Trae Young: Max Contract Superstar

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There’s no question Young is one of the best offensive players of recent memory.

Only NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors had a better offensive DRIP (a projection of a player’s contribution to a team’s plus-minus per 100 possessions) this past season, and when he was on the floor, the Hawks posted a bonkers 119.8 offensive rating (which would have made them by far the best offense in basketball).

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Hawks Talked to Trae Young About Improving His Defense

It is nearly impossible to improve upon the individual season Trae Young enjoyed this past year. The 23-year-old became the second player in NBA history to lead the league in total points and assists. In addition, Young averaged career highs in ten different statistical categories and was named All-NBA. Yet, Atlanta's front office is asking more.


Hawks general manager Landry Fields gave a candid answer in a radio interview on 92.9 FM The Game. Fields let it be known that the organization has had conversations (plural) with Young about improving his (individual) defense for next season.

There is no doubt that Young has room to improve on defense. Perimeter defense was one of the Hawks' weak spots last season, specifically point-of-attack defense. They finished bottom-five in the league for defensive rating. No one is blaming that all on Young. Defense requires effort and energy from the entire team, which Clint Capela noticed was lacking in training camp. 




https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/hawks-talked-to-trae-young-about-improving-his-defense

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The 1 Thing Holding Back NBA's Top Under-25 Stars

Trae Young: Defense



The NBA's leader in total points and assists last season, Young can hoist an entire offense on his shoulders and keep it running for 48 minutes.

On the other end, however, he's been one of the worst defensive players in the league.

After Nikola Jokic, Young had the highest offensive estimated plus-minus score (plus-6.5) of anyone in the NBA, ranking in the 99th percentile overall. His defensive score (minus-1.6) ranked in the 16th percentile overall, however, as the Hawks gave up an estimated 4.2 more points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor.

Young's size (6'1", 164 pounds) limits him from ever becoming an elite defender, as point guards are only growing taller (Luka Doncic, LaMelo Ball, Ben Simmons) and becoming more physical. Young will always need help in isolation situations vs. players like Doncic and Ball, but there are other areas he could improve on immediately.

Young often loses focus on defense watching the ball and is caught having to sprint out to a shooter to contest a shot. He needs to work on his screen navigation and challenge everything the best he can while forcing players into contested outside shots.

Having Dejounte Murray now on board to take over some scoring and playmaking duties should help Young conserve some energy for the defensive end. There's no reason why we shouldn't see his best performance on that end this season.

Bleacher Report

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Ranking: The Top 25 point guards

4. Trae Young (Atlanta)



Defensive deficiencies aside, Trae Young is an absolute master on the offensive end of the floor – and has been since his arrival to the NBA in 2018-19.

In that four-season stretch, Young ranks fourth in total points scored, behind just Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Devin Booker. What’s more, in total assists over that span, he ranks first overall, with 2,544, just ahead of Westbrook.

Last year was more of the same from Young, who averaged 28.4 points and 9.7 assists while shooting 38.2 percent from three. Even so, it feels like Young enters the upcoming season with less hype than he had heading into 2021-22, which is likely due to the manner in which his most recent campaign ended.

Young had an embarrassing 2022 playoff showing, averaging just 15.4 points and 6.0 assists while shooting 31.9 percent from the field and 18.4 percent from deep, with the Heat doing a great job of trapping him and forcing anyone else on the Atlanta Hawks to beat them.

Spoiler alert: No one else could.

That’s why Atlanta went out and acquired Dejounte Murray, one of the best two-way guards in the league and someone who’ll be able to take some of the playmaking load off of Young’s shoulders.

We expect Young to still be the team’s primary floor general, however, with Murray taking more of an off-ball role, hence, his place in this ranking and Murray’s inclusion with the shooting guards.

Another thing we expect?

For Young to bounce back from that lackluster postseason showing in 2022-23 and get back to being the hugely productive, All-NBA-level point guard that he’s proven to be over recent seasons.

Hoopshype

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Ranking the Most Dominant NBA Stars at Every Position

PG No. 3: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

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Some may gripe that Young's defense is too leaky to justify such a prominent placement, but this ranking simply points to how absurdly elite his offense is.

His combined contributions as a scorer and table-setter—never mind as a deep-range net-shredder—are nearly unrivaled. He's already just the second player ever to average at least 25 points and nine assists three different times. Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, basketball's king of the overstuffed stat sheet, is the other.

Young essentially buys his team a top-10 offense and gives it best-in-the-league potential. He is hyper-efficient as it is—only Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo (winners of the last four MVP awards) tallied more offensive win shares this past season—but don't be surprised if Young finds an even higher gear now that he'll have a second shot-creator, Dejounte Murray, around to help pilot the offense.

Bleacher Report

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Ranking the Most Dominant NBA Stars at Every Position

PG No. 3: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

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Some may gripe that Young's defense is too leaky to justify such a prominent placement, but this ranking simply points to how absurdly elite his offense is.

His combined contributions as a scorer and table-setter—never mind as a deep-range net-shredder—are nearly unrivaled. He's already just the second player ever to average at least 25 points and nine assists three different times. Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, basketball's king of the overstuffed stat sheet, is the other.

Young essentially buys his team a top-10 offense and gives it best-in-the-league potential. He is hyper-efficient as it is—only Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo (winners of the last four MVP awards) tallied more offensive win shares this past season—but don't be surprised if Young finds an even higher gear now that he'll have a second shot-creator, Dejounte Murray, around to help pilot the offense.

Bleacher Report

I expect Trae Young to be a top 5 MVP candidate if he can figure out how to win games consistently. It's time to be a force in the regular season.

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B/R Staff Survey: Which Young Star Would You Build Around

1. Luka
2. Tatum
3. Ja

No. 4: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks



It’s fair to wonder about Trae Young’s defense. With his height (6’1”) and slight frame, there’s a chance he’s never a plus on that end. But overemphasis there might actually be causing people to underrate Trae overall. Offensively, he’s off to one of the most absurd starts to a career we’ve ever seen.

Young has totaled 7,076 points and 2,544 assists in his 280 career games. Oscar Robertson is the only player in league history to match or exceed both marks in his first 280 games.

And this isn’t just empty-calorie production for Young. Over the last three seasons, his team is plus-1.1 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor and minus-4.7 when he's off.

He’s a bona fide, one-man offense, with incredible vision and passing ability, way-beyond-the-three-point-line range and a creative floater package in the lane. Surround him with decent shooting, and you’re almost guaranteed to have a good offense.

Now, if you can find players who combine that with gritty defense to cover for Young’s shortcomings there, you have the makings of a contender.

Bleacher Report

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Seriously, Trae. Go spend time with your fiancée and newborn son before the season starts.

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[jayu70]

Seriously, Trae. Go spend time with your fiancée and newborn son before the season starts.

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You think he's not? You say that as if you know he isn’t. What if they're traveling with him to these cities? Saw at least 2 different pictures of them on a private plane, dogs and all.

[Jamaaliver]

Seriously, Trae. Go spend time with your fiancée and newborn son before the season starts.

You think he's not? You say that as if you know he isn’t. What if they're traveling with him to these cities? Saw at least 2 different pictures of them on a private plane, dogs and all.

If Trae is dragging a 2 month old baby around the country this summer so he can play offseason basketball, I will be sorely disappointed.

Trae will have years to run around playing basketball with these guys for fun.

But as a new dad and a husband to be, he should prolly spend as much time with his new family before the most important season of his career begins in a few weeks.

[jayu70]

Seriously, Trae. Go spend time with your fiancée and newborn son before the season starts.

You think he's not? You say that as if you know he isn’t. What if they're traveling with him to these cities? Saw at least 2 different pictures of them on a private plane, dogs and all.

If Trae is dragging a 2 month old baby around the country this summer so he can play offseason basketball, I will be sorely disappointed.

Trae will have years to run around playing basketball with these guys for fun.

But as a new dad and a husband to be, he should prolly spend as much time with his new family before the most important season of his career begins in a few weeks.

Trae is usually in LA for the summer training. My guess would be his family is there with him. You understand how easy it is to hop on a private plane, go play for a couple hours and head back home. Harden's yacht party was also in LA.

[Jamaaliver]

Trae is usually in LA for the summer training. My guess would be his family is there with him. You understand how easy it is to hop on a private plane, go play for a couple hours and head back home. Harden's yacht party was also in LA.

Maybe...

But Trae's son was born in early June.

Spoiler:

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Less than a week later, Trae was already talking about traveling to hoop in OKC.

Spoiler:

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Last night, Young tweeted his plans to play in this year's Skinz League once again. The Pro-Am league is held every summer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As you can see in the tweet below, Young is returning to his old stomping grounds, and this time he is bringing some friends to hoop with him.

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Playing in the Skinz League has become a summer tradition for the Oklahoma legend. So, it is safe to say that hoops fans knowledgeable enough about the Skinz League cannot wait for Young's return to Oklahoma City.

SI.com

That's...a decision worthy of some criticism considering he is a first time dad and Shelby is a new mom.

He then played in Drew League Games in LA, The Crawsover Games in Seattle and is now back in LA running with this Rico Hines event.


I, personally, would just prefer if the young man kept a lower profile this summer and stayed closer to home/family. Hopefully this upcoming season, he will be playing into June 2023 and some extra rest could help keep him fresh a little longer into the season.

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