Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways from a 113-102 Downer in Charlotte

Trae’s Inside Game

We knew about the deep shooting, and we knew about his elite passing, but we didn’t know Trae Young’s inside scoring would be NBA-ready so quickly.

Knocked for his small frame coming out of college, most assumed he’d struggle adjusting to the size and speed of NBA interior defenders.

Instead, he’s turned it into one of his greatest skills at this level. Young is off to an historically good start for the Atlanta Hawks, and he’s done so by using his floater and a nifty underhand-scoop layup, all started with a lightning-fast first step.

Tonight especially he seemed to have a feel for the paint, making a couple nice moves inside for 2. It was a necessary change due to the fact that he was 0-7 from downtown tonight. Besides his 2 free throws, all 18 of his points came from within the 3-point line, and if you subtract his 7 misses from deep, he would’ve ended the night 8-for-12.

It’s encouraging that Young is already excelling in an area thought to be one of his downsides coming into the league.

Let’s just hope he makes some threes to go along with them, yeah?