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

[Spud2nique]

Superstar

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

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Reggie Miller heard the boos, the chants, the taunts inside Madison Square Garden and they weren’t directed at him this time. When Miller stepped out from the tunnel and onto the floor for Game 5 of last season’s Hawks-Knicks playoff matchup, New York fans were already cursing in unison Trae Young’s name — “f*** Trae Young! f*** Trae Young!”

The hairs on Miller’s arms rose. Nearly 30 years ago, his name had bounced off the hallowed arena’s walls. This time a rail-thin, uber-confident, trash-talking point guard was drawing the ire of a tortured Knicks fan base that hadn’t seen a postseason series in eight long years.

“Trae is built like me — just six or seven inches shorter,” Miller said while laughing and reminiscing on his Hall of Fame career with the Pacers. “He has broad shoulders where we feel like not only can we carry our team, but we are going to battle 20,000 fans, too. That’s the mentality you have to have when you enter The Garden.

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In the Hawks’ ensuing run to the Eastern Conference finals, the team took on Young’s identity. No one believed in the Hawks. They weren’t predicted to defeat the Knicks in the first round. They certainly weren’t predicted to get past the Sixers in the second round. Many thought teams were going to take advantage of Young’s deficiencies on defense. That didn’t happen. The Hawks were fearless and resilient, even when they had to make monumental comebacks against Philadelphia on the road.

“When you’re in your first playoffs — if you were at Madison Square Garden for Game 1 and what the fans were doing and acting towards him throughout the series, Philly as well, I haven’t seen it that way,” Hawks owner Tony Ressler said. “He didn’t blink. I don’t believe you teach that. I think that’s a gift from another place. He didn’t blink and I think our team was a great beneficiary of that.”

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Westbrook taught Young from an early age that everyone who’s wearing a different color jersey than his is an enemy. That goes for former teammates, real-life friends, fans, it doesn’t matter. For those 48 minutes on the floor, the only people who you should care about are those on the same bench as you. When the Hawks played the Nets two weeks ago, Young and Durant were called for double technicals for getting in each other’s faces. It didn’t matter that Durant had sponsored Young’s AAU team or that Trae has known him since he was 10. Young plays like it’s him against the world.

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Miller worked last season’s Eastern Conference finals for TNT, and when he had the chance to speak with Young, he gave him advice on how to deal with this position.

“The gist of it was not everyone can wear the white hat,” Miller said. “There have to be guys that wear the black hat. You have to be able to embrace that and understand that. They are booing you, and why they are saying these things about you is because they respect your game. They are afraid of your game. That was what I was telling him. Don’t worry about what people say or what they do. That’s all about respect. When they stop chanting your name and stop talking about you, something is wrong.”

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Trae is holding up his end of the deal as the offensive engine. I need the defenders to defend, the 3 point shooters to up their percentages, the rebounders to rebound.

 

[marco102]

[Atlantaholic]

2 minutes ago, marco102 said:

You can tell Knicks fans love him. Hating him is the most fun they've had all year. 

[marco102]

Just now, Atlantaholic said:

You can tell Knicks fans love him. Hating him is there most fun they've had all year. 

Yeah when Trae told them to calm down at the end of the first,  they were all smiling and yucking it up.

[JayBirdHawk]

7 minutes ago, marco102 said:

This is GOAT Fan interaction stuff, my word. LOLOLOL

[marco102]

Very good read. 

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This is a snapshot of Trae Young's production to start his career

In that picture, there are zero All NBA seasons. Not a single team in any of the years. That's feels pretty wrong. I started to think about how in 20 years history probably won't remember Trae Young for how good he truly was, simply because he for some reason keeps getting boned when it comes to this stuff. For most players in the league, if they come off a playoff run like Trae had in 2021, where you could make the case they make the NBA Finals had he not gotten hurt, and then they back it up with 28.2/3.8/9.5 on 45/38% with 3.0 3PM a night, they are usually stamped and certified. They are pretty much a shoe in for All NBA. Happens all the time. 

Yet this season it's pretty damn likely that Trae will once again be snubbed and overlooked. You're telling me a 29.6/9.3 season in 2019-20 isn't All NBA worthy? That's insane to me. But back to this season. Guess how many players are averaging at least 28.2/3.8/9.5 on the season at the point guard position?

Trae Young. That's it. 

That's the entire list in the whole league. You hear a lot about how stacked that position is this year, well I don't see 6 other players putting up that sort of production. Let's look at this another way

This is Luka. A no doubt about it, surefire First Team All NBA player this year. If you can't agree with that I dunno what to tell you. Luka is that dude. So I see how Trae compares to that this year and I'm to believe he's not worthy of any All NBA spot? He's producing at a very similar level to someone who is a lock for First Team All NBA. But if you look around the internet/listen to podcasts/etc about All NBA at the guard spot, you hear these names: Luka, Steph, Ja, CP3, DeRozan, Mitchell, Booker etc. 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by marco102

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Atlantaholic]

I agree Trae gets disrespected a lot. Players like Booker and DeRozan never get called out for their shitty defense but it's the first thing anyone mentions when they talk about Trae. Probably because it's the only thing he struggles with. It's like someone is always looking for any reason to discredit him. Trae's production for a player his age has been historic. 

[Atlantaholic]

Trae leads the NBA in points, assists, assist %, ranks third in offensive win shares and fourth in offensive box plus minus. 

[NBASupes]

14 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

I agree Trae gets disrespected a lot. Players like Booker and DeRozan never get called out for their shitty defense but it's the first thing anyone mentions when they talk about Trae. Probably because it's the only thing he struggles with. It's like someone is always looking for any reason to discredit him. Trae's production for a player his age has been historic. 

They always get called out for their defense and yes, based on Trae overall level of play on that end this year, he deserves to get called WOAT on that end. 

What I see with Trae is that he doesn't get the love he deserves for being a rare once in a generation offensive player that he is. 

[Diesel]

20 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

I agree Trae gets disrespected a lot. Players like Booker and DeRozan never get called out for their shitty defense but it's the first thing anyone mentions when they talk about Trae. Probably because it's the only thing he struggles with. It's like someone is always looking for any reason to discredit him. Trae's production for a player his age has been historic. 

I think it was ESPN talking about Ja Morant should get the nod for 1st team All NBA this season (as a guard).

I can't begin to name anything that Ja does better than Trae...  Nothing. 

If Trae is not on the all NBA team somewhere, it's the biggest disrespect given... He's one of the top 6 guards for sure. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:31 PM, marco102 said:

Yeah when Trae told them to calm down at the end of the first,  they were all smiling and yucking it up.

 

As much as they claim to hate Trae, if he were available, they'd all cut off their pinky toe to bring him to the Knicks.

This is why we need to construct the best team possible around him, so that he's a Hawk for life ( or at least the next 8 seasons ).

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, Diesel said:

I think it was ESPN talking about Ja Morant should get the nod for 1st team All NBA this season (as a guard).

I can't begin to name anything that Ja does better than Trae...  Nothing. 

If Trae is not on the all NBA team somewhere, it's the biggest disrespect given... He's one of the top 6 guards for sure. 

 

They're going to leave him off, because they'll use the Hawks record to do it.  Luckily he balled out in New York, so that may help him at least make 3rd team All-NBA.

These are your choices at guard.  Who are you going to leave off?   You can only choose ( 6 )

• Mitchell
• Booker
• Lavine
• Trae
• Ja
• Curry
• Luka
• CP3 
• Harden
• DeRozan ( if they did what they did in the All-Star game, and listed him as a guard . . despite Lavine being listed as guard as well )

 

Pick 6 . . . leave 4 off

[RedDawg#8]

11 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

They're going to leave him off, because they'll use the Hawks record to do it.  Luckily he balled out in New York, so that may help him at least make 3rd team All-NBA.

These are your choices at guard.  Who are you going to leave off?   You can only choose ( 6 )

• Mitchell
• Booker
• Lavine
• Trae
• Ja
• Curry
• Luka
• CP3 
• Harden
• DeRozan ( if they did what they did in the All-Star game, and listed him as a guard . . despite Lavine being listed as guard as well )

 

Pick 6 . . . leave 4 off

Ok, we all know that those guys are on teams with better records. That being said.

Lavine is the weakest link, Bulls don’t deserve 2 guys as they fall back to Earth and Derozon has been outplaying him all year. Traes numbers are better 

CP3, legacy pick, but he really hasn’t had that great of a season by his own standards. Trae’s numbers are better

Harden, Im penalizing him for faking an injury to be traded (again). Traes numbers are better

Those 3 were easy. The next group is where he will have to hope and pray

Donovan Mitchell, having another great year, nothing against him. Trae’s numbers are better, but I would not be if he gets a spot

Booker, Traes numbers are better, but Suns are best team in the West, which counts for something 

Curry, he has honestly fallen back to Earth after being MVP level to start the season. Traes numbers are simply better. But he (like CP3) will always get his legacy votes.

Derozen, he is falling back to Earth but built up such a strong season it will be hard to push him out. At least 1 Bull makes it and he is the one. Traes numbers are better tho.

Last group, going to be hard to jump them:

Ja, his name and team are all the rage right now. Trae’s numbers are better, but Memphis is winning the PR battle right now. 

Luka, his stats are eye popping as always. Dallas is playing good again. Luka will always get love over Trae.

 

My 6 no order

Ja, Luka, Curry, Derozen, Booker, Trae

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

41 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Derozen

....is not a guard. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

....is not a guard. 

I agree.  But you see that shit they tried to pull for the All-Stall ballot. They had him listed with the guards, instead of at forward.