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.
More from Soaring Down South
- Start, Bench, Cut: Sorting through the Hawks’ power forward options
- Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic reacts to earning FIBA World Cup championship bid
- When does training camp start for the Atlanta Hawks?
- Grade the trade: Hawks deal Trae Young to Clippers in shocking proposal
- Dejounte Murray rips NBA 2K after Atlanta Hawks ratings reveal
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.
Trae Young & Stephen Curry
As has been stated before, Young started off a tad slowly last season before rounding into form as the season progressed – even going so far as to be lauded as the greatest rookie in Atlanta Hawks franchise history.
How do their numbers compare following their respective rookie seasons? Let’s take a look at Curry’s rookie year (2009-10) compared to Young’s,
Per Basketball Reference, Young best Steph in points per game (19.1), assists per game (8.1), and most volume-based stats (field goal attempts, three-point attempts, etc.).
Young also produced a higher player efficiency rating (a flawed stat, to be sure) and tied Curry’s 1.8 offensive box plus/minus in their first respective seasons.
It also must be noted that Young produced more scoring on a per-game basis than Curry did while playing more than 5 minutes less per game than Curry did during the 2009-10 season (36.2 minutes per game for Steph vs. 30.9 minutes per game for Trae). Coaches and players weren’t as focused on rest and “load management” as they are in today’s NBA, so Young’s impressive scoring output in less minutes should be celebrated.
Of course, Young was also not as efficient as Curry was scoring the ball in their respective rookie years.
Curry’s rookie season came ready-made with his trademark flawless three-ball, and Young’s jumper never truly came around – despite a ton of hype surrounding it during the pre-draft process. Steph shot a remarkable 43.7 percent from deep in his rookie year, while Young toiled away with a final mark of 32.4 percent from downtown.
However, the two players shot nearly identically from two-point range with nearly identical per-game attempts from two: Curry shot 47.4 percent on 9.5 two-pointers per game while Young shot 47.7 percent on 9.6 twos per game.
Young & Curry Conclusions
It must be said that rookie seasons rarely translate to what an NBA player will be throughout his career, though it might serve as at least a vague indicator of what to expect from players.
For example, Curry’s rookie season saw him play a ton of minutes for his team per Basketball Reference, but his 21.8 percent usage rate paled in comparison to Young’s usage rate in his rookie campaign of 28.4 percent, which was just outside the Top 20 for last season.
That 21.8 percent usage remains Curry’s lowest of his career, and the two-time MVP has logged usage rates above 30 percent for the past four seasons.
Perhaps the most notable disparity between the two guards is Curry’s automatic outside jumper, which has continued unabated to this day. Curry is clearly the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history, and Young could not even scrape past 33 percent in his rookie season.
Were Young’s striking displays of three-point histrionics in college simply a flash in the pan, or will his jumper come around as his career progresses?
The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
However, if Young continues to attempt those deep three-pointers at high volume, odds are good that those shooting numbers will come up.
Just for context, Young shot over 100 more three-pointers than Curry did in his rookie year (482 to 380) on a higher three-point attempt rate (38.4% to 33.2%) – showcasing the three-pointer-obsessed nature of the NBA that Curry helped instigate earlier this decade.
Kevin Huerter & Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson’s rookie year of 2011-12 laid the blueprint for today’s three-and-D archetype, though it must be noted that his advanced defensive numbers pale in comparison to his offensive contributions for the Warriors.
Thompson was a high-usage maven in his final few years in college, and that on-ball ability translated immediately in his rookie season. Thompson’s 24.7 percent usage rate was 9 percent higher than Kevin Huerter’s 15.7 percent usage rate.
Beyond that, though, the two players’ advanced statistical numbers according to Basketball Reference are almost identical: True shooting percentage (Klay’s 54.5% vs. Huerter’s 53.3%), defensive rebound rate (Huerter’s 9.7% vs. Thompson’s 9.6%), assist rate (Huerter’s 14.5% vs. Thompson’s 14.2%) are all within a few percentage points of one another as are steal rate, block rate and total rebound rate.
Notably, Huerter actually played more total minutes and minutes per game than Thompson did in the strike-shortened 2011-12 season, yet Thompson was able to use his innate scoring ability to produce more points per game in less minutes than Huerter (12.5 PPG vs. 9.7 PPG).
Much like Young & Curry, though, Huerter attempted over 80 more three-pointers than Thompson did total on a sky-high 53.7 three-point attempt rate (compared to Thompson’s 37.3 percent clip in that category).
Huerter & Thompson Conclusions, Overall Thoughts
Though Thompson’s brilliant three-point shooting could certainly be one direction Red Pepper takes his career for the Atlanta Hawks, Huerter already seems to be a more well-rounded player than Thompson is.
A simple gander at both players’ BBall Index numbers showcases the fact that Huerter’s impressive all-around impact on the Atlanta Hawks might surpass Thompson’s waning defense sooner rather than later.
Though Huerter’s offensive player impact plus/minus of 0.2 was less than Thompson’s 0.9, Huerter ranked higher in defensive player impact plus/minus (-0.6 vs. -1.7) as well as overall player impact plus/minus (-0.2 vs. -0.8).
If Huerter is able to become more of a threat off the dribble next season as well as become more of a lockdown defender, the Atlanta Hawks might’ve uncovered a diamond in the rough at #19 overall – and a player that might be a more useful addition to the Hawks’ team construct than anyone could have foreseen.
There you have it. Though it’s early days in the careers of Trae Young and Kevin Huerter on the Atlanta Hawks, both players have started off strong and compare favorably to their oft-stated superstar-alikes in Steph and Klay.
Of course, if either Hawks’ rookie truly lives up to that potential, the Atlanta Hawks can look forward to multiple NBA Finals appearances and championships in the near future. A fan can dream, right?