This time last year, Trae Young was flourishing in the role of the villain. His bravado coupled with the game to match, was capturing the attention of the basketball world. In just his third NBA season, Young was leading his team to the Eastern Conference finals – and rising to stardom in the process. However, this postseason couldn’t have gone worse for the Atlanta guard.
On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks were bounced out of the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Miami Heat. Young himself, had a nightmare series to forget. Bottled up by the Miami defense – Young averaged just 15.4 points on 31.9 percent from the field, and a miserable 18.4 percent shooting from distance.
Asked about the swarming Miami defense after Game 4, Young offered some insight – saying:
“I haven’t been guarded like this — I’ve been guarded like this every now and then, but (not) consistently since high school. Obviously, it’s way better competition. It’s hard for me to score a lot more through the double-teams and face guards at this level. It’s a challenge for me. I’ve got to learn how to fight through it and make it easier for myself and my teammates. I’ll figure it out. That’s my plan.”
Throughout the NBA playoff series, Young was overwhelmed by the intensity of the switching Miami Heat defense. When blitzed, he forced passes – racking up an array of careless turnovers. Ultimately, Young finished these playoffs with more turnovers (30) than made baskets (22).
As a result, the adjustment should perhaps be for Young to spend more time off-ball next season. With goals to improve his efficiency off catch and shoot attempts and become a multi-faceted scorer. Atlanta Hawks coach Nate McMillan, echoed these thoughts after the series concluded:
“Next year, maybe he’s playing off ball and you are running him around and playing more of the two position than playing 90 percent of the point guard position,” McMillan said.
This season Trae Young had a usage rate of 34.4 percent – which was fourth highest in the NBA. The ball is constantly in his hands, and whilst he’s demonstrated that he can create plays for both himself and his teammates. The next stage in Young’s development is now trusting his teammates to create easy looks for him as well.
