Meet the Pacers New Backup Point Guard: Joe Young
By Ben Gibson
There is a rookie on the Indiana Pacers expected to have a major impact this season.
No, not Myles Turner. We’re talking about Joe Young. Nate Turner of the Indy Star reported that Frank Vogel is ready to make the rookie the team’s backup point guard.
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"“If you don’t give them minutes early and they sit on the bench and watch the whole time, then they’re not really going to help you that much late in the season when we need them to,” Vogel said of his rookies. He added of Young: “He’s going to struggle at times. We’re committed to getting (Young and first-round rookie Myles Turner) some minutes early on as long as they keep proving themselves and having the right approach. We want to see they develop early on.”"
Young has impressed Paul George too.
"But what has impressed the other Pacers is how willing Young is to learn from veterans. Paul George has noticed Young taking notes during the past two practices when he watched from the sidelines.“Coming off the bench as a rookie and being a second rounder at that, he’s got a lot of pressure,” George said. “He’s very mature, like all of our rookies. He seems seasoned, poised and ready for this moment. I love the way he’s played thus far for us, even through practices.”"
It’s one thing when the team praises a rookie in the press, but to see Vogel put the rookie in an important role, not just extra minutes, says a lot about Young. He and Turner were outstanding in Summer League, but that’s Summer League. So far in the preseason he’s averaged 11.3 points and 3 assists a game but this is the preseason, not regular season basketball. Whether he flourishes or withers, this isn’t going to be easy for Young.
All this also says a lot about the team’s approach to this year. This is a year of change, awkwardness, and probably some bad basketball at times as the Indiana Pacers get their small ball approach sorted out.
This is pure, 100% speculation, but this makes me think Larry Bird has let Vogel know that things can go wrong this year and he’s not going to get fired if the team struggles. It makes me think Bird will be giving him plenty of time to sort this out.
The situation reminds me how CBS’s Matt Moore has explained Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone’s approach to this season. He said the coach knows he’ll have to let his younger players play in big moments in games so they develop quicker. He said Malone knows he’ll have to fight the urge to throw a veteran in those situations, even at the cost of a win so the team can get better in the long run.
It’s about building towards the future and not getting caught up in what ultimately might be some useless wins on a non-playoff team.