Atlanta Hawks: 3 takeaways from the pummelling of the Philadelphia 76ers

Atlanta Hawks key No. 3) An unselfishly selfish Trae Young is huge.

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When Young is playing his best he is selfish when he is going to the hoop. He is looking to score for himself as it will help the team. Let me be clear when I say he is being selfish I am not saying it in a bad way. Without this mindset, he is unable to unlock the rest of the Hawks’ offense.

Teams start to look at ways of stopping Young from getting to the hoop or shooting the long ball. This is when the unselfish play of Young comes out because he is able to set up his teammates in really good positions to score.

It is this ability to get the opposition defenses guessing which makes Young so effective and is one of the most difficult balances that a superstar point guard needs to manage. If he is too selfish then the rest of the team is not able to be effective. Too unselfish and his scoring is neutralized.

Against the 76ers Young had the balance perfect. He had 26 points and eight assists in under 26 minutes. The offense was humming and the 76ers did not have the ability to shut any player down, such is the ability of Young to score and then find the better shot for a teammate.