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Watching Chris Paul has been the only bright spot for a very disappointing 2022. Watching CP3 is the only thing giving me hope for Trae and the Hawks moving forward.

I've been saying for the last few years that Trae is not Curry but reminds me more of Iverson because both are volume scorers.

Watching CP3 getting better as he gets alot older and dominate with his IQ and mid range game, has given me hope for Trae to have a long career with a long prime and having major impact into his late 30s. CP3's mid range game is on par with prime Kobe's mid range, hopefully Trae's floaters will be the same.

I see the most similarities with Trae and Iverson but I do see alittle similarity with Trae and CP3 in that both guys are small and just have average athleticism, at least nothing on the level as Westbrook or Morant. This has actually been a blessing for CP3 because it has allowed him to have a long career. I think and hope the same for Trae, that he will have a career into his late 30s and still be an elite impact player that CP3 is now.

CP3 doesn't have Steve Francis hops or Penny's height and long arms, but he is still one of the best in the game, and hopefully Trae is watching CP3 now and will add a mid range game this summer.

Trae will be fine in his 30's. He's really more Nash than anyone, but he does draw similarities to CP3 in the aspect that neither is uberly athletic, but have a strong mid-range to make up for it. As you mentioned, he's not reliant on being able to outjump bigger guys. That alone will help him when he doesn't have the crazy burst he has now. Once he learns how to use the logo 3 more as a weapon over an ego flex, he'll be even better.

What will go a long with helping Trae is just having another guy on the roster who can actually take attention away from him and also gaining about 20 pounds of muscle. If he can get up to about 180, he can shrug off defenders trying to bully him. Adding another guy to alleviate pressure just makes him that much deadlier 1 on 1.

Geaux_Hawks wrote:Trae will be fine in his 30's. He's really more Nash than anyone, but he does draw similarities to CP3 in the aspect that neither is uberly athletic, but have a strong mid-range to make up for it. As you mentioned, he's not reliant on being able to outjump bigger guys. That alone will help him when he doesn't have the crazy burst he has now. Once he learns how to use the logo 3 more as a weapon over an ego flex, he'll be even better.

What will go a long with helping Trae is just having another guy on the roster who can actually take attention away from him and also gaining about 20 pounds of muscle. If he can get up to about 180, he can shrug off defenders trying to bully him. Adding another guy to alleviate pressure just makes him that much deadlier 1 on 1.

I can see the Iverson comparison.

I do not see Nash. Steve Nash was a pass first much better shooter. Trae is much more of a volume shooter at a lower percentage with more turnovers.

Galloisdaman wrote:

Geaux_Hawks wrote:Trae will be fine in his 30's. He's really more Nash than anyone, but he does draw similarities to CP3 in the aspect that neither is uberly athletic, but have a strong mid-range to make up for it. As you mentioned, he's not reliant on being able to outjump bigger guys. That alone will help him when he doesn't have the crazy burst he has now. Once he learns how to use the logo 3 more as a weapon over an ego flex, he'll be even better.

What will go a long with helping Trae is just having another guy on the roster who can actually take attention away from him and also gaining about 20 pounds of muscle. If he can get up to about 180, he can shrug off defenders trying to bully him. Adding another guy to alleviate pressure just makes him that much deadlier 1 on 1.

I can see the Iverson comparison.

I do not see Nash. Steve Nash was a pass first much better shooter. Trae is much more of a volume shooter at a lower percentage with more turnovers.

I mean if you want to be technical about it, you could say he's a combo of all of them(CP3, Nash, A.I, Steph), but in terms of just pure vision and passing ability, he really favors Paul/Nash. Iverson was a pure 2 guard playing PG. I think Jordan said it himself, that if Iverson was built like a 2 guard, he'd probably be unstoppable.

You could easily say Nash is a better shooter, but Trae's not far behind, whereas Iverson wasn't much of a shooter and passer, but just a pure scorer. Similar to CP3, Trae has the ability to score if he has to. He's not quite Curry level as a shooter, but he shows the range, and can get hot like Curry does from 30+. Where the other guys leave A.I behind at(including Trae), is the vision and craftiness as a passer. Trae showcases that ability to also nutmeg defenders like how Curry, Nash, and CP3 have shown. I mean outside of being similar builds, and chucker tendencies, Trae and A.I really look like 2 different players. A.I really just feels like a lazy comparison to me.

Geaux_Hawks wrote:

Galloisdaman wrote:

Geaux_Hawks wrote:Trae will be fine in his 30's. He's really more Nash than anyone, but he does draw similarities to CP3 in the aspect that neither is uberly athletic, but have a strong mid-range to make up for it. As you mentioned, he's not reliant on being able to outjump bigger guys. That alone will help him when he doesn't have the crazy burst he has now. Once he learns how to use the logo 3 more as a weapon over an ego flex, he'll be even better.

What will go a long with helping Trae is just having another guy on the roster who can actually take attention away from him and also gaining about 20 pounds of muscle. If he can get up to about 180, he can shrug off defenders trying to bully him. Adding another guy to alleviate pressure just makes him that much deadlier 1 on 1.

I can see the Iverson comparison.

I do not see Nash. Steve Nash was a pass first much better shooter. Trae is much more of a volume shooter at a lower percentage with more turnovers.

I mean if you want to be technical about it, you could say he's a combo of all of them(CP3, Nash, A.I, Steph), but in terms of just pure vision and passing ability, he really favors Paul/Nash. Iverson was a pure 2 guard playing PG. I think Jordan said it himself, that if Iverson was built like a 2 guard, he'd probably be unstoppable.

You could easily say Nash is a better shooter, but Trae's not far behind, whereas Iverson wasn't much of a shooter and passer, but just a pure scorer. Similar to CP3, Trae has the ability to score if he has to. He's not quite Curry level as a shooter, but he shows the range, and can get hot like Curry does from 30+. Where the other guys leave A.I behind at(including Trae), is the vision and craftiness as a passer. Trae showcases that ability to also nutmeg defenders like how Curry, Nash, and CP3 have shown. I mean outside of being similar builds, and chucker tendencies, Trae and A.I really look like 2 different players. A.I really just feels like a lazy comparison to me.

If AI had played his prime now, the difference between both would have been easier to find: AI would have still given 7 AST, but would have been near 40pts per game with the lazier defense we see now in regular season.
He made 7 seasons in a row with between 9 and 11.5 FTs per game, he would easily get 15-16 now

D21 wrote:

Geaux_Hawks wrote:

Galloisdaman wrote:
I can see the Iverson comparison.

I do not see Nash. Steve Nash was a pass first much better shooter. Trae is much more of a volume shooter at a lower percentage with more turnovers.

I mean if you want to be technical about it, you could say he's a combo of all of them(CP3, Nash, A.I, Steph), but in terms of just pure vision and passing ability, he really favors Paul/Nash. Iverson was a pure 2 guard playing PG. I think Jordan said it himself, that if Iverson was built like a 2 guard, he'd probably be unstoppable.

You could easily say Nash is a better shooter, but Trae's not far behind, whereas Iverson wasn't much of a shooter and passer, but just a pure scorer. Similar to CP3, Trae has the ability to score if he has to. He's not quite Curry level as a shooter, but he shows the range, and can get hot like Curry does from 30+. Where the other guys leave A.I behind at(including Trae), is the vision and craftiness as a passer. Trae showcases that ability to also nutmeg defenders like how Curry, Nash, and CP3 have shown. I mean outside of being similar builds, and chucker tendencies, Trae and A.I really look like 2 different players. A.I really just feels like a lazy comparison to me.

If AI had played his prime now, the difference between both would have been easier to find: AI would have still given 7 AST, but would have been near 40pts per game with the lazier defense we see now in regular season.
He made 7 seasons in a row with between 9 and 11.5 FTs per game, he would easily get 15-16 now

Trae is alot like Iverson in that he loves to and is great at attacking the paint and getting easy shots, Iverson had a mini step back while Trae has a floater. The difference between Trae and Iverson is that Iverson had to use alot of his quickness and energy to get his shots, while Trae seems to use alot less energy and looks alot more effortless when he gets his shots.

The only similarity between Trae and Nash are there passing and defense. Trae gets alot of points but he looks unselfish doing it and for the majority of the time looks to get his teammates shots, like Nash does. On the down side, both Trae and Nash are below average defenders.

The similarity i see between Trae and CP3 is shooting and that both guys look relaxed and they make things look effortless. CP3 is not an elite shooter, just above average, same with Trae. Both guys are just good enough where you have to respect their outside shot and mid range shot, but neither guy are shooting 40% from three or 50FG%. But with that said, both Trae and CP3 don't seem to put much energy in there game but in a good way, they make seem everything look effortless.

Geaux_Hawks wrote:

Galloisdaman wrote:

Geaux_Hawks wrote:Trae will be fine in his 30's. He's really more Nash than anyone, but he does draw similarities to CP3 in the aspect that neither is uberly athletic, but have a strong mid-range to make up for it. As you mentioned, he's not reliant on being able to outjump bigger guys. That alone will help him when he doesn't have the crazy burst he has now. Once he learns how to use the logo 3 more as a weapon over an ego flex, he'll be even better.

What will go a long with helping Trae is just having another guy on the roster who can actually take attention away from him and also gaining about 20 pounds of muscle. If he can get up to about 180, he can shrug off defenders trying to bully him. Adding another guy to alleviate pressure just makes him that much deadlier 1 on 1.

I can see the Iverson comparison.

I do not see Nash. Steve Nash was a pass first much better shooter. Trae is much more of a volume shooter at a lower percentage with more turnovers.

I mean if you want to be technical about it, you could say he's a combo of all of them(CP3, Nash, A.I, Steph), but in terms of just pure vision and passing ability, he really favors Paul/Nash. Iverson was a pure 2 guard playing PG. I think Jordan said it himself, that if Iverson was built like a 2 guard, he'd probably be unstoppable.

You could easily say Nash is a better shooter, but Trae's not far behind, whereas Iverson wasn't much of a shooter and passer, but just a pure scorer. Similar to CP3, Trae has the ability to score if he has to. He's not quite Curry level as a shooter, but he shows the range, and can get hot like Curry does from 30+. Where the other guys leave A.I behind at(including Trae), is the vision and craftiness as a passer. Trae showcases that ability to also nutmeg defenders like how Curry, Nash, and CP3 have shown. I mean outside of being similar builds, and chucker tendencies, Trae and A.I really look like 2 different players. A.I really just feels like a lazy comparison to me.

I think of Nash as an elite level shooter. A guy that would have 50fg%-43%3-90%ft seasons in his prime. Those are rare.
I think of Trae more as an elite scorer but not an elite shooter.
That does not mean Trae can not get there one day. I'm just going by so far in his career.

The 2022 Hawks' season has been depressing, but the one light glimmer of hope was watching Chris Paul dominate in 2022 and the playoffs, because I see some similarities between CP3 and Trae. Both are smaller guys, both don't have Westbrook or Steve Francis hops, both guys impact the game without extreme athleticism and more with IQ and pace.

But the recent melt down by CP3 against the undermanned Mavs has got me worried about Trae as a legit star again.

atlantabbq99 wrote:But the recent melt down by CP3 against the undermanned Mavs has got me worried about Trae as a legit star again.

It's hard to know, as they were only one game away from the next round, but it was a nightmare game7 for sure.
Now, it may be due to several things and not just Chris Paul:
- Ayton and management thing... don't know what happened exactly
- the Kardashian/Jenner curse that finally hits Booker
- more important, DAL playing the perfect bball at the start of the game and creating a big shock