Young says he could handle N.Y. pressure
Some scouts wonder if being in spotlight wore guard down.
MIAMI — Continuing the hype train of a potential Trae Young-Knicks partnership, the point guard declared Wednesday that his season in the spotlight equipped him for the pressure cooker in New York City.
“If I’m able to get drafted by the New York Knicks, it would be a blessing,” Young said on ESPN. “Being in the Basketball Mecca, that’s one of the biggest markets in the league, if not the biggest. But I feel like I went through it all this year with the media, the ups and downs.
“I feel like that prepared me for if I was in a situation like that I’d know how to handle it. I think I’d be ready.”
Young continued to wax poetic about the possibility of playing for the Knicks, who will have a lottery pick in the upcoming draft.
“If I’m blessed enough to play in New York City, I would be honored and I would be willing to get to work and help that franchise win,” he said.
While the second part sounds like the canned quote from every draft prospect when asked about the Knicks, it is interesting to know how Young felt about the onslaught of attention throughout his freshman season.
A Western Conference scout told the Daily News that the Knicks would be wise to ask that question of Young during the draft process, since it appeared he wore down mentally.
After setting records and carrying Oklahoma into the top 5, Young fell into a month-long slump and barely made the NCAA Tournament.
“You watched his meteoric rise and pretty much a colossal fall over the course of a 30-game season. And I don’t know that he handled the limelight that he was thrust into,” the scout said. “It certainly would concern me going into that market in New York when you’re talking to 20 guys every day and you go 2 for 18 one night and they’re on top of you.
“Some of it was that the defenses changed, but the other part was that the defenses just wore him down. The constant pressure of being under the microscope and stuff like that. Which is what you’re getting yourself into in New York. It takes a special person to be in that market and that pressure and thrive in it. He has confidence, there’s no question about that. He has a presence and all that stuff. But I’d be concerned if I were the Knicks and that’s one thing I’d delve into during the interviews and in my background look at him just here’s all the things I really want to answers.”
The Knicks drafted a point guard last year in Frank Ntilikina eighth overall, but he transitioned to an offguard during the season. Emmanuel Mudiay has underwhelmed in his trial as the ball-dominant point guard.
Young, meanwhile, has drawn comparisons to Steph Curry because of his unlimited shooting range and scoring prowess. However, some scouts believe that Young’s small size and poor defense will make him overmatched in the NBA — much like 2011 draft-bust Jimmer Fredette.