Hoops - Thad / Crit Updates

A blurb from Andy Katz:

Crittenton made his decision once it was clear he was going to sign with an agent (the son of the late Wallace Prather, a legendary summer league coach in Atlanta).

Thaddeus Young, Fr., Georgia Tech: A source close to Young said he is 50-50 on his decision. Young isn't a lock for the lottery and looks at the chances of going higher next season as a reason to return. Unlike Crittenton, Young isn't receiving news that would make him feel secure about staying in the draft. Crittenton was essentially told don't fret beyond No. 14 with the L.A. Clippers

Also, this on a recent workout by Thaddeus Young:

Another player who seems to be working just as hard here is Georgia Tech freshman Thaddeus Young. He also passes the “eye test” even more than Wright does probably, with an unbelievable frame and wingspan, huge shoulders, and solid athletic ability. He also reportedly has a similar attitude, although I did not get the chance to speak with him myself.

Young’s shooting mechanics are coming along very nicely, showing a high release point, good elevation on his jumper, solid arc, and very nice touch. It is a fundamentally sound shot, although a bit on the deliberate side. When pulling up off the dribble, he’s not nearly as fluid as Wright is for example. His shot at times fell very consistently for him, and at times didn’t. If he keeps working on it, it should steady out for him.

Young has been working on his ball-handling skills extremely hard in his time here—that much is not hard to tell. He’s polished up his technique considerably, to the point that he looks very smooth in the drills. There is a big difference between a “workout handle” and a “game situation handle,” when it comes to reacting to unexpected movements and being fluid changing directions and such, but this is something we really weren’t able to evaluate due to the non-competitive structure of the workout (like Wright, he did not play in the 5 on 5). Regardless, Young realizes what his biggest weakness is and is working very hard to improve on it. Procopio and Grover say they are most concerned with getting Young to maximize his excellent physical attributes near the basket more than he did in college, and from what they say, he is responding extremely well to their challenges. (Procopio: “I’m wearing a UNLV jersey Thad…show me what you got!”). They both mentioned on more than one occasion how much they enjoy working with him.

Young’s uncle, Kenneth Carter, is the one who is handling the NBA draft process for him. He does not seem to be rushing into things at all from what we can tell, saying that Thaddeus “needs to be a top 15 pick for him to stay in.” He understands the arguments for and against him staying in, and when we spoke, it seemed like he was still weighing both sides of the argument equally.