Nick Young wants to just keep doing what Swaggy P do. That hasn't been enough over the last 15 games, though, and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott is asking for the score-first, score-second shooting guard to contribute in other ways.
After a 3-for-11 shooting performance Sunday, Young is now shooting just 37.5 percent on the season - a career-low mark. He's been worse of late, shooting 25 percent over his last five games and 34.5 percent over the 15-game stretch since he hit a game-winning shot against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 12.
Always streaky, Young's performance has been trending downward for a while now.
As he's wont to do, the 29-year-old has joked about the slump of late. But he was a little more earnest Sunday, pulling back his playful exterior to show it appears to be getting to him.
"I have to stop thinking so much," Young said. "And play my game and go out there and have fun. My energy, no matter what, I have to keep my energy high and continue to play the way I've been playing."
Young still seemed to be in high spirits for the most part, but Scott sees ways beyond positive thinking that can help him break out of his slump. The coach has at times been critical of the swingman's practice habits, which are a bit too casual, and seems a little chafed that he hasn't looked to help beyond the scoring column.
"He has to be able to do other things on the court," Scott said. "When his shot is not falling, you have to rebound. You have to do other things to get yourself involved. Every shot he misses is the end of the world right now to him."
Scott admitted that asking Young to be a facilitator isn't going to happen, but the coach isn't off base in asking his shooting guard to take the position's name a bit less literally.
Young has just 27 assists on the season and owns the eighth-lowest assist rate among all guards and wings. He's slightly better as a rebounder, but still grabs just 5.4 percent of all misses when he's on the floor - a bottom-third mark among qualified guards - even though he's spent the bulk of his time at small forward. He's not exactly known for his defense, either.
The saving grace for Young is that his offensive contribution goes beyond raw shooting percentage, because he's a 38.8 percent marksman from long range and does a good job getting to the free throw line. As a result, his player efficiency rating is exactly average at 15 and his 52.7 true shooting percentage isn't far off the league pace, either.
Once he heats back up, the Lakers won't need to ask him to do much more beyond shoot. Until then, don't expect Young to change his nickname to Swaggy PG.
