Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young Named Eastern Conference Player of the Week

A quick note on Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks winning the first Player of the Week award for the 2019-20 season.

After a masterful two-game sample, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks has been named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week for the first week of the season. Young carried the Hawks to two wins against playoff teams last season, and he did so in virtuosic fashion.

Young’s numbers to start the year are patently absurd, as the 21-year-old point guard is averaging 38.5 points per game, 9 assists per game and 7 rebounds per game on a masterful 72.6 percent true shooting percentage with a whopping 38.8 percent usage rate.

The Hawks offense is pretty much: Let Trae Young do what he wants, and, you know what? It’s working wonders! Young’s 40.9 player efficiency rating would be the all-time highest mark if the season ended today, so naming him as the Player of the Week in the East was definitely the right choice.

Visibly, Ice Trae seems to be in better shape, and he looks to be stronger driving through contact as well as quicker with his dribble moves and darting in between and around defenders on his way to draw extra defenders to dime guys up or wiggle free for a patented floater in the lane.

Young certainly looks unstoppable on the offensive end, and his defense even looks improved after him being a complete turnstile in his rookie year. He is a brilliant basketball mind, so he should be able to leverage some of those smarts into making an impact play or two on the less glamorous end this season.

In the Western Conference, Karl-Anthony Towns (perhaps a future Hawk, hopefully) was named the Player of the Week after putting up 32 points per game, 13.3 rebounds per game, 5 assists per game, 3 steals per game and 2 blocks per game for an undefeated Wolves team.

Keep it locked to Soaring Down South for plenty more Atlanta Hawks news and updates as we start the season.