Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young sounding ‘alarm bells’, says analyst
An 8-5 record and sitting third in the Eastern Conference shouldn’t be a cause for concern especially after the Atlanta Hawks shook up their roster this offseason by trading for Dejounte Murray. That deal, which cost them Danilo Gallinari, as well as another costing them Kevin Huerter left them thin on floor-spacers.
Murray has been as advertised and then some as his fiery demeanor is a great addition to a mostly non-verbal group.
The combination of Murray and Trae Young has worked well too.
But, has it come at the expense of the latter? Young is coming off leading the NBA in total assists and total points last season. This year, he is still putting up impressive raw numbers and yet some are already close to pushing the panic button.
Could Trae Young’s inefficiency spell doom for the Atlanta Hawks?
“Putting up 27.9 points and 9.2 assists is patently ridiculous, and he has managed to up his volume at the charity stripe, where he’s shooting 92.5 percent,” highlights Dan Favale of Bleacher Report. “He’s shooting 43 percent at the rim, 40 percent from mid-range, and 30 percent from three—marks that pale in comparison to last year’s 59/47/39 split.”
Favale goes on to note a shift in Young’s game from taking threes to more shots “between four and fourteen feet”.
He also notes Young’s uptick in off-ball usage. But, despite handing Young a “C-” grade in his piece on the top under-25-year-old talent on each team, Favale suggests there could be other factors besides trying to play off-ball next to Murray.
One of those things has been separating the two.
“Lineups featuring Young without Murray are also getting annihilated,” Favale points out. “Dinging him for that feels off. The lift during those minutes is heavy. Bogdan Bogdanovic has yet to play this season, and head coach Nate McMillan has responded by tethering many of Young’s solo stints to both Holiday brothers.”
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Bogdanovic remains out and without a clear timetable to return as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery.
Atlanta’s 30-year-old swingman was a vital piece of the Hawks’ bench last season.
The Hawks are posting a plus-6.7 net rating when Young is on the floor with both Aaron and Justin Holiday, per Cleaning The Glass. But neither brother is the creator offensively that Bogdanovic is when fully healthy.
“Defaulting to a “C-” could seem cruel,” Favale admits. “Young’s output remains absurd, and he’s trying different things, within more confined spaces. But his efficiency dip, while not unexpected or entirely his own, is at least a hair more significant than you’d like.”
Young’s start is a bit disconcerting but it also figures to be just that.
In any of his four previous seasons, for example, he has shot at or above 34% from beyond the arc over the first 12 games just once – during the 2019-20 season. His subsequent seasons have been 26.5% in 2020-21, 33.3% in 2021-22, and this year’s middle ground mark of 30.4%.
That does not automatically mean he will start converting at the rim at a high rate, but it does provide suggest that slow starts could be somewhat of a norm for the electric All-Star guard.
Being paired with Bogdanovic once again will help for sure.
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But so will time as Young gets acclimated to the new season and his new teammates as the season wears on.