Season to date: Trae Young or Luka?

parsnips33 · Post #1 » by **parsnips33** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:36 pm

Who's been better SO FAR this season? Always interesting to compare these guys given what happened on draft night.

Colbinii · Post #2 » by **Colbinii** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 6:47 pm

Its Trae Young and it isn't close this year.

parsnips33 · Post #3 » by **parsnips33** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 9:50 pm

Colbinii wrote:Its Trae Young and it isn't close this year.

Does this affect how you see them going forward? Seems like consensus opinion before this year would be Luka > Trae

Colbinii · Post #4 » by **Colbinii** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:24 pm

parsnips33 wrote:
Colbinii wrote:Its Trae Young and it isn't close this year.

Does this affect how you see them going forward? Seems like consensus opinion before this year would be Luka > Trae

Yes.

Trae has been a top 5 offensive player this season and is continuing to build on his talented skill-set. Most importantly, his skill-set and box-score is resulting in impressive impact.

Luka still has plenty of opportunity to enter into the top 5 player in NBA discussions and still has a clearer path to the upper echelon of players compared to Trae.

I'm expecting this to be closer to a Jordan-Hakeem draft rather than a LeBron-Carmelo comparison, which is not how I had the comparison after year 2.

jalengreen · Post #5 » by **jalengreen** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 12:40 am

Offensively it's Trae by a very significant margin. Trae is still a liability on defense though, huge gap there. Luka isn't a particularly good defender either ofc but I wouldn't call him a liability like Trae, who's one of the worst defenders in the league.

Overall it's Trae so far this season. I'd still take Luka for the future, though.I think Trae's 3pt shooting will be interesting to watch. It has taken a leap this season (he's at 38.3% this season, 34.3% in career otherwise) which will be a big point in his favor if he sustains it.

Post #6 » by **GeorgeMarcus** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:01 am

Agree that it's comfortably Trae at this point. As far as my longterm outlook is concerned, it's close as hell but I'd still take Luka

SNPA · Post #7 » by **SNPA** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:01 am

Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

falcolombardi · Post #8 » by **falcolombardi** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:06 am

SNPA wrote:Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

the hakws got relentlessly mocked in some circles for letting luka go, it calmed down after hawks great playoffs run and trae showing how good he was

Post #9 » by **Texas Chuck** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:12 am

SNPA wrote:Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

I think you know why. But also seems irrelevant to the OP who afaik isn't some huge Trae mark.

As to the OP, the answer can only be Trae.

SNPA · Post #10 » by **SNPA** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:26 am

Texas Chuck wrote:
SNPA wrote:Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

I think you know why. But also seems irrelevant to the OP who afaik isn't some huge Trae mark.

As to the OP, the answer can only be Trae.

No. I don’t. It was obvious then that Luka was better, it’s obvious now. This constant comparison looking for some angle is getting old. Sure, there are somethings Trae is better at. But barring injury or Luka going full Zion at the buffet this comparison was over before it began. We’re talking one guy heading towards ATG and another hoping to move up from fringe all star. It’s really not that close.

LukaTheGOAT · Post #11 » by **LukaTheGOAT** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:59 am

Trae has been top 3 offensively this year.

HIs O-RAPTOR is tied for #2 with Steph

His O-EPM is #3, just 0.1 behind Steph

He is #3 in O-LEBRON

He is #2 in Backpicks OBPM.

I think we all know who is #1 in these stats...

The massive culprit for his improvement has been the massive jump from 3 while also shooting 47% from the midrange. Also, I don't know if this deserves extra credit or not, but he has the ball in his hands more than anyone else per the stat offensive load, so him shouldering such a heavy offensive load and being so efficient with what he does is pretty incredible.

Trae has been better this season. But per my name, I still am taking Luka long-term without a 2nd thought.

Colbinii · Post #12 » by **Colbinii** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 6:12 am

SNPA wrote:
Texas Chuck wrote:
SNPA wrote:Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

I think you know why. But also seems irrelevant to the OP who afaik isn't some huge Trae mark.

As to the OP, the answer can only be Trae.

No. I don’t. It was obvious then that Luka was better, it’s obvious now. This constant comparison looking for some angle is getting old. Sure, there are somethings Trae is better at. But barring injury or Luka going full Zion at the buffet this comparison was over before it began. We’re talking one guy heading towards ATG and another hoping to move up from fringe all star. It’s really not that close.

If you think Trae Young is a fringe all-star then you haven't been watching the NBA this season.

He has been [arguably] the 2nd best guard in the NBA behind Curry this season.

GSP · Post #13 » by **GSP** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:08 am

Wow I didn't realize how pedestrian Lukas numbers were this season.....

SNPA · Post #14 » by **SNPA** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:37 pm

Colbinii wrote:
SNPA wrote:
Texas Chuck wrote:
I think you know why. But also seems irrelevant to the OP who afaik isn't some huge Trae mark.

As to the OP, the answer can only be Trae.

No. I don’t. It was obvious then that Luka was better, it’s obvious now. This constant comparison looking for some angle is getting old. Sure, there are somethings Trae is better at. But barring injury or Luka going full Zion at the buffet this comparison was over before it began. We’re talking one guy heading towards ATG and another hoping to move up from fringe all star. It’s really not that close.

If you think Trae Young is a fringe all-star then you haven't been watching the NBA this season.

He has been [arguably] the 2nd best guard in the NBA behind Curry this season.

I think defense counts. I also don’t watch the Hawks. But trying to move from fringe to perennial all star is exactly where Trae is at.

Post #15 » by **Texas Chuck** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:44 pm

SNPA wrote:
Colbinii wrote:
SNPA wrote:No. I don’t. It was obvious then that Luka was better, it’s obvious now. This constant comparison looking for some angle is getting old. Sure, there are somethings Trae is better at. But barring injury or Luka going full Zion at the buffet this comparison was over before it began. We’re talking one guy heading towards ATG and another hoping to move up from fringe all star. It’s really not that close.

If you think Trae Young is a fringe all-star then you haven't been watching the NBA this season.

He has been [arguably] the 2nd best guard in the NBA behind Curry this season.

I think defense counts. I also don’t watch the Hawks. But trying to move from fringe to perennial all star is exactly where Trae is at.

I mean they are each in their 4th year. Perennial isn't really a thing for either of them yet, though I expect both of them to be fixtures for years.

And defense does count. And in the previous 3 years that's been a pretty clear edge for Luka despite him not being a particularly good defender either. Trae's been tragic. But Luka's defense this year has been awful. Dallas is one of the best defensive teams in the league with Luka off the court. With him on, they are terrible.

I fully expect Luka to have a significantly better career than Trae. But for 25 games of this year, Trae has been better.

Laimbeer · Post #16 » by **Laimbeer** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 4:02 pm

Texas Chuck wrote:
I fully expect Luka to have a significantly better career than Trae. But for 25 games of this year, Trae has been better.

I used to feel the same, but Trae's development and Luka's issues make me hedge a bit, anyway. I'd go with "likely".

kio80 · Post #17 » by **kio80** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 4:37 pm

I appreciate both players and I am glad to have them both in this era, I hope they are gonna be like Bird and Magic of our times

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dr Positivity · Post #18 » by **Dr Positivity** » Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:22 pm

SNPA wrote:
Texas Chuck wrote:
SNPA wrote:Why Trae fans need this constant Luka comparison?

I think you know why. But also seems irrelevant to the OP who afaik isn't some huge Trae mark.

As to the OP, the answer can only be Trae.

No. I don’t. It was obvious then that Luka was better, it’s obvious now. This constant comparison looking for some angle is getting old. Sure, there are somethings Trae is better at. But barring injury or Luka going full Zion at the buffet this comparison was over before it began. We’re talking one guy heading towards ATG and another hoping to move up from fringe all star. It’s really not that close.

Is he though?

I thought last season was a normal "stall" season for Doncic, it's happened in the past for players like Durant in 2011 or Harden in 2014 both of which I expected more from coming into the season. However normally the year after they get their revenge. This was the year for Doncic to take over the league so going the other way is pretty concerning to me.