Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young Had a Promising Preseason

A quick recap of the preseason play of Trae Young, the Atlanta Hawks opening day point guard, and how he can carry over that momentum into the regular season.

At this point Atlanta Hawks fans are ready for the season. So too is Trae Young, the team’s new rookie point guard.

Trae Young had an interesting Summer League, then carried over that intriguing start to the preseason, where he had something of a coming-out party against the San Antonio Spurs, when he drilled a pull-up game-winner from near half-court – flashing superstar potential in the process.

With 5 games in the books, let’s take a look back at Trae’s preseason numbers (per NBA.com) and how those numbers can improve and impact his upcoming 2018-19 season.

In the preseason, Ice Trae was slightly inconsistent in some areas, but his offensive skills in particular are already at an exceptionally high level. For one thing, Young already seems as if he is a more skilled operator in the pick-and-roll than his predecessor Dennis Schröder, who would often get tunnel vision he hurtled towards the basket.

Trae Young, on the other hand, immediately looks like an expert at making the right choice in the p-n-r, even he might get his shot swatted mightily on occasion (it happens).

In 5 games played, Trae Young put forth the following per-game averages: 15 PPG, 5.4 APG, 2 RPG and 1.2 SPG. He did all this in only 24.5 MPG, so his per-36 numbers will likely look stellar when Young plays more minutes in the regular season.

Beyond that, Young’s plus/minus of +4.4 was 4th on the team, and he also led the Atlanta Hawks in field goals attempts per game (13.2) and three-point attempts per game (5.4). Both Young’s scoring averages and assist averages led the Hawks, and the 20-year-old point guard shot 37 percent from deep and 81 percent from the free throw line.

All of these are positive signs from the preseason. In the San Antonio game in particular, Young seemed to be fully in control of the game, as he scored 7 of the team’s final 10 points – including that magical game-winner.

With all eyes on Ice Trae, the returns from preseason make it clear that the NBA stage is not too big for him. No matter what, the 2018-19 season will be a fascinating one for Young and the Atlanta Hawks in general.