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

[Spud2nique]

I concur please vote 🗳 

 

[marco102]

Great article on why Trae should be considered for most improved in the Athletic.

https://theathletic.com/1953500/2020/07/27/trae-young-should-be-in-most-improved-player-conversation-plus-my-awards-ballot/?source=dailyemail 

Quote

Trae Young’s sophomoric leap wasn’t even foreseen by Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk, which is what he said in late April when asked if he predicted his star point guard’s rise in production from Year 1 to Year 2.

According to Synergy, Young was trapped on 99 pick-and-roll possessions this season, one fewer than James Harden, the leader in the category. Young finished averaging 0.94 points per possession in traps, and of the players with at least 30 such possessions, only Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard and Luka Doncic were more effective. Those numbers don’t account for Young’s ability to pass out of those situations and find the open man, which makes him even more dangerous because of his otherworldly vision. In his rookie season, Young turned the ball over 25 percent of the time in traps, but that dropped to 18 percent this season, which was the 15th best mark in the league.

Young was fouled on 14 percent of his shot attempts this season and finished in the 93rd percentile. A reminder that Young is one of the smallest and lightest players in the NBA. He had 37 3-shot fouls this season, which was up from 11 as a rookie. He finished in the 73rd percentile this season when he rejected screens, which was up from the 36th percentile in his rookie season, according to Synergy.

He has become one of the pre-eminent long-range shooters in the NBA. He made 36.5 percent of his 104 3-point attempts of more than 30 feet. Only Lillard made and attempted more. 

 

[Spud2nique]

Trae

 

 

[Spud2nique]

 

Can’t stop won’t stop ☝ 

[marco102]

 

[benhillboy]

11 hours ago, marco102 said:

 

I was a little more impressed with his passing as a rookie simply because he looked for his shot less.  Still, the threat of the the three is what provides his mates so much space when they blitz him from 30 feet out.  I love how he just refuses to pick up his dribble under pressure.  Scoring opportunities that seemed doomed all of a sudden turn into dunks what?

He’s such a mini-Magic.  I’ve never seen a guy who makes active defenders pay for using their arms.  He snaps off insanely accurate bounce passes at speeds even NBA players are like wtf.  Timing and touch downright comical.  I’m convinced he has an Intel microprocessing passing chip lodged in his egg.

Edited August 14, 2020 by benhillboy

[Spud2nique]

5 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I’m convinced he has an Intel microprocessing passing chip lodged in his egg.

 

[JayBirdHawk]

18 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I was a little more impressed with his passing as a rookie simply because he looked for his shot less.  

No Collins, injured Huerter and playing with 2 rookies had an effect on that.

[benhillboy]

On 8/14/2020 at 11:42 AM, JayBirdHawk said:

No Collins, injured Huerter and playing with 2 rookies had an effect on that.

True dat.  I just selfishly enjoy him dropping shiny dimes far more than scoring, elite floater notwithstanding.

[NBASupes]

On 8/14/2020 at 10:22 AM, benhillboy said:

I was a little more impressed with his passing as a rookie simply because he looked for his shot less.  Still, the threat of the the three is what provides his mates so much space when they blitz him from 30 feet out.  I love how he just refuses to pick up his dribble under pressure.  Scoring opportunities that seemed doomed all of a sudden turn into dunks what?

He’s such a mini-Magic.  I’ve never seen a guy who makes active defenders pay for using their arms.  He snaps off insanely accurate bounce passes at speeds even NBA players are like wtf.  Timing and touch downright comical.  I’m convinced he has an Intel microprocessing passing chip lodged in his egg.

I felt he was a much better passer in year 2. His natural PGing declined and I want to see him stop yoloing so much like Marbury Jr. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by NBASupes

[AHF]

13 hours ago, benhillboy said:

True dat.  I just selfishly enjoy him dropping shiny dimes far more than scoring, elite floater notwithstanding.

What I loved is that in a year when our roster depth was seriously challenged and Trae had to take on more of an offensive load, he massively improved his scoring efficiency at the same time that he increased his shot volume.

Marbury's age 21 season he was putting up a .519% TS%

Trae's age 21 season he was putting up a .595% TS%

Huge difference

[NBASupes]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

What I loved is that in a year when our roster depth was seriously challenged and Trae had to take on more of an offensive load, he massively improved his scoring efficiency at the same time that he increased his shot volume.

Marbury's age 21 season he was putting up a .519% TS%

Trae's age 21 season he was putting up a .595% TS%

Huge difference

We all know he is much better than Murbury. It's the style of play the two share in that they are heavily playmaking scoring guards who aren't keen to stick to the offense.

Just now, NBASupes said:

We all know he is much better than Murbury. It's the style of play the two share in that they are heavily playmaking scoring guards who aren't keen to stick to running the offense.

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by NBASupes

[AHF]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

We all know he is much better than Murbury. It's the style of play the two share in that they are heavily playmaking scoring guards who aren't keen to stick to the offense.

I have a healthy dislike for Marbury's game so I'll have to go to other players to draw comparisons as I see Trae as a budding star while I saw Marbury as the definition of empty stats.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Year #2. 

[kg01]

2 hours ago, AHF said:

I have a healthy dislike for Marbury's game so I'll have to go to other players to draw comparisons as I see Trae as a budding star while I saw Marbury as the definition of empty stats.

Ah well, they can't all be Antoine Walker, amirite?

22 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Year #2. 

As the unquestioned #1 option but some 7ft, non-defending "big" in Arizona  gets pub for getting carried by his teammate.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Yes Sir!

 

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Yes Sir!

 

Jesus she even copied my style of talkin yo. SHOOT THE B

[TheNorthCydeRises]

5 hours ago, AHF said:

I have a healthy dislike for Marbury's game so I'll have to go to other players to draw comparisons as I see Trae as a budding star while I saw Marbury as the definition of empty stats.

I personally disagree with the term "empty stats". It's an unfair title given to the guy who can obviously ball, but his team doesn't win.

Guys in those spots are forced to carry the offensive load because of the lack of talent around them. Then get dogged when the team doesn't win.

Because of this, Trae isn't in the Most Improved Player convo, which is ridiculous.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

Ah well, they can't all be Antoine Walker, amirite?

As the unquestioned #1 option but some 7ft, non-defending "big" in Arizona  gets pub for getting carried by his teammate.

Toine is Untouchable.  

*  Won an NCAA Championship as one of the leaders on a team that is on the short-list debate for greatest teams ever,

*  Made the playoffs numerous times in the NBA, 

*  Averaged 22 and 9 on an ECF team that actually won a few games in their series,

*  Then won an NBA championship in a supporting role as the #3 option on the Heat 

Marbury's only team that ever made it past the first round of the playoffs was when he was carrying Paul Pierce's bags and bringing donuts to the team meetings while averaging 11.0 mpg, 3.7 ppg on 30.3% FG%.  He was a deep bench reserve.  Prior to then, never won a series and half the time his teams got swept.  

He was no Dennis Scott. Heck, I bet Matt Geiger gives him **** about playing in the NBA Finals while Starbury tries to show off his hardware from China.

[AHF]

2 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I personally disagree with the term "empty stats". It's an unfair title given to the guy who can obviously ball, but his team doesn't win.

Guys in those spots are forced to carry the offensive load because of the lack of talent around them. Then get dogged when the team doesn't win.

Because of this, Trae isn't in the Most Improved Player convo, which is ridiculous.

I find the label fits with Marbury.  Every team that traded him went on to vastly improve.  Every team that traded for him ended up regretting it.  

For example, Minnesota had Marbury, All-Star Tom Guggliata, All-Star and eventual MVP Kevin Garnett.  He was never going to be the best player on a Minnesota team and didn't have to be.  They got rid of him and then went on not only to win 50 games the next season but averaged over 50 wins for the next 5 years.  They weren't a completely talent starved team.  They just decided he wasn't going to elevate the team.  (They were right, btw).  Improved from 25-25 .500 w% with Marbury to 50-32 .632 w%.

Maybe that was just a coincidence though.  Maybe Marbury wasn't 

NJ traded for him and went on to three garbage seasons watching him chuck the ball.  They season before they acquired him they went 43-39.  That was followed by seasons with Marbury winning 16, 31 and 26.  His last year they went 26-56 with the top 3 guys being Marbury, All-Star KMart, and Keith Van Horn.  The next season they went 52-30 and made the NBA finals.  Who were these mysterious top players?  Surely, their top 3 now included Shaq and Reggie Miller, right?  Nope.  Top 3 was Kidd, All-Star KMart, and Keith Van Horn.  I guess KMart and KVH suddenly transformed from being total lacks of talent to monster beasts who carried JKidd.  Definitely not the case that Kidd was much better and elevated the guys around him.  +26 game shift

Phoenix won 51 games.  Then traded for Marbury and won 36, 44 and 29 games the next 3 years.  He played with guys like Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion.  Garbage right?  Then the Suns traded Marbury to NY and went on to win 62 games the next season.  Guess who that team revolved around?  Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.  Made the WCF immediately.  Why?  They got a PG who elevated the players around him.  +33 game shift.

You can keep going but surely you see he played with talented players and never elevated them, right?  Surely you see the common denominator in these teams.  These weren't situations where Marbury was traded away and MJ was added to the team along with some PG who got carried.  

So I agree that "empty stats" can be used to unfairly dump on a player but here I really believe this was someone who played the game the wrong way and it showed.