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

[Jamaaliver]

Trae Young's ill-advised 3-pointer tells larger tale: An average shooter, at best, who thinks he's Steph Curry

The Hawks star, who is shooting just 26.5 percent from 3, took one of the worst potential game-winning shots you'll ever see



A major part of this problem has been the dismal play of Young, who has been bumbling his way through the last two weeks. For the season, Young is shooting under 40 percent from the field and just 26.5 percent from 3-point range. On Saturday against Portland he went 1 of 9 from deep, and the last miss was one of the worst shots you might ever see, even by modern let-it-fly standards.

Atlanta had cut Portland's lead to two, 108-106, with under 30 seconds to play...Young took a long outlet pass and was ahead of seven of the other nine players on the court. Problem is, the two players between him and the basket were Blazers. Young was in a 1-on-2 break, and he was the one. Even in today's game where basically any 3-pointer is seen as at least a relatively good shot, to pull up in this situation, down two with 23 seconds to play, with no chance for an offensive rebound should you miss because none of your guys have even crossed half court yet, is a bad decision for anyone not named Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard. To pull up from close to 30 feet, with a hand in your face no less, is a terrible decision.

Still, that's exactly what Young did:

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Again, situations matter. But decision making, which resides at the top of a point guard's job description, is about calculating these things on the spot and proceeding accordingly, and Young is too often pushing the wrong buttons.

The guy plays like he's Steph Curry, and you can tell he really believes that, but he's...never actually been a great shooter. Young is shooting under 27 percent from 3 this season, and that number gets far worse in fourth quarters, where he's made just one of 13 3s so far. Do the math, and Young is a seven percent 3-point shooter in fourth quarters to date, and he hasn't made a single 3-pointer in the clutch (0 for 6), which the NBA defines as a five-point game with fewer than five minutes to play.

If you want to talk pure shooting talent, he's clearly a gifted gunner. But his shot selection undermines his own talent, and that has long been the case. It speaks to a larger issue going on with Young, who has completely lost his way. His aforementioned shot selection, which was improving, has regressed. He dominates the ball, and when he's not clicking, that becomes a very frustrating style for his too-often frozen-out teammates.

One of the specific issues teammate John Collins raised during a recent film session was Young's "early shot-clock attempts that leave his teammates on the outside looking in." In other words, the exact shot Young pulled on Saturday at the worst time imaginable.

CBS Sports

[Jamaaliver]

What annoys me is how some people force shots when it is obvious they don't have it. Instead of giving it to the hot hand, they try and shoot themselves out of a slump.

Trae made several dumb plays at the end which cost us. His cross court no-look pass through traffic was a dumb idea.

...our young franchise player is having growing pains. It's tough to watch right now, especially after that torrid start to the season. But, it's not unexpected. The kid isn't a finished product. It's up to coaches, teammates and front office personnel to get through to him and help him learn from dumb decisions like this.

And it's up to Trae to actually be receptive to this and other relevant constructivecriticism.

It's not the end of the world, but we are approaching a crossroads. Ideally, these lessons are learned at the collegiate level. It just so happens we're now getting to it as we approach his contract summer.

Young Trae is facing some real adversity, let's see how he responds.

[DirtybirdGA]

Oh well.

[King Ken]

I've been pissed at Trae since the preseason but his issue biggest issue compared to last year is his accuracy all around. His threes are off. His passing is off, his floater is off. He just doesn't have accuracy right now. Its killing his impact. This is why its critical for him to develop as a floor general so when these things aren't falling, you still know how to make everyone around you better offensively. Defensively, he needs a lot of work when screened.

[Spud2nique]

Was this written by a Ayesha Curry? No, Trae will be fine.

[saloonyk8]

That end shot against blazers was horrible. I think he needs to take accountability which he seems to have been reluctant to do earlier when Collins and capela encouraged him to move the ball.

No other nba PG would've made that play in that situation. Even if he hits the shot the blazers would've had 16 seconds and the ball to try to win the game. SMH all around

[jayu70]

That end shot against blazers was horrible. I think he needs to take accountability which he seems to have been reluctant to do earlier when Collins and capela encouraged him to move the ball.

No other nba PG would've made that play in that situation. Even if he hits the shot the blazers would've had 16 seconds and the ball to try to win the game. SMH all around

He did in this one.

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[Jamaaliver]

Trae Young will figure it out. He’s kind of getting hammered on social media and in basketball discussions right now because things are going so poorly. Following the reporting of the film session issues and fallout, the Hawks’ franchise point guard has been miserable on the court. In fact, he’s been really bad over his last eight games, period. The Hawks are flying much lower than they were before, and these eight games from Young would indicate why.

During this eight game stretch, Young has averaged just 18.3 points on 32.9 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from deep. He’s in a bad spot right now, but he’s so talented. We’ll see him climb out of this hole and get the Hawks back on track. He just has to learn how to deal with this adversity.

The Athletic - 1/18

[jayu70]

I wonder where Trae learned the art of drawing fouls ......mmmmmmm

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[Spud2nique]

Trae is Zeke, Nash and Iverson combined.

He is not little baby scurred scurry.

[Jamaaliver]

Not exactly insightful, but the league has noticed his struggles. I believe his sophomore slump came a season late is all.

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[Jamaaliver]

Daaaaaaaaamn.

Ranking the 7 Biggest Disappointments in the NBA This Season

1. Trae Young



Trae Young's season began innocently enough. His three-ball has seldom fallen consistently, but he offset that variance with charity-stripe parades. Through his first four games, he averaged 33.0 points, 8.3 assists and a mind-melting 15.5 free-throw attempts.

And then his production fell off a cliff.

Since Jan. 1, Young is averaging 18.3 points, 8.8 assists and 6.4 free-throw attempts while shooting just 22.2 percent from long distance. His floater isn't finding nylon nearly as frequently, either. He's hitting those baby push shots at a 35.7 percent clip (20-of-56).

Not surprisingly, the Atlanta Hawks aren't looking so hot. They are 2-6 since Young's free-throw drought began—he does have games with 15 and 12 free-throw attempts over this span—and have gone 0-4 in crunch-time matchups. More complicated still, a report from The Athletic's Sam Amick and Chris Kirschner stated that this slide has coincided with John Collins aiming thinly veiled critiques in his direction.

Injuries to Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kris Dunn, Danilo Gallinari and Cam Reddish have no doubt impacted the Hawks more than bruised egos. And let's not forget, Young is an offensive star. His freezing-cold start is a phase, not a new normal.

That doesn't make his overall performance any less of a letdown. The Hawks had the look and feel of a playoff lock entering the season, but that was always predicated upon Young playing like he did last year, if not better. Anything less from him and a more favorable health bill or not, they're liable to remain where they are now: uncomfortably close to falling outside the East's top 10.

Bleacher Report

[shakes0]

Trae's problems right now are very obvious to me. He's completely lost his confidence. Not in his shot, no he's never going to lose his confidence in his shot. The place where he has lost his confidence and now looks like a shadow of himself is in his DECISION MAKING. That's it, right there. That is 100% the only thing wrong with Trae right now and it's a huge thing.

A great example of this was last game. On two occasions he came around a screen and was on the wing and for just a split second both defenders left him. It was just a split second, but it was more than enough time for Trae to recognize that and pull up for an easy 16 foot jump shot. Something he has done several times earlier in the year. something that Bradley Beal does all the time. But, because Trae has lost his confidence in his decision making he is now hesitating ever so slightly on every decision which, in the NBA, is the difference between having a wide open 16 footer and not having a wide open 16 footer.

I also see this on his drives in the paint. His mind is in between pass and shoot and by the time he realizes which option is best he is either forced to take a floater from a non ideal spot or he forces a pass that results in a turn over.

I believe this started with the film session and now Trae is second guessing himself whenever he has the ball in his hands.

[kg01]

Trae's problems right now are very obvious to me. He's completely lost his confidence. Not in his shot, no he's never going to lose his confidence in his shot. The place where he has lost his confidence and now looks like a shadow of himself is in his DECISION MAKING. That's it, right there. That is 100% the only thing wrong with Trae right now and it's a huge thing.

A great example of this was last game. On two occasions he came around a screen and was on the wing and for just a split second both defenders left him. It was just a split second, but it was more than enough time for Trae to recognize that and pull up for an easy 16 foot jump shot. Something he has done several times earlier in the year. something that Bradley Beal does all the time. But, because Trae has lost his confidence in his decision making he is now hesitating ever so slightly on every decision which, in the NBA, is the difference between having a wide open 16 footer and not having a wide open 16 footer.

I also see this on his drives in the paint. His mind is in between pass and shoot and by the time he realizes which option is best he is either forced to take a floater from a non ideal spot or he forces a pass that results in a turn over.

I believe this started with the film session and now Trae is second guessing himself whenever he has the ball in his hands.

This post is what happens when people leave their prior-biases aside and actually analyze the situation.

Sadly, most people never liked Trae, his shooting, how he shoots, etc. so they simply waited for a shooting slump to spout this nonsense.

It seems so obvious that he's hesitant in all phases of the game ... which has impacted his shooting from everywhere on the floor. His float-game has been off since preseason. That's the 'tell'. Why are people surprised his shooting overall has struggled. The 'tell' was there all along.

But no, people look at 3p% and go, "BWAH, HE AIN CURRY!!"

In reality, his passing is off, his shooting is off, everything's off. Why would we think 'sophomore slump', but skip over the fact that this is a vastly different team who needs their offensive engine to recalibrate what that means his role should be now? Were people expecting that to happen over the course of 4 preseason games and half-speed scrimmages?

What I predicted for this team was a slow start, while they incorporated new pieces, and a surge later on the season. The 4-1, 4-2 start was tremendous but we shouldn't have been blinded by that into thinking this isn't still a 'process' - no, not 6ers process - and we're still early in it.

The one most impacted by that was always going to be Trae. That's all we're seeing. Stop the stea... er, I mean Stop the Panic!

[Jamaaliver]

Now, he's missing FTs too. The young man needs a Kyrie-like sabbatical.

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[shakes0]

Did you guys notice in the first half last night how many times Trae got caught giving up his dribble? At least 4x in the first half. That's the lack of confidence that has led to indecisiveness that I am talking about. Did you notice how many times it happened in the second half? ZERO.

Hopefully he carries over how he played in the second half to tomorrow and beyond. As Clint said in the post game, Trae needs to be aggressive when he has the ball. He was in that second half. By being aggressive and attacking he doesn't really have time to think...which is a good thing. Instincts take over at that point and Trae's high level IQ leads him to the right decisions.

[Jamaaliver]

IDK if it confidence as much as aggressiveness. His scoring is back, though. Now, he just needs to continue growing and learn to run a top-10 offense.

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[Jamaaliver]

Has Trae Young gone stagnant?



Trae Young is only in his third season in the NBA after a sensational one-and-done season at Oklahoma. While Young averaged a blistering 29.6 points per game last season, he has been off to a rather frustrating start through the first 15 games. Young’s average thus far is at 25.3 points per, which isn’t bad. However, the talented point guard has been a bit off for the Atlanta Hawks this season.

His field goal percentage is the lowest it’s been in his career, and his three-point percentage has dipped since last season, too.

Young is well-known for his deep threes and his ability to pass the ball. While his numbers are down from last season, they shouldn’t stay that way. For Trae Young, he just needs to be the player he was last year. His averages are down across the board, and he’s had his fair share of bad shooting games this year.

The good news? Atlanta is 8-8 and seems like a team that could make the play-in tournament at the very least. This Hawks team was heralded as one of the sleeper teams after the offseason they had, especially with this excellent young core.

The layoff was hard for everybody, and there have been a lot of players who got off to weird starts due to the length of the pause- especially those teams who weren’t in the bubble.

While his numbers are lower than last year, it’s only a matter of time before Trae Young erupts on a nightly basis, and when he does the league better watch out.

Clutch Sports

[Jamaaliver]

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[kg01]

Can't lie, every time I see this thread title, I can't help but think: "@jamallo: an average poster who thinks he's kg".

Oh, come on. It's ok to laugh, @jam.

I still think these shooting woes are just growing pains as the team learns how they need to play to win.