Trae Young - The Man, The Viper, and The Prosecution aka The MVP aka Ice Trae

[marco102]

4 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Some Dude?...look closer @TheNorthCydeRises.....c'mon have another look.....get closer and closer. 

I didn't notice who the dude was.  @Spud2nique and @kg01  y'all are savages! 

[kg01]

46 minutes ago, marco102 said:

I didn't notice who the dude was.  @Spud2nique and @kg01  y'all are savages! 

Nah buddy, I deserve no credit.  That was a creation by some other folks.  I was just a consultant, which means I really did nothing at all.

[marco102]

It's not talked about alot, but Trae has been playing his ass off on the defensive side of the ball.  Great read and breakdown here. 

https://www.nba.com/news/hawks-knicks-game-4-analysis-trying-to-take-advantage-of-trae-young 

Quote

Trae Young is not a “two-way” star. He is, absolutely, one of the best offensive players in the world. And at the same time, he can be a defensive liability. In each of his three seasons in the league, the Atlanta Hawks have been much better offensively and much worse defensively with Young on the floor than they’ve been with him off the floor.

In their first round series with the Hawks, the New York Knicks have seen the good Trae Young, the one that picks apart defenses (even those that ranked in the top five in the regular season) in the pick-and-roll. Through four games, Young has averaged 27.5 points and 10.0 assists, with just 2.8 turnovers. But the Knicks haven’t been able to find the bad Trae Young, the one that can be picked on defensively.

In Game 4 on Sunday, the Knicks tried a little harder to exploit Young on their end of the floor. But they failed once again, and with Atlanta having its best offensive game of the series, the Hawks cruised to a 113-96 victory and took a 3-1 series lead.

Some success

The man that Young was guarding set 14 ball-screens on Sunday. That was as many as had been set by Young’s man through the first three games total (two in Game 1, six each in Games 2 and 3).

The first one produced a great result. Reggie Bullock set a transition “pistol” screen on the right sideline for RJ Barrett, who spun away from Young, collapsed the defense, and kicked out to Derrick Rose for a corner 3 (and got away with a push after the pass):

Late in the second quarter, the Knicks were able to get Young switched onto Rose, who took him into the paint and scored:

Not enough

Two possessions after that Rose corner 3, Young was called for a foul as Bullock went to set a screen for Rose. And after that foul, the Knicks got Young switched onto Julius Randle. But with Clint Capela leaving Taj Gibson under the basket to step up and prevent a Randle drive, the league’s Most Improved Player settled for a pull-up 19-footer.

Randle ranked second in the league with 463 pull-up 2-point attempts in the regular season. But his 41.9% on those shots ranked 30th among 35 players who attempted at least 200. A yield of 0.84 points per attempt is not good.

Bullock set more screens for Rose on the side of the floor (like the one that drew the switch above). But Young was able to blitz the screen, hold up Rose long enough for De’Andre Hunter to recover, and then hustle back before Bullock could launch a pick-and-pop 3 from the corner:

On the first possession of the third quarter, the Knicks had Bullock hand off to Randle. But Randle didn’t go at Young, who again held up the ball long enough for Hunter to recover. And since Rose had not spaced well enough, Bogdanovic was able to guard him and keep Bullock from getting open on the flare:

More spacing needed?

There are ways to make the Hawks pay for the strategy of having Young step out on those screens, hold up the ball for the initial defender to recover, and then scramble back to his man. But with the series returning to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Wednesday (7:30 ET, TNT), the Knicks have to make quicker decisions. It would help if the screener could roll into space and make plays in a 4-on-3 situation. Bullock doesn’t seem to be that guy, but maybe Alec Burks could handle the job?

Another issue is that Capela has been able to largely ignore Gibson and Nerlens Noel. So, if Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau wants to get crazy (his team is down 3-1), he could try playing Randle at the 5, something he’s done for just a minute and 13 seconds (at the end of the second quarter of Game 2) in this series.

The Hawks were also playing small (Danilo Gallinari at the 5) at that time, so the Knicks’ lineup was likely a reactionary thing, and we didn’t get to see how Atlanta would match up with their standard lineup construction. Back in January, the Knicks were a plus-11 in 10 minutes with Randle at the 5 in a game against the Hawks, but that was when they had Kevin Knox (their only versatile forward who can really unlock small-ball lineups) in the rotation.

The only team that’s had a worse offense than the Knicks in these playoffs is the one that’s already been eliminated. Desperate times do call for desperate measures and an elimination game is as desperate as times come in this league.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

7 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Some Dude?...look closer @TheNorthCydeRises.....c'mon have another look.....get closer and closer. 

 

LOL . . ridiculous.

LP gonna pop up in their dreams like Freddy Krueger.

[AHF]

10 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

You look good. If we somehow win the finals will your month be up? Seriously if we get far in the playoffs and your month is up you’re gonna have to ride with that avatar it’s great luck. If you don’t @hazer will gather the villagers. Hey, they’ve come after me before it’s no picnic.

If we win the finals, that thing can never come off, right?  I mean, that sounds legally binding to me.  

[Spud2nique]

38 minutes ago, AHF said:

If we win the finals, that thing can never come off, right?  I mean, that sounds legally binding to me.  

Indeed.  (I love the squawk emojis btw can’t get enough lol)

[terrell]

This is some funny shizz..lol

 

[benhillboy]

13 hours ago, marco102 said:

It's not talked about alot, but Trae has been playing his ass off on the defensive side of the ball.  Great read and breakdown here. 

https://www.nba.com/news/hawks-knicks-game-4-analysis-trying-to-take-advantage-of-trae-young 

 

Great vid.  I try to point out all of his standout plays during the game.  This was the crux of my gripes with him during regular season play: just put your body and energy on the line to prevent being a liability.  Clearly that isn’t a priority during the regular season for him (and that’s fine, it’s likely an agreement between GM, trainers, and coaches), but it clearly is in the playoffs.  
 

If he’s anywhere near a neutral defender it maximizes the transition opportunities and we see this team looking like a circus that coaches simply can’t find an answer for.  There’s clearly a playoff intensity on that end I admit I didn’t think we’d see, and I owe him an apology as if he cares. I can’t question his will to win anymore as he simply isn’t taking plays off and realizing how he can help standout defenders like Clint and Dre be even better through simple communication, footwork, and active arms.  I don’t even mind the couple three point fouls he’s committed as he’s had other close outs that have affected shots and lead to a Hawks board.  Nate has been a godsend for Trae, marrying a toughness and accountability element to his ridiculous skill set.
 

His next step is to post multi-steal games, drawing a few more offensive fouls, and more 7-8 rebound games which were common during his ROTY push.  

[benhillboy]

And have y’all noticed his misses from three are of a much higher quality than in the past?  We’ve seen a fair share of airballs, bricks, and rim grazes that have no chance of being offensive rebounded.  Now his shot is producing more high bounces off the rim that John and Clint can grab or tip, or long caroms that Dre, Bogi, and Kevin hunt down.  When you combine his efficiency from 30 feet (!), the possibility of John or Clint having a putback (and possibly And 1), and the possibility of Bogi or Kevin getting a wide open look as the defense scrambles results in an insanely high PPP sequence.

Clearly our marksmen have been getting more reps up in practice under Nate.

Edited May 31, 2021 by benhillboy

[AHF]

Just now, benhillboy said:

And have y’all noticed his misses from three are of a much higher quality than in the past?  We’ve seen a fair share of airballs, bricks, and rim grazes that have no chance of being offensive rebounded.  Now his shot is producing more high bounces off the rim that John and Clint can grab or tip, or long caroms that Dre, Bogi, and Kevin hunt down.  When you combine his efficiency from 30 feet (!), the possibility of John or Clint having a putback (and possibly And 1), and the possibility of Bogi or Kevin getting a wide open look as the defense scrambles results in an insanely high PPP sequence.

Clearly our marksmen have been getting more reps up in practice under Nate.

I think that might also be a product of the extra rest available for the playoffs.  He got a week to practice and rest before the playoffs started and then the playoffs are more spaced out than the regular season.  Fresher legs should mean more consistency in form.  

[GameTime]

 

[JayBirdHawk]

This is from a Knicks Fan and offers the best description of Trae's brilliance:

Quote

As a Knicks fan, I loved his moxie. For all he did on the court, I became a fan of his for the things he said in the post game off the court. Brash, played with attitude, shut us up, but was never disrespectful, even laughed off the F You chants, didn't make a big deal out of it like everybody else...knew where he was, and played up to it. Take your bow, you earned it. Hope he has a great series vs Simmons.

Trae Young doesn't play with arrogance, but earned confidence, it shows in his eloquent, insightful interviews. Never rooted for players before, but damn I like this kid. He's built to play in front of crowds, unlike others who get in their feelings about fan behavior. True Gladiator, made MSG feel like a Roman colliseum...imagine he played there....wish he was our point guard. I'll be rooting for him....well done.

 

[benhillboy]

Ugh why do I have ESPN on?  Here they are with the huge headline “The Next Curry?”  If you really break Trae down you’d see he’s his own man.  Love Steph to death but the passing gap is massive, same with off ball movement.  And Trae’s deep shots are more Dame-like.  Them people lazy man.

Edited June 3, 2021 by benhillboy

[HawkingAwesome]

7 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

Ugh why do I have ESPN on?  Here they are with the huge headline “The Next Curry?”  If you really break Trae down you’d see he’s his own man.  Love Steph to death but the passing gap is massive, same with off ball movement.  And Trae’s deep shots are more Dame-like.  Them people lazy man.

Hes a better nash 

Well minus the free throws

[benhillboy]

4 minutes ago, HawkingAwesome said:

Hes a better nash 

Well minus the free throws

Yeah definitely some Nash DNA.  He takes  and makes shots Nash wouldn’t dream of tho.  I can’t recall Nash abusing the floater either.

[HawkingAwesome]

Just now, benhillboy said:

Yeah definitely some Nash DNA.  He takes  and makes shots Nash wouldn’t dream of tho.  I can’t recall Nash abusing the floater either.

Trae also said nash is his favorite player or was not sure after the "thats not basketball" stuff, but yeah thats who hes playing as as a kid.

[HawkingAwesome]

 

[benhillboy]

They say the true mark of great player is stepping it up in the playoffs.  Trae posted a pedestrian offensive and defensive ratings combo of 117 to 116 this season (probably closer to 118 to 114 under Nate).  In more minutes versus a highly ranked defense he turbo-boosted it up to 120 to 110.  Just excellent.

[HawkingAwesome]

the trae young lore is getting epic he might just be the next game of thrones

[kg01]

5 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

They say the true mark of great player is stepping it up in the playoffs.  Trae posted a pedestrian offensive and defensive ratings combo of 117 to 116 this season (probably closer to 118 to 114 under Nate).  In more minutes versus a highly ranked defense he turbo-boosted it up to 120 to 110.  Just excellent.

"Yeahbut ... it was jus' the Nix.  They suck so them nimbers don't count." - Dumbarse BSPN guys/ladies