When Trae Young first exploded onto the scene with Oklahoma one year ago, he took the world by storm. He was taking shots from several feet behind the 3-point line, making them consistently, and passing the ball to his teammates as accurately as possible. His teammates then proceeded to consistently fumble the ball, miss shots, or pass the ball back to him because they could not do anything themselves. As a result, Trae Young averaged 27 points per game in college while facing constant double teams and blitzes as college coaches schemed to stop him any way they could. Because of all of these factors, Trae was appointment television each night he played for Oklahoma. This game versus Oklahoma State basically sums up his entire college season. He put up historic numbers, but they were almost always for nothing:
During his college season, comparisons to Steph Curry began because, to put it frankly, Trae was doing things in college that we had not seen since Steph was at Davidson. However, like most player to player comparisons, people drawing them drew them unfairly. Steph Curry is the greatest shooter of all time and is 3 inches taller than Trae Young. The only comparison you could fairly draw between the two was their shot selection. However, the undeniable fact is that Trae Young is definitely influenced by Steph's style of play. Like those that imitated Michael Jordan post 2000, Trae is just the first of many in a generation of players that will try to imitate Steph as they come into the league.
So the comparisons to Steph started. This then set the standard that Trae Young would be the next Steph. He was then drafted by the Mavericks and traded to the Hawks with a lottery pick for Luka Doncic (the best rookie in the NBA since Anthony Davis) and you knew immediately that these two would be tied together for as long as they play. Coming into the draft, Luka Doncic was being compared to players like LeBron James, Steve Nash, and Larry Bird. This further set the expectation that if a team is trading away a player like that then they better be getting something of equal value in return.
As Trae Young started Summer League in 2018 the trade for Luka started to look as one sided as could be. Trae Young was showing signs of a potential draft bust putting up 5 for 20 games, 5 for 16 games, and 3 for 16 games. His best games from Summer League were his last two when he scored 23 and 24 on back to back nights. However, despite those good performances, they were not enough to drown out the worries many expressed over his abilities.
Next was the start of the regular season. Trae Young started out with the shooting woes that plagued him during Summer League and, besides a 35 point outburst versus the Cavaliers his 3rd game of the year, was among the worst shooters in the NBA.
He had one of the lowest field goal percentages (6th) and, besides Russell Westbrook, was the worst high volume 3-point shooter in the NBA.
On top of that, Luke Doncic was playing at a historically high level for a rookie. Like I mentioned before, the careers of Luke and Trae will be tied together forever.
Another reason for Trae's slow start was due to the fact that he was forced to handle such a heavy load on offense. Aside from Luke Doncic, Trae Young is the only rookie this year to average more than 10 field goal attempts per game.
Obviously Luka is better than Trae in every statistical category at this point in both of their careers. Luke Doncic could have easily started his career the same way Trae Young did if not for the fact that he was surrounded by the infrastructure of the Mavericks and Coach Carlislie. Trae Young is being coached by a fellow rookie coach in Llyod Pierce. I think Luka is talented enough almost as good as he is now anywhere he was drafted. However, I am also certain that Luka going to a team with a Hall of Fame Coach and a strong management around him only enhabled his ability to succeed.
Watching just the first half of Trae Young's season, one could believe that he would continue to have a bad year and maybe even flame out of the league. However, basketball history has taught us that rookies hit the rookie wall at different times. Just look at the past two years for example. Brandon Ingram for the Lakers hit the rookie wall almost instantly in 2016. Jayson Tatum put up historic highs from 3-point range for a rookie the first half of last season and then struggled just before and after the All-Star break. He then came around again just in time for the playoffs. Players all grow at different rates. Even this year, DeAndre Ayton has been great offensively but defensively you can still see him thinking on possessions. Eventually he will learn how to just read offenses and react versus thinking. Rookies all adapt at different paces, Trae is just another example of that.
Also, if you look at the Hawks season so far as a whole you will see that Trae Young has been the heart and soul of this team. He has the highest usage rate on the team at 27.5%. He is also second in scoring (17.5 ppg) and leads them in assists (7.7 per game). He is shooting 32% from three point range on the year, but 44% over since the start of February and 51% since the All-Star break. It is not just his shooting that has improved though. He has even increased his volume of threes attempted from 5.8 per game to 7.7 which improving his overall 3-point percentage, a very impressive feat. His overall play has increased dramatically which is why I now feel confident in saying that Trae Young is going to be a very good NBA player. He has gotten past his rookie wall and is only going to keep going up from here. Yes he will have bad games, but his trajectory is only rising from here on out. Here are some of his most recent games as evidence.
2.12.19 vs the Los Angeles Lakers.
What really stood out to me in this game about Trae was how comfortable he looked in the offense. In the first play of this highlight reel for Trae Young (0:19), he comes off of two staggered screens at the top of the key, drives into the paint and casually kicks out a behind-the-back (!!) pass to Alex Len for a three.
The next play after that he uses the two screens to create space for himself and shoot an open three (Kyle Kuzma also forgets to crowd Trae's shooting pocket as well). This dual staggered screen play is one the Hawks will run in order to free Trae for an open look or drive to the basket. They can also take advantage of his great passing with this set as he finds either the first big man cutting to the rim or the second one popping out for three. His next highlight at 1:29 shows his comfort with his teammates and shows off his quick decision making. Dewayne Dedmon hands Trae the ball and immediately slips the screen before he sets it which leads to a perfect bounce pass and one. Offensive point guards usually try to split double teams like Steph Curry does. In this case though, he takes advantage of the double team and give his teammate an open bucket. At the 1:50 mark Trae hits a transition three and looks like the same player who dominated the Big 12 in college. The final highlight of the game is the one that went viral. Trae Young gets the switch from the screen by John Collins onto LeBron James and proceeds to speed right by him for the game clinching layup. The overall decision making and shot creating that Trae Young shows in this game is a perfect example of how he's grown as a player.
2.22.19 vs the Detroit Pistons
In this game Trae Young has the best back to back offensive sequences of his young career. In this first video he fakes Bruce Brown out of his shoes, puts him through the spin cycle, and throws a perfect bounce pass for a wide open dunk.
On the very next play, Trae Young pulls up for three in transition and nails it from the top of the key. These two back to back sequences showed you the ceiling of Trae Young and what he can be one day in this league.
2.23.19. vs the Phoenix Suns
The next night he shot the ball a little worse, but he only had two turnovers and made this nice looking transition 3:
Like I mentioned before. He seems to really have a feel for the game now and he is under control. He does not look rushed or look like he is thinking on the court. He is just playing basketball.
2.2.5.19 vs the Houston Rockets
Last night Trae had his career high in points (36) and made a career high 8 threes. He looked like Steve Nash with the patience and control he demonstrated running the pick n roll.
He was consistently shooting a few feet behind the three point line on each attempt. He and John Collins have developed a great chemistry on offense with the screens he sets for Trae. Look at the play from the (1:07) mark. Collins slips the screen he sets and then boxes out Eric Gordon and absorbs Nene with his body so that Trae has a clean look at the rim. The final play of the video is Trae Young handing the ball off the John Collins for an and-1 layup. Another example of their developing chemistry.
So ultimately, why has Trae improved so much? What can you point to for reasons as to why he has gotten better? Well, from the videos above, you can see his confidence has increased, his chemistry with his teammates has improved, his decision making is faster, and finally he is making shots. I know that analysis is simple, but like every play ever has said "it's a make or miss league". You can execute the best offensive set ever and have a wide open shot. If you do not make it though then it just does not matter.
Without a doubt, Trae Young still has many skills he needs to improve on. His shooting can still be more consistent and his defense can certainly improve. He has a defensive rating of 113 and a negative plus/minus, both of which need to improve in order for the Hawks to win more games. If he continues to put up numbers like the ones below, then many of his other problems will be covered up very quickly.
Trae Young has slowly gotten better with each game played this season. He has finally hit his stride these last couple of months and it is going to be exciting to see how he finishes this season.
*all clips and videos used are from NBA.com, Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.
*all stats and information are taken from NBA.com and Basketball Reference.