Trae

[Wretch]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I keep saying I'm not a fan of Nate's coaching style.  I'm also not saying I want him fired.  I don't want a coaching carousel.  But something has got to give.  We can't keep having these 4th quarter meltdowns. The predictability of the 'Nate' is killing this team.

I love his style and demeanor.  I don't like his offense and his rigid patterns...and you're right, something has to give.  Even if it's not Nate, we can't keep this level of inconsistency.  I know people don't like to hear this, but you can't play those kind of reindeer games with a player like Trae. 

2 hours ago, HawkItus said:

https://youtu.be/ztxCaPuPZJs

 

Trae and Doris 

Kid is special man...

[AHF]

Predictability of the Hawks was the single biggest flaw under Mike Woodson as well.  You can't run the same basic approach all game, every game without the ability to make important adjustments to keep the opponent off balance and exploit weaknesses.  

Quote

the your-turn-my-turn creation philosophy with Young and Murray feels positively pick-upish.

This might be my single biggest pet peeve with this year's offensive scheme.

[JayBirdHawk]

4 minutes ago, Wretch said:

I love his style and demeanor.  I don't like his offense and his rigid patterns...and you're right, something has to give.  Even if it's not Nate, we can't keep this level of inconsistency.  I know people don't like to hear this, but you can't play those kind of reindeer games with a player like Trae. 

Kid is special man...

No you can't and yes he is!

[JayBirdHawk]

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

 

[AHF]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

In the world we live in today, it would be a really bad idea to be too sick to attend practice but fine to go mingle with a crowd of people.  Agree with your take.

[Alf]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, AHF said:

In the world we live in today, it would be a really bad idea to be too sick to attend practice but fine to go mingle with a crowd of people.  Agree with your take.

Yes most definitely, will come off as very bad PR for him if he goes to these events. What will his excuse be for not practicing but attending these? I love Trae, but this would irk me I must admit.

[terrell]

52 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

 

Probably just embarrassed.. He wore KIng of New York sneakers and lost by 24.. smh

Edited December 8, 2022 by terrell

[Gray Mule]

How much power does Labron James have?

How much power does Trae Young have?

Inmates in charge.  Remember when Lloyd Pierce was here?  He left and "suddenly" everything seemed to improve a lot.  Now, we hear rumblings.  Trae may be unhappy.  What to do?

Trae's shooting has been kinda bad all season.  His % is way down.  Doesn't prove a thing.  He may miss tommorow night's game.  Doesn't prove anything.

I know nothing.  I can't prove anything at all.  All I can do is ponder on things.  I do know that this Hawk team is losing.  We have too many pieces missing.  Hopefully things improve.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

 

[JeffS17]

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Media did AI so dirty with this

[terrell]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This won't be a good look if he misses practice but attends these events later this evening.

 

 

Cant be any worse than wearing King of NY on your sneakers(Like he's MJ or Reggie Miller. 1 day after staying at home and pouting may I add) ....and then getting whooped by 24...  Trae is turning into a laughing stock this season..  He better get right.. And fast.. Trae Young you are not MJ. You won 2 playoff games there , and it was over 2 seasons ago.

I still cant believe he had the nerve to wear them with the way he's shooting the ball this season.. Hopefully this embarrassment brings him back down to earth.. 

[ShooterSays]

Okay, I was kind of whatever about him missing the game the other night after Nate’s unfair ultimatum.

But now we’re missing practice because you’re sick…BUT you’re doing events that same day???

It’s now become a trend and regardless of the circumstances…this is a bad look.

[Spud2nique]

7 minutes ago, ShooterSays said:

Okay, I was kind of whatever about him missing the game the other night after Nate’s unfair ultimatum.

But now we’re missing practice because you’re sick…BUT you’re doing events that same day???

It’s now become a trend and regardless of the circumstances…this is a bad look.

It’s the holidays.. kid prolly stressed out like the rest of us  

[Jdawgflow]

2 hours ago, JeffS17 said:

Media did AI so dirty with this

I don’t know if they did him dirty, it is probably my favorite presser of all time and has truly immortalized AI.  Even my wife who has no idea about basketball knows this quote!

[JTB]

Got Dammit Trae !

 

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, ShooterSays said:

 

But now we’re missing practice because you’re sick…BUT you’re doing events that same day???

Does anyone know with any certainty if he actually  attended either of these events?

[AHF]

8 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Does anyone know with any certainty if he actually  attended either of these events?

I don’t.

[Hawkmoor]

Lmao

[JeffS17]

Posting this article because I think it's good and outlines our fissues despite just above .500... Tagging @benhillboy cus I know he's always jonesing for those bootleg articles:

Hollinger: Trae Young can’t shoot straight, and that’s the Hawks’ biggest problem
By John Hollinger

So, uh … what’s the deal with Trae Young? And what’s going on with the Hawks?

For those of you who don’t follow the Atlanta Hawks closely, you might not have noticed anything wrong. At a surface level, Young appears to be having a similar year to his previous three seasons. He is averaging 27.2 points and 9.5 assists per game, similar to his averages of 28.4 and 9.7 a year ago. The Hawks, meanwhile, are 13-12 after 25 games, which is perhaps short of lofty internal expectations, but doesn’t track too far off where most people thought this team would be heading into the year.

Nonetheless, there is an impending sense that not all is well, and there are some good reasons for that. Suffice it to say, these are interesting times in Atlanta.

Young, of course, made news when he sat out last Friday’s win over Denver under curious circumstances, as detailed by our Shams Charania and Sam Amick, which then prompted an emphatic* pre-game statement by head coach Nate McMillan before Monday’s loss to Oklahoma City. As our Jeff Schultz noted, Young responded to the whole debacle with something less than elite leadership.

(*McMillan’s press conference dial is usually set at about 2 on a 1-to-10 scale. Very even-keeled, polite, measured and totally devoid of printable copy. By those standards, his marching to the podium on Monday and announcing “I have a statement!” was as if Stan Van Gundy or Doc Rivers showed up with a chainsaw).

Yet that incident may be the least of the Hawks’ problems. There is also the underlying story that things might seem much less dramatic if Young were simply making shots at his usual historic rate.

If he’s going to perk up this season, now would be a good time to start. The Hawks played their past few games in a roster pickle that has left them virtually devoid of NBA forwards, with De’Andre Hunter, John Collins and Justin Holiday all out of the lineup. They’ve had Bogdan Bogdanovic for only three games. Even at full strength, Hunter and Holiday have struggled mightily all year.

Yet, despite the recent Forwardgeddon, the Hawks are not a disaster. Again, at a surface level, things seem okay. The Hawks are 14th in defense, a stated goal after finishing 26th a year ago and trading for Dejounte Murray in the offseason. While they may have benefited slightly from shooting variance, it’s not a fluke. Their only real weakness is a propensity for fouling.

Alas, the Hawks are a meager 19th at the offensive end, which was not expected, and their 29th ranking in both 3-point percentage and frequency underscores the issue. They ranked second in the league in points scored per 100 possessions a year ago and finished 8th in this category in 2020-21, when they rode an elite offense to the conference finals and even put a scare into eventual champion Milwaukee. Those results came even with large offensive drop-offs when Young was off the floor. The theory was that with Murray in tow to bolster those minutes and Young a one-man offense unto himself, Atlanta wouldn’t slide that far despite losing Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari.

That hasn’t borne out, and you can point fingers a lot of directions. Collins is basically a bystander at this point, which I’ve already covered. Hunter has floundered since signing a $90 million extension (and really before then too, but hey …). La familia Holiday defends, but Justin is shooting 39.4 percent and Aaron, 41.3 percent. Second-year pro Jalen Johnson hasn’t quite been ready, especially as a floor-spacer (22.6 percent from 3). Two-way wing Jarret Culver defends and plays with energy, but can’t shoot either (1-for-9 from 3 this year, 27.9 percent for his career).

The Hawks are also feeling the brunt of other moves to avoid the luxury tax, most notably trading a 42.6 percent 3-point shooting wing in Huerter. They still only have 14 of the maximum 15 roster spots filled, even as a torrent of injuries guts the rotation. They’re sweating out every Murray 3-pointer and Clint Capela free throw because of incentives in those two contracts that could put them over the tax. (At the moment, the most likely scenario is that the Hawks skate under by $786,720.)

They’re hanging onto Vit Krejci, an unwanted contract from Oklahoma City, because cutting his partially guaranteed deal and signing somebody else pushes them closer to the tax, if not over. His deal also allows the Hawks to stay at the minimum 14 players until 10-day contract season starts in early January, when they can “stream” the last roster spot and even ride with only 13 for short stretches to further minimize the cap hit.

In addition to offloading Huerter to skirt the tax, the Hawks never used their midlevel or biannual exception this offseason. Even as depth loomed as an obvious potential issue, Atlanta opted only to sign Aaron Holiday and Frank Kaminsky for the minimum. The Hawks also may have missed their moment to trade Collins, who has now hit the trifecta of underutilized, overpaid and unhappy. (He recently added “injured” as well, but should be back before too long.)

That’s a long preamble about the Hawks’ situation before we get to Trae Young.

And yet … part of the big bet Atlanta made this offseason was about Trae Young. That he was so good that it was worth maximizing his prime. In particular, that he’s so good offensively that Atlanta could afford to spend more effort worrying about surrounding him with defense.

Young just hasn’t been that guy this year. Or not in this country, at least. He dropped 31 on Milwaukee’s starters in the first half in Atlanta’s second preseason game in Abu Dhabi, including several deep 3-pointers and a nutmeg of Bobby Portis. That player hasn’t been seen since.

Young made seven 3s in that half against the Bucks, which was not terribly unusual for him. He made eight in a game against the Bucks in 2021-22, and six or more on nine occasions last season. In 2022-23, not so much – he’s only made as many as five once, in 23 games. That’s partly because his 3-point attempts are down, slightly. Mostly, it’s because his 3-point accuracy is down, massively: Young has only made 28.9 percent of his 3s this season, compared to 38.2 percent last year. (For reference, Josh Smith shot 28.5 percent from 3 in his NBA career.

Sorry, Hawks fans but, yeah. It’s been bad. The 166-shot sample is getting large enough that it’s hard to write off as variance.

He knows it, too, throwing up his hands in mock celebration after making his lone triple in seven attempts in Monday’s loss to Oklahoma City.

The story doesn’t get any better when breaking Young’s 3s down by shot type. You can sort this data on NBA.com for shot-clock time, dribbles taken, defender distance and what type of cereal for breakfast. They all lead to the same place: he’s worse at basically every type of 3-point shot than a year ago. His shot quality and distribution hasn’t seemed to change much this season from 2021-22, but his accuracy has. The vast majority of Young’s 3s are off the dribble, something the Hawks hoped might change playing next to Murray, but really hasn’t. And the vast majority of his 3s are considered “open” or “wide open” by tracking data, because of Young’s knack for creating space.

He’s just missing them now. According to the NBA’s tracking data, Young made 42.5 percent of his 3s with six feet or more of room from his defender in 2021-22; this year’s he’s at 36.4 percent. With a defender within 4-6 feet, he’s made a respectable 35.2 percent; he’s at a ghastly 23.5 percent this season. It’s not getting better, either: Young has made only five of his last 34 tries from deep.

Trying to find a cause is difficult. Subjectively, his shot looks maybe a bit flatter than a year ago, causing him to miss long more than he once did. But you’d need to do a lot of squinting to say this definitely off videotape. For instance, here’s a shot from his 45-point maestro performance in New York last March, when he made seven of his 15 3-point attempts:

(This was a video of him splashing a smooth three agains the Knicks last year)

And here is Young line-driving a miss long against the Thunder on Monday, and then putting a dent in the backboard versus New York on Wednesday:

(This was a video of him clanking a line drive shot, miss isn't too bad but shot doesn't look good)

(This was a video of him bricking a three that doesn't touch rim, painful to watch, be glad I can't embed the videos)

(Fun side note: That last miss against New York was an after-timeout play. Yuck.)

Young’s 2-point shooting is also down from a year ago, at a career-low 46.6 percent inside the arc. In particular, he’s seemed to struggle to knock down the full-speed running floaters that have been such a staple of his game. Nonetheless, one might be tempted to place more of the blame for this squarely on the lack of spacing. Virtually the entire difference in his 2-point shooting is the result of A) shooting worse at the rim and B) shooting more frequently from floater range, both of which underline the notion that he’s playing in crowds a lot more than he did in past years.

Of course, there is one data point left to talk about, which could make the next few weeks quite interesting. Young’s shot profile hasn’t changed, but his time with the rock has.

He is averaging more frontcourt touches than a year ago but less time with each, as the Hawks have made Murray a more prominent piece of their attack. Last year, none of the top nine Hawks besides Young had a Usage Rate above 21.5 percent. Even that one belonged to Bogdanovic, who usually ran offense when Young sat. This year, however, Murray is at 25.8 percent, the second-highest mark of his career after last season’s 27.3 mark in San Antonio.

This takes us back to an issue that may underlie some of the problems for Young: Just plain ol’ comfort. The partnership between Young and Murray has been uneasy on the court, with more of a your-turn, my-turn feel than a symbiosis between two All-Star guards. That might have been inevitable to some extent, given the presence of only one basketball. But it also speaks to how rarely Young has played off the ball in his career. Look, Young wants to get the ball and run a pick-and-roll going to his right, over and over and over and over again. That’s it. When he gives up the ball to Murray’s side of the floor, he turns into a mannequin.

The interesting part is that Murray will be out for the next two to three weeks nursing an ankle sprain suffered early in Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks. Which means we’re back to this being the Trae Young Show.

One might note that Young has only played one game without Murray so far this year … the preseason contest where he went bananas on the Bucks in Abu Dhabi. Despite a hugely shorthanded roster, Atlanta has a series of winnable games in the next three weeks – two against the Bulls and Magic, one each against Detroit, Indiana and Charlotte. Could this be the spark to get his season back on track?

At the very least, seeing Young sans Murray will give us better data points on what Murray’s addition means for the Trae Young experience. Is the first 25 games of this season a shooting slump blip for Young, or something bigger? Is it a sign that Murray was the wrong player to put next to Young? Does Young’s need to be on the ball mean that virtually any perimeter sidekick will deflate his output? And what do all these questions mean for the larger questions of the Hawks’ roster construction as we near the trade deadline?

As I said, the 13-12 start masks that these are interesting times in Atlanta … and that the peak version of Trae Young still might fix a lot of what’s wrong. When or if that player appears is anybody’s guess.

[StonedDogs]

$20mill home in LA?

KLUTCH SPORTS GENES

Edited December 9, 2022 by StonedDogs
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