The Curious Case of Trae Young at Utah Summer League

After three games of relatively low-quality basketball, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks came out looking… less than spectacular.

Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk put all his eggs in Young’s basket, believing that teams were silly to pass on a player who projected to be the next Stephen Curry.

Young’s collegiate brilliance has been well reported, but again, just for clarity, he was the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in both scoring (27.4) and assists (8.7).

None of that offensive prowess was on display in the Utah Summer League, as he finished the three games with a final field goal percentage of 23 – going 12 of 52 from the field, and an alarming 3 of 24 from deep (12%). Yikes.

Despite all of that negativity, there was room for Hawks fans to be optimistic.

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Young showed an innate ability to get his shot from distance, and it was not as if his shot looked bad. Mostly, it was as if Trae was rusty, which is quite believable considering he hasn’t played a competitive game since March 15^th, when his Oklahoma Sooners took Rhode Island to overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to that, Young’s passing ability was just as excellent as advertised. Not only did Young make the right pass on almost every occasion, he was zinging difficult passes all over the court – passing players open at times with his excellent court vision and tremendous feel.

Even if Young’s shot is not for real (to be clear, 3 games does not a sample size make), his passing will still make him an important player for Atlanta going forward. The only reason Trae’s passing numbers look muted is because the Hawks Utah Summer League team was not full of Kyle Korver or J.J. Redick-level shooters.

In fact, Young sent a lot of crisp, purposeful passes to wide-open shooters who proceeded to brick their shots horribly. But Trae was finding them, which means that his passing ability is for real and something the Hawks should take heart from going forward. Peep this glorious alley-oop to future teammate Antonius Cleveland for evidence:

Since his shot from distance was not falling, Young showcased a solid ability to get the rim as well. He made multiple difficult reverse layups, as defenders were all over him in the lane trying to prove their worth against a highly touted Top 5 draft pick.

It must be noted that Young was rarely deterred by length or athleticism and all of his shooting and scoring concerns can be chalked up to a rather derivative and reductive phrase: His shots simply were not falling.

Though that’s a dangerous road to tread, good shooters and scorer are not going to score all the time – as decades’ worth of NBA statistics will tell us. Let’s give Trae more than three games before we toss him onto the Hawks scrap heap of failed draft picks (Shelden Williams anybody?).

In Atlanta’s final Utah Summer League game, Young got into a scrap with notoriously feisty (read: dirty) former Duke guard Grayson Allen. Trae did not back down, nor did he shy away from the situation. He was willing to give as good as he got from Grayson, which is another aspect that should give Hawks fans hope.

Young seems to be very strong mentally, and though his shot is seemingly not falling at this juncture, let’s give him all the time he needs.

Next: Ranking the Hawks 7 Best Young Assets

GM Travis Schlenk and the Hawks have made an investment in Young, so he’s here for the long haul. Give Trae some time to develop, learn the NBA game and perhaps pack on some more muscle. In time, perhaps he can indeed turn the Hawks into the Warriors of the East or, at the very least, TraeTL.