We watched Trae Young’s Hawks play nine games over the last two weeks. Young himself played three games each in Utah and Las Vegas, had a fourth in Vegas in which he hurt his quad and played only nine minutes and sat for Atlanta’s final two games for rest.
The final output: 15.1 points per game on 30.3 percent shooting, 27.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line, 5.7 assists and 3.7 turnovers per game.
Taking into account all the necessary precautions about summer league — and the need to avoid overreacting to the numbers posted there — it’s still fair to say that Young’s overall performance was underwhelming. This was the de facto No. 3 pick, after all, the guy whom the Hawks traded away Slovenian star Luka Doncic to acquire.
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Hawks fans should not be in a panic, though. Not yet. But as one scout told Sporting News, “With Trae, I saw a lot to worry about. Some good things, for sure. But a lot to worry about.”
A pair of talent evaluators, one from the West and one from the East, spoke with SN about what they saw from different aspects of Young’s game this summer.
Shooting
Young was terrible in Utah, shooting 3-for-24 from the 3-point line and 12-for-52 from the field. That improved (12-for-32 from the 3-point line, 18-for-47 from the field) when the Hawks moved on to Las Vegas, but Young still had his struggles finishing shots in the paint and was only so-so from the arc.
East scout: “I like the shot release. I like the ability to get a little space and get that shot off. That’s something we know he has. But I worry about his ability to finish in the paint. When he gets into the lane and breaks down a defense, he wants to pass. He has to be able to scare defenses into thinking he can make the floater or the layup in there, and he does not have that yet.
“A guy like Steph Curry makes 3s, but he also kills you with that one-hander in the lane. Trae needs that shot.”
West scout: “I don’t know why teams send young shooters to the Utah summer thing. That arena has the toughest sight lines, the toughest rims — it’s not a good place for a guy trying to make an impression with his shooting. I would not have let that be the start of Trae’s summer. You could tell it wore on him. But I like the fact that he bounced back in Vegas and was much more himself.”
Playmaking
Young averaged 8.7 assists at Oklahoma, but he had a penchant for turnovers, too (5.2 per game). That comes with the kind of defenses he saw, but he will need to take better care of the ball in the NBA.
East scout: “He has such terrific vision. He sees the floor very, very well. His ability to make full-court passes, to catch defenses napping — to me that is the foundation of his game, more than his scoring. If they put good shooters around him, and I like the Omari Spellman pick for this reason, he is going to create a lot of open shots for his teammates.”
West scout: “He was forcing things too much, and that might be the fact that he was trying to make an impression. But he forced too many passes into places where there was not enough room. I don’t think that will be a long-term problem, but he has to get to know his personnel, of course.
“If you are throwing a pocket pass to a big guy in the lane, you have to know whether the guy has the hands to catch and finish. He seems to think everyone out there has Jerry Rice’s hands. But he will learn his teammates’ strengths and weaknesses.”
Pick-and-roll
Summer league tends to be heavy on pick-and-roll, as teams’ offensive playbooks are very limited. Young was frequently operating out of the pick-and-roll, with varying degrees of success.
East scout: “He is not an automatic when it comes to taking advantage of the mismatches after the switch. He would get a big guy on him and want to take a 3 too often. You can take a step-back 3 with a big guy on you, but you better make that shot.
“Obviously, he did not make many of them, and so he’s got to know that when his shot is not falling, drive the ball.”
West scout: “You know, I don’t expect that they will run a lot of pick-and-roll, even though I think they have pretty good personnel for it. Just look at (new head coach) Lloyd Pierce. He is coming from Philadelphia. They are not a pick-and-roll team (the Sixers ranked 30th in PNR frequency last season, at 10.8 percent of their plays). Travis Schlenk (the team’s GM) came from Golden State, and the Warriors don’t run pick-and-roll a whole lot (29th, at 10.9 percent).
“I think Trae can run the pick-and-roll, but he’d be much better in a ball-movement offense like in Philly or in Golden State. I am not sure how he runs the play is going to matter.”
Defense
Young’s defense was one of the main concerns about his game heading into the NBA Draft, and summer league did not do much to contain that concern.
East scout: “They’re going to give up a ton of points in Atlanta. I mean, you can get by Trae even with a pretty soft screen. He just never had to learn to fight through those, and I did not see anything to make me think he has made great strides on that.
“You’d better have a shot-blocker behind him, and they could lean on Dewayne Dedmon. And if you are going to have John Collins and Omari Spellman up front, neither is a great defensive player, and they’re going to be in trouble on that end.”
West scout: “I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t show anything great defensively this summer, but he will need to get into a system and learn it and do his job. They’re not going to ask him to do too much on that end.
“We talked to him during pre-draft (the Chicago combine in May), and he told us straight up that he was not a good defender at Oklahoma last year because he was not asked to be. So, he could get better there, or at least not be a huge negative.”