An in-depth look at the Atlanta Hawks two star rookies of last season and how their first years compared to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors.
When the Atlanta Hawks drafted Trae Young and Kevin Huerter in the 2018 NBA Draft, the comparisons to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were immediate and prevalent.
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Seeing as Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk had been involved in the drafting of both of those Warriors stalwarts, the discussion surrounding the Hawks rookies and the Splash Brothers was not at all surprising.
Schlenk did little to dismiss that thought, and why he should he have? The Splash Bros. are among the most influential players in NBA history, seeing as their sprawl-ball, three-pointer-focused team structure has led to the entire NBA focusing more on perimeter creation rather than sluggish paint-based scoring.
While that has made offenses seem more turbo-charged than ever before, it has also led to some hyperbolic exclamations. For one thing, comparing two relatively untested rookies in Young and Huerter to two of the greatest shooters in NBA history seems a bit too swift of a proclamation.
Just how did each Atlanta Hawks rookie stack up to their Warriors counterpart in their first seasons?
Read on to discover the similarities – and differences – between these two duos in their rookie years.
First up, let’s compare Stephen Curry’s rookie season to Trae Young’s.