The Atlanta Hawks made a decision back in 2018 that they wanted Trae Young as their franchise point guard. They traded back to pick five, in the process giving up the rights to Luka Doncic who was taken with the third pick. When the Slovenian first hit the court, a lot of NBA pundits believed the Hawks made a mistake.
Doncic has become a triple-double machine, collecting 34 in his two and a half seasons so far. He is averaging 25.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in his young career. When he gets started, Doncic is incredibly difficult to stop.
Conversely, Young has only had three triple-doubles and is averaging 24.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. Like Doncic, when Young gets going, he is incredibly difficult to stop.
Why the Atlanta Hawks made the right call.
Doncic, as mentioned earlier, is a triple-double machine. However, he has only taken the Dallas Mavericks to the playoffs once in two seasons. This was only after they added Kristaps Porzingis to help Doncic out.
While playoffs are not always the measuring stick for success when a player has been in the league for two full seasons. The Mavericks took an aggressive step forward with Porzingis, also getting Tim Hardaway in the trade.
The Hawks waited a little longer to make their moves, getting Clint Capela last season and then Danilo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic this season amongst others. What they are doing is building a team around Young that is going to be competitive for a number of seasons and his play is going to lead them as a team, rather than the individual brilliance of Doncic.
The Dallas Mavericks are doing good things with Luka Doncic in the lineup
The Mavericks are sitting in 10th position in the league this season. They are doing it on the back of Doncic doing Doncic things. He is one of only two players who are averaging over 20 points per game. The other is Porzingis, showing that they are reliant on their big two.
The proof of this is that Doncic has missed five games and in those games, the Mavericks are 1-4 which shows a reliance on their superstar. This is a dangerous position for the franchise to be in as if he has a long-term injury the Mavericks are going to be in trouble.
As it is the Mavericks are making hay while the sun shines, including watching Doncic make huge game-winning shots on a regular basis. The Mavericks are so reliant on Doncic that if he scores under 20 points, which he has done on five occasions this season, the Mavericks are 2-3.
In the 19 games where Doncic has scored 30 points or more the Mavericks have a 12-7 record, showing how important he is to the team. One negative is that when Doncic has 13 or more assists, the Mavericks are 2-5 which is concerning.
The Atlanta Hawks are building around Trae Young
The Hawks have taken a long-term approach to build this team around Young. An example of this is Young is not rebounding the basketball at the same level as Doncic. This is because he has Capela, John Collins, and Gallinari who are all pulling down boards.
A true example of how Young is the superstar of the team but is not crucial for their chances is that he has also missed five games this season. The Hawks are 3-2 in those games which shows that the Hawks are dangerous when he is in the lineup, but when he can’t play, the team is solid.
When Young is on fire the Hawks are also impossible to stop. When he scores 32 points or more in a game this season the Hawks have a 12-0 record In all of the games, Young had a negative impact on the box score in only one game.
In the 14 games where Young gets 12 assists or more, the Hawks are 7-7 which is showing that he is so busy and creative. Young is doing his job, he is third in the NBA for assists per game, and 17th in the league for scoring.
Young does not need to worry about rebounds or blocks because he has Capela taking care of both of those, being first in the league in rebounds and third in blocked shots. Gallinari is also near the top of the league in free-throw percentage. The rest of the team is doing their job which is a much more sustainable model than reliance on a superstar.
The Atlanta Hawks also picked up Cam Reddish
The Hawks also managed to get a 2019 first-round pick in this trade. They selected Cam Reddish with the 10th pick which had the impact of adding depth to the Hawks roster. While he has been out for a long period with injury, he adds so much to the team.
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He is one of the best on-ball defenders on the squad who can play multiple positions. His versatility can cause problems for opposition teams. At the beginning of the season, Reddish was the starting shooting guard, his defense getting him the nod over his teammates.
However, due to injury, he lost the spot to Kevin Huerter and now Bogdanovic who is on a tear since coming back from injury. When Reddish is able to return to the lineup, he will come off the bench which will cause problems for the opposition.
He was struggling at the start of the season with his shooting but this is not going to be as much of an issue now that Gallinari is responding so well to the role he is being given by Nate McMillan and also now that instant offense, Lou Williams, has changed the second unit.
If you look at the sensational work and numbers of Doncic it is very easy to think the Hawks made a mistake with this trade. However, if you look at what the Hawks are building around Young, they have made a very savvy move which will benefit them for the future as well as now.