Is it me or has this been Trae's best defensive effort since being in the league?

[Wurider05]

I see a guy who is out there working his butt off. He is trying so what more can we ask?

[shakes]

no, it's definitely you.    He's hardly "working his butt off" on the defensive end.   Just last game he spent time in the offensive end complaining to the ref while the Bulls were heading the other way with numbers.    Anyone who does that can be classified as giving zero fvcks about the defensive end.

[Diesel]

I have to say as a whole, Trae has put in more effort this year than in previous years. Honestly, there are defensive pieces around Trae.   Trae will be targetted.   We haven't played with our full compliment so that means that sometimes defense has been diverted.   But once we have all the pieces in place, I can't wait to see it. 

 

[macdaddy]

5 hours ago, Wurider05 said:

I see a guy who is out there working his butt off. He is trying so what more can we ask?

Yes.   I've definitely noticed that.  I think he's doing everything he can most of the time and has gambled and won on some steals too.

[JTB]

6 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Yes.   I've definitely noticed that.  I think he's doing everything he can most of the time and has gambled and won on some steals too.

Yes Trae has put in more effort this season than previous seasons. Still no where near a good defender but I think the effort and respect of Murray has rubbed off on him so maybe we’ll see a different Trae in the future and when he hits his prime .

 

Defense for many games haven’t been our issue. We just can’t score consistently enough to tell.

[Wretch]

I made a mention of it earlier in the season, so I've definitely noticed him putting more effort out there.  FWIW, this narrative is not going away...no matter what he does.  If we start winning, there will be less of it.  Though honestly, I can see a realistic scenario where we'd be in the finals and people would still be going on about it.  Meanwhile his peers, who also have questionable defensive IQ, won't get the same scrutiny...because they are so offensively gifted.

One thing I would like to see more of is Trae getting into the passing lanes.  Every now and again you'll see him make a good play on the ball and come up with a nice steal.

[JayBirdHawk]

I will say I actually prefer when he has to man up on defense instead of being hidden, he his more engaged and gives more effort. He will always have his limitations.

One thing I want him to quit doing is this - stop turning his head looking for immediate help when he gets caught on a mismatch, provide the initial defensive resistance knowing the help is coming. 

Coach Pop had a quote on defense:  Play individual defense first, look for help second.

[MarylandHawk]

He defensive effort has increased, especially the 6 games or so. He is not dying on screens, he is using his quickness to frustrate opponents, his deflections are up and he is being vocal. By contrast, Deandre’s effort is lower, he is lazy on screens he uses his hands too much to hold onto players, which is why he gets so many fouls called on him, he is not vocal and he has never been a steals, blocks, defensive rebound guy. The only place he excels is one on one defense when there is no screen. 

[MarylandHawk]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:09 PM, Wretch said:

I made a mention of it earlier in the season, so I've definitely noticed him putting more effort out there.  FWIW, this narrative is not going away...no matter what he does.  If we start winning, there will be less of it.  Though honestly, I can see a realistic scenario where we'd be in the finals and people would still be going on about it.  Meanwhile his peers, who also have questionable defensive IQ, won't get the same scrutiny...because they are so offensively gifted.

One thing I would like to see more of is Trae getting into the passing lanes.  Every now and again you'll see him make a good play on the ball and come up with a nice steal.

Agree. A good example of this is Steph Curry. He is consistently labeled a bad defender but his team consistently boasts a top 5 defense in their championship runs where he avg above 30 mins played. 

[JayBirdHawk]

There's this thread

28 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Big, big win on an important day for all Americans and on a national audience. We have crawled our way back to .500. Here's hoping they can keep on winning.

btw someone should start a thread about Trae's defense the last several games. He is legit a much better defender this season. He has shown active hands and feet to get steals or deflections or be in a good defensive position.

 

 

[ShooterSays]

He's been playing much better overall lately. Definitely did notice some added defensive effort from him in the Miami game.

[kg01]

He's giving folks what they've asked for defensively, given his physical shortcomings and outsized workload. 

Color me unsurprised we haven't heard from the detractors who can't admit it's happening. 

[Diesel]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:29 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

I will say I actually prefer when he has to man up on defense instead of being hidden, he his more engaged and gives more effort. He will always have his limitations.

One thing I want him to quit doing is this - stop turning his head looking for immediate help when he gets caught on a mismatch, provide the initial defensive resistance knowing the help is coming. 

Coach Pop had a quote on defense:  Play individual defense first, look for help second.

That's a trust thing.   Actually, Miami does this really well.   Trae has got to get to the place where he trust his help man. 

 

[MarylandHawk]

I love what the Hawks are doing when teams try to screen/switch to Trae. They are switching quickly to put the better defender on that person. Trae then plays defensive back when they try to cross court pass. 

[Atlantaholic]

His defensive Raptor has shot up like a rocket the last week, so the metrics support what everyone here is seeing. 

[RedDawg#8]

1 hour ago, MarylandHawk said:

I love what the Hawks are doing when teams try to screen/switch to Trae. They are switching quickly to put the better defender on that person. Trae then plays defensive back when they try to cross court pass. 

Facts, it only took what, like 5 seasons for us to figure out how to hide him? Lol

[Sothron]

I'm not the biggest fan of advanced metrics but can someone post some of Trae's defense this season and specifically his last, let's just say, seven games?  And can we compare that to last seasons numbers?

It is sad that media people aren't mentioning his better defense. I mean he's literally a better defender with objective metrics to support it. Our defense with a healthy Trae Young is like 14th in the NBA which is DOUBLE where our defense was just one season ago.

[RedDawg#8]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

There's this thread

 

 

I love Trae but I aint buying this. You telling me your lack of defensive effort was you trying to be a good teammate?

Boy if you don’t go on with that noise lol

Just like ANY young player in the history of basketball, Trae has gotten better defensively as he’s gotten older and more experienced. He has a longer way to go because of where he started, but he will gradually improve as a defender throughout his career up until his body starts to fail him.

JC is another example of this.

Trae may never be a good defender, but he will likely eclipse serviceable by time he is in his prime years.

Edited January 17, 2023 by RedDawg#8

[Atlantaholic]

1 minute ago, Sothron said:

I'm not the biggest fan of advanced metrics but can someone post some of Trae's defense this season and specifically his last, let's just say, seven games?  And can we compare that to last seasons numbers?

It is sad that media people aren't mentioning his better defense. I mean he's literally a better defender with objective metrics to support it. Our defense with a healthy Trae Young is like 14th in the NBA which is DOUBLE where our defense was just one season ago.

His Raptor was around -2.5ish for most of the year (been around -3.0 his entire career) and the last 10 or so games it has improved to -1.5 which is a massive leap for him. Never seen it anywhere near that high before. 

According to Raptor of the regular rotation guys it's Bogi who is really killing us on defense with the -2.9 rating which is a massive drop from his career of around -0.5

[Atlantaholic]

1 minute ago, RedDawg#8 said:

I love Trae but I aint buying this. You telling me your lack of defensive effort was you trying to be a good teammate?

Boy if you don’t go on with that noise lol

Just like ANY young player in the history of basketball, Trae has gotten better defensively as he gets more older and more experienced. He has a longer way to go because of where he started, but he will gradually improve as a defender throughout his career up until his body starts to fail him.

JC is another example of this.

Trae may never be a good defender, but he will likely eclipse serviceable by time he is in his prime years.

I mean JC absolutely benefitted tremendously from playing next to Capella and OO vs Alex Len Damien Jones early on in his career. But I think it's a little column A a little column B, obviously experience and practice etc help too. At the end of the day defense is always a team effort and tough to quantify and measure at the individual level.