Trae Young

[bleachkit]

I really think this guy will get strong consideration in the 3-5 range in the draft. He is absolutely balling right now, putting up historic numbers. An iconic point guard can change a franchise. How would you guys feel if he were the pick?

[nathan2331]

I'd be upset, and hope he proves me wrong. I'm not convinced he's going to have the same impact in the NBA. I can't deny his shooting ability, but he doesn't look especially quick and from what I've seen he isn't the greatest finisher at the rim. I wasn't a believer in Curry either, but I really think it'd be a mistake drafting Young as high as we're hopefully picking.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'd rather have size with Ayton, but if we do draft PG, Dennis better get his house packed up.  Entering this draft, every single position on the team needs upgraded, so I wouldn't be terribly upset... until Ayton shows the NBA that he's Boogie without the technicals.  A center that can shoot threes fits Bud to a T.

[nathan2331]

I'd rather have size with Ayton, but if we do draft PG, Dennis better get his house packed up.  Entering this draft, every single position on the team needs upgraded, so I wouldn't be terribly upset... until Ayton shows the NBA that he's Boogie without the technicals.  A center that can shoot threes fits Bud to a T.

I don't see how anyone grades Young as a significantly better prospect than Ayton or Bagley or even Bamba, Porter Jr or Doncic. That's not to say he can't be your favorite prospect, but his upside isn't better than any of those guys. The fact we already have Schröder tells me we need to draft someone else. We're probably not going to get good value back for Schröder so why limit ourselves when we can get a big man. Good PGs are abundant in the NBA. Big men not so much.

[bleachkit]

55 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

2 hours ago, PSSSHHHRRR87 said:

I'd rather have size with Ayton, but if we do draft PG, Dennis better get his house packed up.  Entering this draft, every single position on the team needs upgraded, so I wouldn't be terribly upset... until Ayton shows the NBA that he's Boogie without the technicals.  A center that can shoot threes fits Bud to a T.

 

I don't see how anyone grades Young as a significantly better prospect than Ayton or Bagley or even Bamba, Porter Jr or Doncic. That's not to say he can't be your favorite prospect, but his upside isn't better than any of those guys. The fact we already have Schröder tells me we need to draft someone else. We're probably not going to get good value back for Schröder so why limit ourselves when we can get a big man. Good PGs are abundant in the NBA. Big men not so much.

I think the reason we cant get good value for Dennis is the same reason we are looking to trade him. Despite his talent, he is not a guy everyone else rallies around. I think on a good team he could be an excellent 6th man or scoring punch of the bench which is plenty valuable. I would only take young if we fall outside the top 4.

[Flight]

It would just depend on where we picked at. It’d be hard for me to pick Young over Ayton but he def has a strong case against anyone else. He’s definitely the type of PG that a lot of players want to play around. And he’s a “must-see” type of player to watch, which is only good for the team really. 

[hawkman]

22 minutes ago, Flight said:

It would just depend on where we picked at. It’d be hard for me to pick Young over Ayton but he def has a strong case against anyone else. He’s definitely the type of PG that a lot of players want to play around. And he’s a “must-see” type of player to watch, which is only good for the team really. 

Right now, my guy is Ayton as long as we have the #1 pick. Any pick under that, Young has to be given strong consideration because he's right there as one of the best players available from #2 on down. I'd grab him even though we already have Dennis. I don't see anything in Young's game that can't be fixed with strength training and coaching. The kid is electric and makes a very mediocre Oklahoma team fun to watch.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

2 hours ago, bleachkit said:

I think the reason we cant get good value for Dennis is the same reason we are looking to trade him. Despite his talent, he is not a guy everyone else rallies around. I think on a good team he could be an excellent 6th man or scoring punch of the bench which is plenty valuable. I would only take young if we fall outside the top 4.

Dennis's best role is sixth man.  Having Teague and Schröder was a big plus for us for a few years.

[Jody23]

On 1/11/2018 at 9:55 PM, bleachkit said:

I really think this guy will get strong consideration in the 3-5 range in the draft. He is absolutely balling right now, putting up historic numbers. An iconic point guard can change a franchise. How would you guys feel if he were the pick?

I would fully support that pick and I think teams will regret it if they pass on him.  The same way we regretted passing on Chris Paul.  People over think things a lot.  His skill level and ability on offense is ridiculous.  Some guys in the NBA don't have his skill level.  And people think he's not quick?  I don't know what they're looking at.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Jody23

[DBac]

He's just a game changer on offense. Even when he's struggling, Oklahoma is still a really strong offensive team because of his presence. And those players around him are mostly horrible... he should average even more assists but they can't make layups.

He does tend to force some tough shots/passes at times though, whoever gets him is gonna have to manage reigning him in without killing what makes him special.

[Guard]

Big fan. 

[hawkman]

This kid is a #1 pick. We don't really need a PG, but can we afford to pass on a potential superstar because we already have Dennis? I still think Ayton is the ideal pick for the Hawks at #1 but I wouldn't even be upset if we ended up with Trae. ATL needs this type of flash and excitement on the court. 

[Jody23]

2 hours ago, hawkman said:

This kid is a #1 pick. We don't really need a PG, but can we afford to pass on a potential superstar because we already have Dennis? I still think Ayton is the ideal pick for the Hawks at #1 but I wouldn't even be upset if we ended up with Trae. ATL needs this type of flash and excitement on the court. 

Something I think about is can we draft a player that has the kind of game that will attract other players to come play with him.  To me, Trae Young is that guy moreso than anyone else in this draft.

[hawkman]

Just now, Jody23 said:

Something I think about is can we draft a player that has the kind of game that will attract other players to come play with him.  To me, Trae Young is that guy moreso than anyone else in this draft.

I agree. The next franchise cornerstone has to be the type of player that makes other quality players want to play with him. Right now, Young looks like that type of player. But I still like Ayton, Bagley, and even Doncic despite some of my posts about Doncic. But Young is the one prospect that I think will bring the casual fan to games. I hope Porter comes back healthy and at full strength because he was the other prospect that I thought would bring some excitement back to this franchise.

[Jody23]

9 minutes ago, hawkman said:

I agree. The next franchise cornerstone has to be the type of player that makes other quality players want to play with him. Right now, Young looks like that type of player. But I still like Ayton, Bagley, and even Doncic despite some of my posts about Doncic. But Young is the one prospect that I think will bring the casual fan to games. I hope Porter comes back healthy and at full strength because he was the other prospect that I thought would bring some excitement back to this franchise.

I like the other guys also.  But with the game becoming more guard oriented and with so much emphasis on shooting and playmaking, I have Young ahead of everyone else at this point.  I think if Porter were healthy, this might be different.  That kid is really talented and people are forgetting it because he's hurt.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Jody23

[hawkman]

2 minutes ago, Jody23 said:

I like the other guys also.  But with the game becoming more guard oriented and with so much emphasis on shooting and playmaking, I have Young ahead of everyone else at this point.  I think if Porter we're healthy, this might be different.  That kid is really talented and people are forgetting it because he's hurt.

That can be an advantage for the Hawks. If we have the #1-#3 pick and trade down, we could end up with him and possibly another Lottery pick. I liked Porter before the back injury, but that's a risk I wouldn't be willing to take unless he fully recovers and plays a few games for Missouri and shows that he can be the player he was. I really want the Hawks to get this one right because I think this Draft may contain the franchise cornerstone the Hawks have not had since 'Nique. They can't afford to screw this up this time.

[AHF]

33 minutes ago, Jody23 said:

Something I think about is can we draft a player that has the kind of game that will attract other players to come play with him.  To me, Trae Young is that guy moreso than anyone else in this draft.

As a UK fan, I'll raise one consideration there.  He ended up passing on UK because he didn't want to share the ball with the other recruits and wanted a system that ran entirely through him.  When Calipari wouldn't promise that, he went to a team with nobody who could even be close to an alpha.  It would be an interesting turn if he didn't want that again in the NBA.  That may be fine but I worry a bit about Maravich syndrome.  At least Young is winning pretty big in college.

[hawkman]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

As a UK fan, I'll raise one consideration there.  He ended up passing on UK because he didn't want to share the ball with the other recruits and wanted a system that ran entirely through him.  When Calipari wouldn't promise that, he went to a team with nobody who could even be close to an alpha.  It would be an interesting turn if he didn't want that again in the NBA.  That may be fine but I worry a bit about Maravich syndrome.  At least Young is winning pretty big in college.

That's good to know. He won't have the type of freedom he has right now when he's with an NBA franchise, at least not early on. The turnovers and the long threes early in the shot clock won't fly in the NBA. As long as he can be coached I'm fine with drafting him because he still needs some refinement to his game. If not, forget about it. There's too much talent out there to choose from to deal with someone who thinks they are already where they need to be. 

[Jody23]

13 minutes ago, AHF said:

As a UK fan, I'll raise one consideration there.  He ended up passing on UK because he didn't want to share the ball with the other recruits and wanted a system that ran entirely through him.  When Calipari wouldn't promise that, he went to a team with nobody who could even be close to an alpha.  It would be an interesting turn if he didn't want that again in the NBA.  That may be fine but I worry a bit about Maravich syndrome.  At least Young is winning pretty big in college.

I vaguely recall Calipari saying something about this in a post game interview recently, but that doesn't really bother me.  I've not seen him to be an overly selfish player.

[Jody23]