What to Expect From Trae Young in His Rookie Season

A deep dive on what to expect from the Atlanta Hawks point guard of the future: The one and only Trae Young.

As fans, I think we may all set expectations a little too high for the guys on our team because we want to see them succeed. For 2018-19 Atlanta Hawks fans, however, we need to be patient with this young team and especially with our young point guard Trae Young.

Trae Young did plenty in the Summer League to get fans excited about what’s to come in his rookie campaign and in his career with the Atlanta Hawks, but also showed plenty of reasons why some people doubt that he will live up to the lofty expectations the Hawks set for him when they took him number five overall.

With a season coming up in which the Hawks were chosen to win the lowest number of games in the NBA, it should take some pressure off of Young to not be expected to win games early in his career. That being said, the Hawks still gave up their chance to draft Luka Doncic number three overall who is said to be almost as sure of a thing the draft has ever seen.

Though expectations for a top 5 pick should always be decently high, Hawks fans need to give Trae Young some time to adapt and grow throughout the season before they decide to tag him with the “bust” title. This is an extremely young team that would’ve struggled mightily with whomever the Hawks selected with the third overall pick in this year’s draft.

Trae Young seems to be a perfect fit with the other personnel already on the Atlanta Hawks roster in John Collins, Taurean Prince, and Kent Bazemore. Young is an excellent passer that spaces the floor and can knock down deep threes and also penetrate the lane and get to the basket and free throw line with relative ease. Young’s foul-drawing ability, even at the tender age of 19, is already extremely advanced.

In a recent prediction, Young was given almost no chance to win the NBA Rookie Of The Year Award which seems surprising to me. He is the number one option at point guard on a young team that isn’t worried much about winning. He will get a ton of playing time, a ton of freedom and is surrounded by young and athletic players that will all benefit from having Young feeding them the ball. I believe he has a better chance to put up big numbers than a lot of people think.

I predict Young to struggle a bit early in the season, but grow and get better and better as the season goes on — much like he did in this year’s Summer League. He’s probably not going to go out there and average 20 points and 10 assists, but a stat line up 15 points and 7 assists is something that is plausible and would be a great rookie campaign for any rookie point guard.

Young will struggle this year, as all rookies do. He will also show flashes of why he was a top 5 pick, as most lottery picks do. Trae Young’s career will not be defined by how his rookie season goes. The fifth overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft has been the subject of a lot of criticism and hate from all over, but he has just kept his head low and worked hard — as evidenced by a recent pickup game that featured numerous current and future NBA luminaries:

My season prediction for Trae Young is for him to silence doubters and alongside John Collins, give Atlanta’s basketball franchise the superstar they’ve been waiting for. This Atlanta Hawks team will be extremely exciting to watch and a team that looks to be on the upswing when they have at least two first round picks in the 2019 NBA draft.

Young’s been an underdog his whole life, he’s been doubted his whole life, and he has always proved doubters wrong. What makes you believe that something is going to stop him now?  As fans of the team, all there is to do now is support the young point guard, and if you don’t, Trae Young and his good friend Michael Porter Jr. want you to “keep that same energy.”