Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young is the Offensive Fulcrum Atlanta Needs
By Chris Guest
Pace/Drives to Rim
According to Basketball Reference, the Atlanta Hawks are currently playing at a breakneck pace that leads the league – an average of 104.3 possessions per 48 minutes.
Much of that speed comes from the swift decision-making and underrated speed of Young. Though former Hawks point guard Dennis Schröder was renowned for his straight line drives and incredible top speed, if you actually watched him play, he did not really bring the ball up all that quickly or make the offensive move crisply through sets.
Young is the exact opposite. NBA.com claims that Young’s average speed overall is 4.42 MPH in a given game, which is 8th among all players that are logging at least 29 minutes a game. However, his average speed on the offensive end is even higher at 5.02 MPH – behind only catch-and-shoot specialists Buddy Hield and Joe Harris, who get a lot of their offensive via off-ball movement.
That is not the case with Trae, as almost all of his movement comes via driving the ball into the paint – surrounded by a sea of slinky defenders.
Ice Trae is 4th in the NBA among qualified players in drives per game at 16.8, and he trails only notable rim attackers James Harden, DeMar Derozan and Russell Westbrook (whose team Trae and the Hawks recently dispatched with panache). Among those players, Trae has some of the best passing numbers.