Jared Cohen
With all of these draft picks, does Patic Young fit the Suns class of 2014?
I would absolutely love this pick for the Suns in the second round. Young does not do the sexy stuff, even though Jeff Hornacek was quick to point out how good of a NBA or even a NFL body he has. Young is the type of player that wont wow you once your team drafts him but will wow you with all of the little things once you watch him on the court. In my eyes, amongst all the players in this deep, deep draft, Young is elite when it comes to defending the post, defending the pick-and-roll and rebounding. At best, I see him having the production that Ben Wallace had in his prime with the Pistons.
The Suns for as far back as I can remember, have not had the big bruising post player to bring in off the bench to provide a spark, commit a few fouls and alter a team’s game plan offensively once a starter is out of the game. Plus, I can see him making his own teammates better with a physical nature he can bring to Alex Len and company in the post, day in and day out at practice. His ability to score will hold him back at times but even so, he was the 50th player in Florida history to score 1,000 points in his career and on top of that, comes from a culture of winning with Billy Donovan. You can find your flashy players with big upside and an ability in the first round, IF Patric Young is still there in the second, I am on board.
Career Highlights: Earned a ton of rewards after his senior year at Florida including the NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year, AP and Senior Class All-American, CoSIDA Academic All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He is big and he is smart as he became the SEC’s first ever three-time Scholar Athlete of the year. In each of the last three seasons as a starter in the middle for the Gators, he averaged over 10 points and six rebounds per game and finished with 160 blocked shots in his career which is top ten in program history. He is also top ten in minutes, field goal percentage and dunks. he did not miss one game over the course of his four years.
Strengths: Defending the pick-n-roll and the post, rebounding, blocked shots, size and athleticism.
DraftExpress has him ranked the 43rd best prospect in the draft and the seventh ranked senior.