to see players like Palacios, Hibbert, and others.
Potential. Come back for a final season after getting national recognition/breakout year, all too often means that scouts and draft people spend the next season criticizing and picking apart the game.
Plenty of reasons to come back, but it isn’t nearly so clear-cut.
I haven’t done the math, but I don’t think Young’s a guaranteed first-rounder. I love what Sam has done for Pitt and all the arguments Chas makes above are sound, but it doesn’t change the reality that he’s a tweener at the next level. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the handle, shot or defensive intensity to succeed immediately at either the two or the three in the NBA (I use the terms defense and NBA in the same sentence with tongue in cheek).
This is college basketball. We were lucky to have him for 3 years.
Why not hang around a year and see how much better Pitt is next season? I love the guy, but if he comes out, there’s a better chance he’ll be starting at small forward for the Xplosion, making $50 a game, than anywhere else.
I wouldn’t count him out as a first rounder at all. He’s just about on par with the rest of the talent pool entering the draft, as far as raw skills and upside goes.
Also, don’t discount the monetary issue. You really don’t have to look past that. If a couple teams tell him he has a shot at guaranteed money, I don’t think even the biggest Pitt fan would expect him to stay.
I’m saying all this in hopes of a reverse jinx.
They showed me the money!
He was probably the worst ball handler on the team and his defense was awful at times, besides making all those blocks towards the end of the year. And there is no way he going to be able to pull out that head fake in the NBA. I definitely feel he should come back for one more year if his knees can hold up. He has a lot to improve on.
He showed a ton of improvement in every facet of the game. However, I think he can yet improve. On offense, he needs to take games over in the first half and that shot fake will get him on espn each night. On defense, he needs to be getting 10+ rebounds each night and get a little quicker.
He’s at best a late first round pick. Have another great season and go further in the tournament, he’ll easily be a lottery pick.
Here’s the kicker: Chris Taft left early and he’s out walking the streets with sombrero man. Aaron Gray stayed, averaged a double double and is now making $427,163 to play an average of 9 minutes/game.
Comparing Young to Taft isn’t fair. Taft isn’t out of the league because he came out too early. He is out of the league because he is an idiot. He was told he needed to wait a year. What he was being told was he needed another year’s work on his game. What he heard was “you just need to wait a year”. So he didn’t spend his sophomore year working on his game. He didn’t try to mature and get more NBA ready. He came in as a sophomore knowing he was going pro. He was lazy, selfish, and did nothing to make himself an NBA caliber player. He thought that one year older was all that mattered.
Sam Young, on the other hand, worked his ass off to improve his game between last year and this year. He has a way to go to be NBA ready. But just seeing the way he improved last year to this should be enough to show that if he worked hard during training camp, he could have a legitimate shot of being a decent player in the NBA. I don’t think his game is ready. But I know he is a hard worker and he still has upside. If he is told by a team that he will go first round, he will put the work in (unlike Taft) to make sure that he maximizes his NBA value.
In fact he is a late 2nd rounder, with a chance that he does not get drafted!
Taft was not an idiot, he just has very poor judgement because a sports agent blew smoke up his ass and told him he was a late first round pick!
SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!
Here are the 3 options as I see it for replacing Dixon:
1) Pitt opens their pocket books and tries to bribe Calipari back to Oakland and his hoemtown.
2.) Pitt runs an all out blitz at alumnus and Hometown hero Sean Miller.
3.) Pitt gives the job to current assistant Tom Herrion by default (hey, it worked with Dixon)
What does everybody think?????
It is his choice to make, I wish him the best.