Trae Young is Nique for this generation...

[Sothron]

...and I could not be happier.

We have waited since Nique was traded to the Clippers for a true, honest to God MUST SEE TV superstar.

That, my friends, is a long ass time ago. We're talking in that time period if you had a kid then or were a kid then you've grown up and out of the house with your own kids by now.

Trae Young is an unreal. He can score one point in an entire half, shrug  his tiny shoulders, and go back out there in the second half and put up almost thirty in a half. And in between those points he runs the offense gets double digit assists and literally forces the opposing team to change their defense just to stop one small guard.

I haven't felt like THIS GUY IS MUST SEE TV since Nique was here. We can argue all day and night about what does superstar mean. It comes down to me to two things: can you see that guy as the best player on a championship team and is he truly BIG TICKET. Like, if you had a chance to go watch him  you would cancel your plans and get there.

That is what Trae Young is for us. He isn't a dunker. He isn't blocking shots or getting steals. He just hits shots like a mad bomber and passes off the rock like Nash 2.0. If you could combine Curry's shooting and Nash's passing you get Trae  Young.

And he is OURS Hawks fans. Enjoy every game you get to see from him. Trust me as one of the old timers here. You rarely get the true superstar in you lifetime on your favorite team. Enjoy it.

[High5]

One man's Acie Law is another man's Nique. 

[Spud2nique]

42 minutes ago, Sothron said:

We're talking in that time period if you had a kid then or were a kid then you've grown up and out of the house with your own kids by now.

Wow you did all that? I had some Cheetos...  

I agree, it’s like a 10 year version of me watching Trae in 1986 right now. He is the face no doubt. 
 

A lot of youngsters like ourselves are becoming Hawks fan all around the world right about now. And like you said, he’s ours! it.

[RedDawg#8]

Trae has too much sauce to be compared to Nash.

Trae is like this generations Isiah Thomas (the 80’s IT).

Besides having similar stature, passing and scoring ability, they both have gamesmanship, competitiveness and a clutch gene about them.

And to top it off, they both get widely disrespected by the larger community. Isiah always gets forgotten about when talking about all time greats due to his reputation, and Trae typically gets over shadowed by the poster boy in Dallas. 

Plus, Isiah means more to the culture and pop culture of his time similar to Trae now. Like, Trae has more street cred in his bum ankle than Nash and Curry combined. 

Isiah is slightly more explosive as an athlete where Trae is more explosive as a shooter are the only differences between them in my eyes

[Duff_Man]

I had to miss the game last night and I feel bad about it. Looks like Trae was a phenom. Looks like all the kids were.

[NBASupes]

I always compared him to Nash/Lillard/Zeke

[TheNorthCydeRises]

49 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Trae has too much sauce to be compared to Nash.

Trae is like this generations Isiah Thomas (the 80’s IT).

Besides having similar stature, passing and scoring ability, they both have gamesmanship, competitiveness and a clutch gene about them.

And to top it off, they both get widely disrespected by the larger community. Isiah always gets forgotten about when talking about all time greats due to his reputation, and Trae typically gets over shadowed by the poster boy in Dallas. 

Plus, Isiah means more to the culture and pop culture of his time similar to Trae now. Like, Trae has more street cred in his bum ankle than Nash and Curry combined. 

Isiah is slightly more explosive as an athlete where Trae is more explosive as a shooter are the only differences between them in my eyes

 

Isiah Thomas would be my comparison as well. I came to that conclusion after the Chicago game last year in which he scored 49 points.  While he hit some amazing shots that game, it was the tough shots that he made that sold me on the Thomas comparison. 

Trae is a TOUGH DUDE.  He's already mastered how to draw contact out on the perimeter to draw fouls.  He's not afraid to go to the basket and take a hit.   He actually seeks out contact at times ( ala James Harden ), so that if he misses a shot, he knows he has a good shot at going to the FT line.

When you look at the period between Nique and Trae, the only legit offensive All-Stars we've had here, are Steve Smith and Joe Johnson.  Both of those guys could be considered "finesse" guards who could get any shot they wanted, but never went in full attack mode to impose their will on their opponent.   Smitty attacked a little more than JJ, but shot a lower percentage.  JJ, on the other hand, relied on his floater so much, that it prevented him from scoring at the FT line.  And because Smitty and JJ were NOT elite level athletes, they used their size to shoot over people, instead of go through, around, and over people.

Trae has no choice but to go around people.  And if he has to take a bump to score, so be it.

The scary thing about Trae, is that he hasn't even been developed yet as an off the ball scorer, mainly because we don't have a bigger guard that can handle and pass.  The closest thing we have right now, are Bembry and Cam.  If either one of them can become good enough to run the offense, while also being able to find Trae away from the ball, Trae becomes even better.

LOL . . and he's only 20.  How will Trae's overall game look when he's 23?   25?   28?

After 30 years, we finally have a legit face of the franchise that will not only make multiple All-Star games ( hopefully ), put the Hawks in the minds of NBA fans as one of the teams that you MUST watch, make enough exciting plays to keep fans in the seats in Atlanta, but also put us in the conversation of winning the East, and possibly an NBA title IF we can get that 2nd high level All-Star.

I don't expect him to play at this level for the entire year.  If he DOES though, we're making the playoffs, and he's going to get MVP votes.

Edited November 6, 2019 by TheNorthCydeRises

[Thomas]

Trae is easily within the brilliant category at this point. Vision is the best in the game now, is clutch, handles getting bumped and doubled and then low and behold he can actually play some defense. A first year entry HOF kinda player.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

41 minutes ago, Duff_Man said:

I had to miss the game last night and I feel bad about it. Looks like Trae was a phenom. Looks like all the kids were.

No problem sir.

 

[Dejay]

A lot of us elder folks have been waiting for moments like this dating back to when Nique was doing the impossible at the old Omni over a quarter-century ago. I'm going to echo what a lot of us already know; we finally have our superstar.

What Trae Young is doing is something we didn't see in the 60-win campaign, Steve Smith's heyday, or even when Joe Johnson, Osh Smith, and the gang had it cooking. He's making this franchise relevant to the casual basketball fans who aren't exactly hardwired to root for or against a certain team. That goes a long way, especially in a transient town like this one where folks need a better reason to pay $$$ for tickets, concessions, and parking other than just to watch (insert NBA star here) run roughshod over the local product. 

When was the last time this team was regarded as 'must see TV' by NBA pundits from coast to coast? Folks are actually having real regret about missing Hawk games, either live or at home. Even fans and analysts of other teams are looking at the Hawks now and no longer laughing at the prospect of an easy win. Instead, they're looking with some real dread of 1) just how many points and assists is Trae going to hang on them, 2) do they have enough firepower to offset things if he goes hibachi-mode in the clutch, and 3) who is going to be next contestant to be placed on the business end of a highlight clip (I'm pretty sure Lamarcus Aldridge isn't looking at his Twitter feed right about now). 

Trae is going to make a lot of folks richer in this town. For instance, if I'm Jabari Parker's agent, I'm doing cartwheels and backflips in my living room right now from all of the much easier touches he's getting from being set up every night. Collins' agent was probably doing the same thing until that drug test came in. Once Reddish, Hunter, and Bruno start really getting it, oh boy. And one can only imagine the look on Tony Ressler's face every month when looking at the bottom line and the $$$ now pouring in from the additional merchandise and ticket sales. If they manage to keep this thing afloat until Collins get back and they are somehow in the playoff conversation (Lord knows no one would want to play them if they somehow made it), how do you not have Trae as an MVP candidate? And what free agent or player to be on the outs isn't dialing up Travis Schlenk's phone number as a result?

It's like I'm watching that Matrix movie all over again, when Neo started realizing who he was and started doing Neo things for the first time. The look on Morpheus's face said it all...

[JayBirdHawk]

I never got to see Nique live (my first ever NBA game was the game he was traded for frikkin Danny Manning )....it's a joy seeing Trae live.

If I listen real hard, I can still hear the roar of the crowd at The Farm from opening night when Trae hit that 3 to put us up 5.

It's must see TV and live!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

16 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I never got to see Nique live (my first ever NBA game was the game he was traded for frikkin Danny Manning )....it's a joy seeing Trae live.

If I listen real hard, I can still hear the roar of the crowd at The Farm from opening night when Trae hit that 3 to put us up 5.

It's must see TV and live!!!

Sorry the first part was just sad, hence my sad reaction, the second part is awesome !!!  

 

I know you’ve mentioned this before several times Bird but seriously, literally your first game was the one ☝ after Nique got traded? Ugh  

Edited November 6, 2019 by Spud2nique

[Marvin24Williams]

I’ve only been a Hawk fan since 2008 but I can definitely say he’s the first player to ever give me a superstar vibe, like someone you know you can trust to put the ball in the basket or make the right play when the the team needs it the most. No disrespect to guys like Joe Johnson, Millsap, Or Horford but none of them ever gave me that feeling

[JayBirdHawk]

8 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Sorry the first part was just sad, hence my sad reaction, the second part is awesome !!!  

 

I know you’ve mentioned this before several times Bird but seriously, literally your first game was the one ☝ after Nique got traded? Ugh  

Yep, took a bus from Savannah to Atlanta. I kept looking at the back of Mannings long head on the bench and giving him the squinty eye while just shaking my head.

[Dnice]

Well I saw him as a Magic at the dome,  don't feel too bad.

[NBASupes]

48 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I never got to see Nique live (my first ever NBA game was the game he was traded for frikkin Danny Manning )....it's a joy seeing Trae live.

If I listen real hard, I can still hear the roar of the crowd at The Farm from opening night when Trae hit that 3 to put us up 5.

It's must see TV and live!!!

My first Hawk game live: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199411050ATL.html

[Atlantaholic]

49 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

And those numbers would be better if he didn't exit the Heat game so early. Basically been at 30-10 all year. He's 21.

[Thomas]

18 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

My first Hawk game live: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199411050ATL.html

Hey guy, your twenty fifth anniversary was yesterday.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

Hey guy, your twenty fifth anniversary was yesterday.

You see everything don’t you?