The Hawks Should Trade Trae Young
The Hawks won’t do this but there is an obvious solution to the Trae Young problem. Recent reports have indicated that Young could try to force his way out of Atlanta if the Hawks do not improve soon. Instead of trying to fight an unwinnable war, the Hawks should cut their losses now and move on.
A: This is your fault. You got stuck with Markelle Fultz instead of Jayson Tatum. You got stuck with Jabari Smith instead of Paolo Banchero. You got stuck with Ricky Rubio instead of Steph Curry. You got stuck with RJ Barrett instead of Ja Morant.
Are you starting to see my point now?
Acknowledge you botched it and move on. Luka Doncic is the star of that draft class and you got stuck with a nice bronze medal. It stinks and everybody saw it coming but now we know there is no more room for interpretation. Doncic is the guy that can build a championship team. Young is the guy that can sneak into the playoffs a bunch of times and sell jerseys. It sucks but you got it wrong. Don’t lie to yourself. It will only delay the inevitable.
B: This is peak value. Young is 24 years old. Under team control for four more seasons after this one. Every team in the league could potentially be interested in Young. Hanging on to Young to hope he becomes less of a prick at 27 isn’t a good solution. Historically speaking, teams don’t trade All-Stars at this age. There is no reason you couldn’t land a monster trade haul back based on his age and production.
C: Nobody will agree with me on this but I’m just telling you this right now. You can choose to listen to me now or learn the hard way. Young isn’t a Westbrook caliber cancer but he’s very much in the cancer club.
You will never build a championship winner around Trae Young. Find me the last small point guard that leads his team to titles? Don’t even dare to compare Young to Steph Curry because they’re not in the small galaxy in terms of ability.
There is no nuance to Young’s game. The simpletons watch him rack up 30 points a game and think that’s great. The simpletons watch Young pick up those cheap fouls in the regular season only to see the whistles dry up when the games really count. I’m not denying that there isn’t value in having a guy get to the free throw line. What I am telling you is that when the games really count, the future of Trae Young will look a lot like that Miami series. A small ball dominant point guard that needs foul calls to hang in games.
Speaking of ball dominant, I’m not sure anybody is worse than Young. Well, outside of when Westbrook was allowed to take the keys while drunk. The Hawks lead the NBA in pick and roll offense frequency. It feels like it’s essentially every single possession while Young is on the floor.
Only Morant runs more pick and rolls than Young does per game. In fact, it’s counted as 47.3% of Young’s total possessions. Not that there is anything wrong with the pick and roll. It’s just when you’re also carrying a 32.5% usage rate and three other players stand in the corner, you’re never going to take the step to the next level.
You can tell me how firing Nate McMillan is going to solve things. OR we can recognize that this is who he is. Is McMillan really the problem?
D: The Hawks have not been perfect in building this roster but some of this also isn’t their fault. At some point maybe we should just acknowledge that building a real title winner around Young is an impossible task. If you REALLY think about it, haven’t the Hawks done everything that he’s asked?
They traded for Dejounte Murray to bring higher-level defense to the guard position. It was also supposed to bring another ball handler to the equation. The truth of the matter is, Trae Young, refuses to adapt so they constantly have to stagger minutes. Murray and Young never play together unless it’s to start and close a game. Other than that, it’s a very CP3 / James Harden approach.
When your two best players are an imperfect fit when they share the floor, isn’t it time to look in the mirror?
Think about how whacked out this roster already is to try to play toward Young’s strengths. Anybody else other than Minnesota building their team around two twin towers? Who else was willing to give up first round picks for Clint Capela? Again, yes, Young is great in the pick and roll and he needs those lob threats to be successful. At the same breath, the Hawks have poured a ton of resources into Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, and John Collins. Three guys that can’t shoot in a shooters league. Oh, and someone I was told that Kevin Huerter was a bad fit on the Hawks. He seems to be doing pretty well in Sacramento…
E: Speaking of shooting, isn’t it time to just acknowledge that maybe Young isn’t in the elite class? Young is shooting 31.6% from three point range this season. I do believe Young is a better shooter than those numbers indicate. However, when you force up 21 shots a game not including the ones that get him to the line, there are a lot of ugly 35 footers that never have a chance getting forced up on a nightly basis. If Young had any interest playing off the ball, he would shoot better. Except we already know that won’t happen because he’s a selfish player.
F: We don’t need to go too far down this road. We know he’s a travesty defensively and the Hawks have actually done a good job of trying to put good defenders around him. The Hawks rank 12th in defensive rating which should be considered a miracle with Young on the roster. In 2019, the Hawks were 28th in that category. Again, the front office has not been perfect but you can actually make the argument that they have done their job. It’s still not close to good enough.
We can keep doing this song and dance but the fact remains that this Hawks team will never be good enough to actually compete. Stop banging your head against the wall and acknowledge the truth. Trade Trae Young now before it’s too late. It’s actually not a terrible roster. You can get seven or eight pieces back to build the next title team. Something that won’t happen with Young on this roster. Let someone else deal with this problem while cashing in while you still can. The ball is in your court, Hawks.
