While the season may not be over, let’s evaluate and put a grade on each Atlanta Hawks player this season starting with… Trae Young.
Trae Young is the driving force behind everything the Atlanta Hawks are trying to do on the offensive side of the ball. He is their leading scorer and their best playmaker but despite all he adds to the Hawks offense, he gives a lot of it back on defense.
Many will grade Trae Young’s season in regards to how well he stacks up to Luka Doncic due to the fact that they are perpetually tied together due to their draft-night trade for each other. However, that’s not fair to Trae or Luka, so I will be grading Trae Young solely based on his performance individually and his impact on the Atlanta Hawks.
Trae Young is without a doubt one of the best point guards in the NBA, he was voted a starter in the All-Star game for a reason. Even if people believe that Trae didn’t deserve to be a starter, the fact that he has such a big fan base among young NBA fans speaks to his impact on the league and that should be taken into account when evaluating Trae Young.
It is stated all the time that the NBA is a business and the fact that Trae Young is attracting a lot of young fans to the league is good for the business. It’s similar to the impact that Stephen Curry had and still has in the league.
In terms of his actual on-court impact, it’s simply incredible. This season Trae Young averaged 29.6 points (tied for 3rd in the NBA), 9.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game on shooting splits of .437/.361/.860. Trae Young putting up these types of numbers in just his second NBA season should not go unnoticed.
Trae’s impact on the offensive side of the ball goes far beyond his gaudy points and assist numbers. Trae Young is incredible at getting his teammates in the right position, orchestrating the offense, controlling the pace of the game and getting his teammates the ball when and where they need it. These are all things that don’t show up in the box score.
As I mentioned, despite his incredible offensive impact, Trae Young gives a lot back on the defensive side of the floor. Trae Young’s game, especially on defense, has been picked apart enough so I don’t want to focus too much on the negatives in his game, especially considering the fact that the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.
Even though Trae is clearly one of the worst defenders in the entire NBA, he more than makes up for it on the offensive end of the floor. According to FiveThirtyEight, Trae Young has a defensive plus-minus of -3.7 which is one of the worst in the NBA, however, he also has an offensive plus-minus of +6.1 which is one of the best in the NBA. Giving him a +2.4 net rating… a solid number.
As shown, Trae Young performed tremendously this season for the Atlanta Hawks but unfortunately, his individual brilliance has yet to translate to any team success. And while the blame for the Hawks lack of success shouldn’t fall solely on Trae Young, some of it should.
Trae Young is surrounded by an immense amount of talent, and while that talent is young, it better translate to wins soon or there will be questions for the team’s leader.
The most encouraging part about this season is that it’s Trae Young’s first All-Star season and he’s only going to get better. He obviously needs to make some major improvements on the defensive end but it will be interesting to see how much further he can take his offensive game.
Overall, I think Trae Young had an excellent season and his performance should be encouraging for all Atlanta Hawks fans.