Trae Young

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Young is shooting okayish and has had some nice passes but just seems kinda out of it today. (I was only able to start watching at the half)

How was he the first half of the game when he was 4/4 from the field and 2/2 from deep?

He looks terrible right now.

I would hate to be in NBA general manager selecting in the top half of the lottery.

Yeah he does. Hopefully those FTs will get him going. Russell is killing the Sooners right now though.

Lon Kruger made a great adjustment putting a taller player on Russell.

[VCfor3]

On his last three drives and that 3 now I see the explosion.

He definitely prefers to play downhill and he is a rhythm player.

His handles have still been a little loose but it's nice to see signs of life from him again. Let's see if he can pull the win out.

[yoyoboy]

His teammates are utter garbage. Foul on opponent leading to and-1. Missed wide open corner three. Offensive foul. Rinse and repeat.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I had a hard time deciding my brackets on this game. Overtime-- now I see why.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Decided to edit that last remark...

Feels like OU has the momentum and is going to win this one now

[VCfor3]

I had a hard time deciding my brackets on this game. Overtime-- now I see why.

Same. I went against Oklahoma but it was tough. Didn't think they'd have enough in the tank to pull it out.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

His teammates can barely hit rim on free throw attempts.

[doordoor123]

I had a hard time deciding my brackets on this game. Overtime-- now I see why.

They’ll both get destroyed by a real team

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I had a hard time deciding my brackets on this game. Overtime-- now I see why.

They’ll both get destroyed by a real team

I agree.

[doordoor123]

James getting fouled out was the best thing that could have happened for the Sooners. He’s a problem in terms of IQ and awareness.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Looks like Trae Young is done playing college ball

[yoyoboy]

His teammates went 1-11 from three, 9-16 from the line, and had 5 assists to 7 turnovers.

Every time he trusted them to do something with the ball they utterly failed. I think Young was pretty good today and I still have him high on my board. I don't even think LeBron would be able to take this Oklahoma group sans LeBron very far in the tournament.

[clyde21]

I feel like he isn't moving off the ball unless he is running towards the ball handler for a pass/handoff.

This is true, and it's one of the reasons why he's a far-cry from Steph.

[MemphisX]

Too bad. Dude is boss. Not many college players get 28/5/7(10+ with average finishers). Didn’t force much. Got to the rim when he needed to do so. Brought his team back from the brink.

Trae is going to be great in the right situation. Hopefully he can avoid a couple of the NBA cesspools in the lottery. Going to be some fanbases regretting passing on him if he drops out of the top 5.

[doordoor123]

I’m excited to see Young with better players around him in the NBA.

[yoyoboy]

I feel like he isn't moving off the ball unless he is running towards the ball handler for a pass/handoff.

This is true, and it's one of the reasons why he's a far-cry from Steph.

Steph is a better off ball player obviously but that assessment isn't very fair. None of his teammates are playmakers in the slightest. Heck, who on his team can even dribble a basketball for more than 2 seconds with a defender on them? I didn't see many situations where I thought Young could have created an open shot for himself if he tried to curl around the defense. Just like every other game the past few months, they were draped all over Young and today his teammates clearly let him down with their inability to finish anything inside or hit great looks from three (1-11 behind the arc).

28-7-5 on 65% TS in his first tournament game ever at 19 years old while being double teamed the whole game and taking a clearly better URI team to OT but reading all the comments on social media, you would think he blew the game. The expectations for the kid are pretty crazy.

[Duke4life831]

I feel like he isn't moving off the ball unless he is running towards the ball handler for a pass/handoff.

This is true, and it's one of the reasons why he's a far-cry from Steph.

Steph is a better off ball player obviously but that assessment isn't very fair. None of his teammates are playmakers in the slightest. Heck, who on his team can even dribble a basketball for more than 2 seconds with a defender on them? I didn't see many situations where I thought Young could have created an open shot for himself if he tried to curl around the defense. Just like every other game the past few months, they were draped all over Young and today his teammates clearly let him down with their inability to finish anything inside or hit great looks from three (1-11 behind the arc).

28-7-5 on 65% TS in his first tournament game ever at 19 years old while being double teamed the whole game and taking a clearly better URI team to OT but reading all the comments on social media, you would think he blew the game. The expectations for the kid are pretty crazy.

Steph was the far superior off ball player in college. And you can't make the argument that Steph had better teammates in college while at Davidson compared to what Young has at OU.

[No-Man]

This is true, and it's one of the reasons why he's a far-cry from Steph.

Steph is a better off ball player obviously but that assessment isn't very fair. None of his teammates are playmakers in the slightest. Heck, who on his team can even dribble a basketball for more than 2 seconds with a defender on them? I didn't see many situations where I thought Young could have created an open shot for himself if he tried to curl around the defense. Just like every other game the past few months, they were draped all over Young and today his teammates clearly let him down with their inability to finish anything inside or hit great looks from three (1-11 behind the arc).

28-7-5 on 65% TS in his first tournament game ever at 19 years old while being double teamed the whole game and taking a clearly better URI team to OT but reading all the comments on social media, you would think he blew the game. The expectations for the kid are pretty crazy.

Steph was the far superior off ball player in college. And you can't make the argument that Steph had better teammates in college while at Davidson compared to what Young has at OU.

WAIT WHAT?

Of course I can, are you serious?

[yoyoboy]

This is true, and it's one of the reasons why he's a far-cry from Steph.

Steph is a better off ball player obviously but that assessment isn't very fair. None of his teammates are playmakers in the slightest. Heck, who on his team can even dribble a basketball for more than 2 seconds with a defender on them? I didn't see many situations where I thought Young could have created an open shot for himself if he tried to curl around the defense. Just like every other game the past few months, they were draped all over Young and today his teammates clearly let him down with their inability to finish anything inside or hit great looks from three (1-11 behind the arc).

28-7-5 on 65% TS in his first tournament game ever at 19 years old while being double teamed the whole game and taking a clearly better URI team to OT but reading all the comments on social media, you would think he blew the game. The expectations for the kid are pretty crazy.

Steph was the far superior off ball player in college. And you can't make the argument that Steph had better teammates in college while at Davidson compared to what Young has at OU.

I'm not comparing the two? I'm saying if you're going to criticize Young's ability to play off the ball, at least put it into context. Why are we comparing Young to a guy who turned into a top 2 player in the league instead of just looking at what Young has been able to do?

[clyde21]

Steph is a better off ball player obviously but that assessment isn't very fair. None of his teammates are playmakers in the slightest. Heck, who on his team can even dribble a basketball for more than 2 seconds with a defender on them? I didn't see many situations where I thought Young could have created an open shot for himself if he tried to curl around the defense. Just like every other game the past few months, they were draped all over Young and today his teammates clearly let him down with their inability to finish anything inside or hit great looks from three (1-11 behind the arc).

28-7-5 on 65% TS in his first tournament game ever at 19 years old while being double teamed the whole game and taking a clearly better URI team to OT but reading all the comments on social media, you would think he blew the game. The expectations for the kid are pretty crazy.

Steph was the far superior off ball player in college. And you can't make the argument that Steph had better teammates in college while at Davidson compared to what Young has at OU.

I'm not comparing the two? I'm saying if you're going to criticize Young's ability to play off the ball, at least put it into context. Why are we comparing Young to a guy who turned into a top 2 player in the league instead of just looking at what Young has been able to do?

Context considered...it's still an issue. If you're drafting Trae Young with Steph as the baseline/benchmark, this needs to be taken into account.