Trae Young is Ridiculously Underrated

[Jamaaliver]

[winforlose]

For me Trae’s best asset is his assisting. I think he is a great passer, and I agree that turnovers will happen at high usage. I also think if he played with a Doncic or SGA or some other elite guard (DJM is great but not truly elite,) the gravity might be great enough on the co-Star to open things up more for Trae. All of the above being true, he is a career 35.6% 3 point shooter. He is a career 43.7% from the field. Neither number is super efficient. So Trae is a high volume medium efficiency scorer who is good at playmaking and doesn’t rebound his position especially well. He is 6’1 with a 6’2 wingspan and is not known for his defense. Overall would you call Trae top 30, I don’t know. Is he a franchise player, right now yes. Has that franchise made it to the ECF, yes it has. Has it made to the NBA finals no. Was the ECF repeatable, no. Can Trae carry the team without another top player, at this point I say no. Is he over rated, I don’t think he is, but I also don’t think the consensus outside Atlanta is that he is more than he appears.

[Jamaaliver]

Reminder that Trae grew up watching and idolizing Russ and Harden with OKC.

Surreal to see him go toe-to-toe with a pair of former MVPs.

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[Jamaaliver]

Teams are now completely shading the floor to get the ball out of Trae's hands.

Jalen isn't yet ready to be the full #2 option.

Something to consider if we do end up trading Dejounte.

[HMFFL]

For me Trae’s best asset is his assisting. I think he is a great passer, and I agree that turnovers will happen at high usage. I also think if he played with a Doncic or SGA or some other elite guard (DJM is great but not truly elite,) the gravity might be great enough on the co-Star to open things up more for Trae. All of the above being true, he is a career 35.6% 3 point shooter. He is a career 43.7% from the field. Neither number is super efficient. So Trae is a high volume medium efficiency scorer who is good at playmaking and doesn’t rebound his position especially well. He is 6’1 with a 6’2 wingspan and is not known for his defense. Overall would you call Trae top 30, I don’t know. Is he a franchise player, right now yes. Has that franchise made it to the ECF, yes it has. Has it made to the NBA finals no. Was the ECF repeatable, no. Can Trae carry the team without another top player, at this point I say no. Is he over rated, I don’t think he is, but I also don’t think the consensus outside Atlanta is that he is more than he appears.

He doesn't need to play along side Luka or SGA. He needs an elite center or power forward.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[winforlose]

For me Trae’s best asset is his assisting. I think he is a great passer, and I agree that turnovers will happen at high usage. I also think if he played with a Doncic or SGA or some other elite guard (DJM is great but not truly elite,) the gravity might be great enough on the co-Star to open things up more for Trae. All of the above being true, he is a career 35.6% 3 point shooter. He is a career 43.7% from the field. Neither number is super efficient. So Trae is a high volume medium efficiency scorer who is good at playmaking and doesn’t rebound his position especially well. He is 6’1 with a 6’2 wingspan and is not known for his defense. Overall would you call Trae top 30, I don’t know. Is he a franchise player, right now yes. Has that franchise made it to the ECF, yes it has. Has it made to the NBA finals no. Was the ECF repeatable, no. Can Trae carry the team without another top player, at this point I say no. Is he over rated, I don’t think he is, but I also don’t think the consensus outside Atlanta is that he is more than he appears.

He doesn't need to play along side Luka or SGA. He needs an elite center or power forward.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

Those work too. I just picked the first two top players that came to mind. The idea was with less defensive focus on him, he might improve his efficiency. It isn’t easy being a high priority player for the opposing defense.

[Jamaaliver]

[Texas Chuck]

I think what perplexes Trae's fans is that other star guards don't seem to get the same scrutiny.
Luka, SGA, Haliburton, Ja seem to get passes on their flaws and only focus on the production.

Luka is among the league leaders in minutes, yet you see how many times he gets called fat and out of shape. Haters are going to find stupid things to point out. Don't let that get you. You know your guy is one of the best offensive players in the league. But there are always going to be people pointing his lack of size and how it impacts his defense, people who point out his tricks to draw fouls(this is a positive btw so hilarious when its used as a criticism), people will always point out they could have Luka, people will even worry about his hair.

Ignore the noise. But its definitely not only around Trae, and you know this. You just hear it less because you are rightfully more focused on Trae. Just as I hear more Luka nonsense.

[tsherkin]

I brought up the stats, that you seemed to have ignored, to prove that Trae scoring 30 is not an anomaly. In the 20-21 season, he averaged 29.6 ppg. 21-22 season 28.4 ppg. It would be extremely difficult to reach those averages without scoring 30 or more numerous times throughout the season.

I pointed out his 3P% as the anomaly, not his scoring average...

[Jamaaliver]

He is officially among the greatest PGs of All Time -- at age 25!!!

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Spoiler:

[wco81]

More and more chatter that Trae could be treated this off-season.

Especially if the team does nothing in the playoffs.

Teams cited are Lakers and Spurs.

Lakers would have 3 FRPs available to trade this summer.

Do the Hawks reset or stay the course and give Trae and eye-watering extension in a couple of seasons?

Hawks are 6-4 in his last 10 games. Hawks have 27 games remaining and the strength of schedule of those opponents is #16 in the league, right in the middle. They have .502 winning percentage.

They are 8.5 games behind current #5 seed 76ers and 9 games behind #4 seed Knicks. Both these teams have tougher remaining opponents.

https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

Trae may be playing to remain in Atlanta!

[leo7]

Are the Spurs interested in trading the Hawks picks back to Atlanta for Trae Young?

[Jamaaliver]

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[hugepatsfan]

I think the criticisms are valid, but I think people ignore the extreme positives to focus on the negative with him. Like I get it - the weaknesses are pretty glaring - but he’s an extreme asset on offense too.

Can he be the best player on an elite team? Probably not. Even as a #2 option would it still take the a difficult to achieve roster composition where the #1 can play off of him because he ball dominant and the rest of the cast can work around him defensively? Yes, for sure there’s challenges with him there. But end of the day he’s really, really great at some things that are really, really important. He’s a high level player, just needs the right situation to contribute to winning. That’s not unlike a lot of guys though.

[wco81]

Tear in finger, to be re-evaluated in 4 weeks.

What are the Trae's' on/off numbers?

Hawks could be in danger of falling out of the #10 seed. Nets and Raptors are 3 and 3.5 games behind.

[tsherkin]

Teams are now completely shading the floor to get the ball out of Trae's hands.

Which makes a lot of sense. He's very dangerous when that 3 is falling as a scoring threat, but even without, his mobility and playmaking are a major asset.

Luka is among the league leaders in minutes, yet you see how many times he gets called fat and out of shape. Haters are going to find stupid things to point out. Don't let that get you. You know your guy is one of the best offensive players in the league. But there are always going to be people pointing his lack of size and how it impacts his defense, people who point out his tricks to draw fouls(this is a positive btw so hilarious when its used as a criticism), people will always point out they could have Luka, people will even worry about his hair.

This is a fair block. I think with Trae it's important to filter the difference between criticism over his upper bound and attacks on the player in general. He's an 87 2FG+ player for the second season in a row, which charitably isn't very good. But he's such a good 3pt shooter and so proficient at drawing fouls (at shooting at the FT line) that it doesn't matter over the balance of the season. And obviously his greatest trait is his playmaking, which is extremely good without qualification. He's working on his fourth-straight season of 10+ AST36 for a reason, and his TOV% is similar or better to other volume playmakers of note.

Major criticism of him can only really land on his inability to be an effective scorer inside the arc and how weak he's been as a scorer in the few postseasons he's seen. He obviously hasn't been as good at gaining separation offensively as he was from 20-22, and that offensive impact difference shows up in various places, but he's still very clearly quite a good player.

And any time missed will be very bad for Atlanta.

[Patsfan1081]

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I don’t understand this at all. Outside of his rookie season on paper Trae is putting up the worst defensive metrics of his career. I know you can’t read too much into stats and he has committed less non shooting fouls this season which is a plus, however when I watch him play I still see him making lazy mistakes on the perimeter defending. It’s not just his size that people harp on, it’s his overall effort defensively. How can your defensive metrics not improve playing alongside an elite defender in Murray?

[Jamaaliver]

Spoiler:

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[wco81]

There's chatter about Trade being traded to the Lakers or the Spurs.

That might be great for his career, Trae being teamed up with defensive stalwarts like AD or Wemby. Not to mention him getting either a lot of easy baskets.

But Trae has said he wants to stay in Atlanta and win there. He can get the biggest extension by signing with the Hawks.

Then he could ask for a trade after he has that bag.

[Rainwater]

There's chatter about Trade being traded to the Lakers or the Spurs.

That might be great for his career, Trae being teamed up with defensive stalwarts like AD or Wemby. Not to mention him getting either a lot of easy baskets.

But Trae has said he wants to stay in Atlanta and win there. He can get the biggest extension by signing with the Hawks.

Then he could ask for a trade after he has that bag.

Signing Trae to a huge contract would be a massive mistake even if traded.