Young: Average shooter who thinks he's Steph Curry (with retraction)

[Jamaaliver]

Trae Young deserves an apology



A little more than two weeks ago, I wrote a story with the following headline: "Trae Young's ill-advised 3-pointer tells a larger tale: An average shooter who thinks he's Steph Curry." It did not go over well.

By my insignificant standards, this was the most backlash I've ever encountered.

And I will admit, it was deserved. The headline was inflammatory and the article was unbalanced. I spent 90 percent of the piece raking Young's shot selection and sheer shooting audacity relative to his actual shooting success to this point in his career, and 10 percent of the article talking about what a wonderfully talented, in some ways genius, offensive player Young has proven to be. That calculus could've, and should've, been flipped.

Spoiler:

That's not to say the point of the article wasn't accurate or that it still doesn't stand. It was, and it does. Young has been a statistically average 3-point shooter through his first two NBA seasons, he was a statistically average shooter during his one college season, and at the time I wrote the article, he was shooting well under 30 percent from 3 this season and had just launched what was, by any definition, a wildly ill-advised potential game-winning shot against the Blazers. There is just no world in which Young, a 34 percent career 3-point shooter, has earned the right to jack up 30-34 foot shots at three times the rate of Stephen Curry.

What I didn't say, and what I should have said, is that Young has reigned himself in this season in attempting over three fewer 3-pointers per game than he did last season. To be clear, the answer isn't necessarily for Young to cut his volume. He most certainly is a talented shooter -- even if that talent has been undermined by shot selection, and hasn't translated to anything but average percentages to date -- and the threat of his range impacts his own shot creation and his team's spacing in ways a box score can't capture.

But Young is not taking as many early clock 3s, before anyone else has touched the ball. He's not firing up quite so many parking-lot bombs, more often choosing the disciplined route of extending possessions, prioritizing getting into the lane, which he can do pretty much at will. Ultimately, he's not turning 1-of-4 nights into 1-of-9 nights by trying to gun his way out of a bad game, making it a worse game in the process of potentially alienating his new teammates.

Over his last nine outings, Young hasn't once shot worse than 37 percent from 3 in a single game in which he attempted at least five triples. In other words, when he's been hot -- like when he went 8 for 12 from 3 en route to 43 points against the Timberwolves, or when he went 5 for 9 from deep for 41 points against the Wizards -- he's lengthened his own leash. But when he's not hot, rather than forcing his shot, he's seeking other avenues of offense, plenty of which are at his disposal. That's the good stuff.

All told, since I wrote that article, Young is averaging 31.8 points and 9.6 assists. He's shooting 48 percent from 3 on over seven attempts a game. The Hawks are plus-7.6 during his minutes. For the season, Young is now over 36 percent from 3. This, again, is a pretty average mark for a starting NBA point guard, let alone an All-Star point guard, but given his volume and the impact he has on spacing and flow, 36 percent is more than acceptable if he's not taking too many ill-advised shots, which, again, he hasn't been.

He has, in fact, been pretty much amazing the last two-plus weeks and will likely make his second straight All-Star team at this rate. Trae Young is a brilliant basketball player. There has, to this point, also been a gap between the perception and reality of his shooting. Both of these things can be true, but they should be analyzed with proper balance and full context, just as Luka Doncic's significant 3-point-shooting struggles shouldn't disproportionately overshadow his overall greatness and the massive responsibility he shoulders. Our Jasmyn Wimbish did it much better than me in this fairly written piece regarding Luka and the Mavs. I didn't give Trae, a player I have pretty much adored from the first time I saw him in summer league, that same respect. That was my mistake, and this is my correction.

CBS Sports

[Jamaaliver]

Trae Young has cut down on his 3-point launching, and it has given the Hawks a more stable offense

Say what you want about volume and difficulty, but Young remains a league-average 3-point shooter

Watch on YouTube

Earlier this season I labeled Trae Young an average shooter who thinks he's Stephen Curry, and I got roasted for it. But it continues to be a statistical fact. The league average from 3-point range is 36.6 percent. Young is shooting 35.7 percent for the season. He's 34 percent from 3 in April over nine games, but if you take out one 6-for-7 game, he's just 24 percent in his other eight, including 7 for his last 31. Young shot 33 percent from 3 for the month of March. He hasn't shot better than 36.1 percent from 3 for a full season at any point his career, and that includes college.

Last season, Young launched 430 3-pointers from between 25-29 feet, or 7.2 per game, making them at a 35.1 percent clip. This season he's trimmed that number to 242 attempts, or 4.5 per game, making them at a similar 34.7 percent clip. Just a few feet is often a big difference.

The worst shots tend to be the ones Young jacks up early in the possession before anyone else has touched the ball. Last season, Young attempted 132 3-pointers within the first six seconds of the shot clock, making them at a 31.8 percent clip. This season, he has, to this point, cut that number by exactly half, attempting 66 3-pointers within the first six seconds and making them at a 27 percent clip.

Stretching it deeper, Young jacked up 81 shots from 30-34 feet last season, and made 32 percent of them. This season that number is down to 56, also at a 32 percent clip. All told, Young is taking three fewer 3-pointers per game this season than he did last, down from 9.5 to 6.4. In other words, he's the same shooter who's shooting less, lending greater priority to his brilliant paint probing/floater game.

It's not that Young isn't capable of connecting on these bombs. Of course he is, and he sometimes does. But there's a big difference between capable and consistent. Young bending his shot selection more toward the latter, in addition to the better talent that is now surrounding him, has made the Hawks a more stable offense.

CBS Sports

[shakes0]

Trae Young has cut down on his 3-point launching, and it has given the Hawks a more stable offense

Say what you want about volume and difficulty, but Young remains a league-average 3-point shooter

Watch on YouTube

Earlier this season I labeled Trae Young an average shooter who thinks he's Stephen Curry, and I got roasted for it. But it continues to be a statistical fact. The league average from 3-point range is 36.6 percent. Young is shooting 35.7 percent for the season. He's 34 percent from 3 in April over nine games, but if you take out one 6-for-7 game, he's just 24 percent in his other eight, including 7 for his last 31. Young shot 33 percent from 3 for the month of March. He hasn't shot better than 36.1 percent from 3 for a full season at any point his career, and that includes college.

Last season, Young launched 430 3-pointers from between 25-29 feet, or 7.2 per game, making them at a 35.1 percent clip. This season he's trimmed that number to 242 attempts, or 4.5 per game, making them at a similar 34.7 percent clip. Just a few feet is often a big difference.

The worst shots tend to be the ones Young jacks up early in the possession before anyone else has touched the ball. Last season, Young attempted 132 3-pointers within the first six seconds of the shot clock, making them at a 31.8 percent clip. This season, he has, to this point, cut that number by exactly half, attempting 66 3-pointers within the first six seconds and making them at a 27 percent clip.

Stretching it deeper, Young jacked up 81 shots from 30-34 feet last season, and made 32 percent of them. This season that number is down to 56, also at a 32 percent clip. All told, Young is taking three fewer 3-pointers per game this season than he did last, down from 9.5 to 6.4. In other words, he's the same shooter who's shooting less, lending greater priority to his brilliant paint probing/floater game.

It's not that Young isn't capable of connecting on these bombs. Of course he is, and he sometimes does. But there's a big difference between capable and consistent. Young bending his shot selection more toward the latter, in addition to the better talent that is now surrounding him, has made the Hawks a more stable offense.

CBS Sports

another piss poor article from CBS.

regarding the bolded. he wrote a piss poor article about this months ago and then he apologized. So does this mean he's retracting the retraction?

Mentioning that Trae is below the league average without mentioning that Trae is guarded harder than 90% of the players behind the 3pt line and that Trae rarely gets a catch and shoot opportunity is ignorance at best, disingenuous at worst.

So he also wants to take out a game where Trae went 6-7 from 3? Does that mean he's also going to take out the 0-4 game in that same stretch or do only the good shooting games get removed from his analysis?

Just a garbage article from a garbage writer.

[Jamaaliver]

This narrative is back with a vengeance.

The trends that defined the first half of the season

Trae Young can't shoot



At this point in his career, Trae Young was supposed to be one of the best 3-point scorers in the league. Well, the opposite is happening so far this season.

Out of the 35 players who have attempted at least 250 3s this season, Young ranks 33rd in 3-point percentage. Only Jordan Poole and Kelly Oubre Jr. have been less efficient. No one expected those guys to be generational shooting talents.

Young was expected to be, and it looked like he was on his way after shooting a career-high 38.2% from 3 last season. Instead, he's shooting a ghastly 32.5% from beyond the arc on 7.1 attempts per game. To put that in perspective, there have been 210 instances of a player averaging at least seven 3-point attempts per game -- Young's 32.5% shooting ranks 197th among those seasons.

Young and the Hawks made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021, but they've taken steps in the wrong direction since then. They lost in the first round last season after escaping the play-in, and this year -- after making a Gobert-like all-in trade for Dejounte Murray -- they're again languishing below .500 and in play-in position. Additionally, they've been an off-court soap opera. From the front office to the coaching staff to the roster, everywhere you look, you find drama. Trae Young and the Restless are far from contenders and Young's shooting numbers are more like Westbrook's than Curry's.

ESPN Insider

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Trae's got to improve his shot selection. He's still fairly undisciplined, and that's one of the reasons so many other players don't want to play with him.

Read on Twitter

[HMFFL]

26% of Trae's points have came from free throws. Steph 15%.

Trae Young needs to work harder on his range and overall skill set. Time will tell

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[Jamaaliver]

Is this a Make or Break year for Trae?

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That’s a good thing… but only if they are “good shots.” It’s good only if Young hits more than the 33.5% he shot from 3 last season.

While he has a reputation as a 3-point marksman, Young is a career 35.1% shooter from 3 and has been below that 35% number in three of his five NBA seasons. (Also concerning for the Hawks and Young’s fit with Dejonte Murray, he shot just 20% on the less than one catch-and-shoot 3 he took a game last season.)

Young has had better years, he shot 38.2% in 2021-22 and he is an offensive force as a creator capable of doing that again. That is the Young that Quin Snyder needs to have success with the Hawks.

Snyder also needs Young to buy into his system of ball and player movement more. Last season, 45% of Young’s shots came after he had at least seven dribbles — he pounded the ball into the ground and jacked up a shot without getting teammates involved far too often (77.9% of his shots came after at least three dribbles). Young shot 33.3% on the 3s he took after those seven dribbles, and less than that percentage on 3-pointers taken after three dribbles or more, which were the majority of his attempts.

This coming season will be an important one for Young, who has proven he is an All-Star who can put up numbers and drive an offense — he’s made an All-NBA team for a reason. The question facing him is whether he will fit into a team system that balances multiple shot creators, off-ball movement, willing passers and selflessness — what you can see in the two teams playing in the NBA Finals. Snyder will call pick-and-rolls, he wants his team to hunt mismatches at times, but there has to be more of a flow to what is happening. There can’t be many shots after seven dribbles (and that’s not touching on the defensive concerns around Young).

The Hawks will evolve over the next couple of seasons under Snyder. Where Young fits in that will be something to watch.

But we will see more 3-pointers.

NBC Sports