TRAE YOUNG AND HIS SHOOTING WOES

Trae Young was the most hyped player coming into the 2018 draft and was attracting global attention as he was putting on a tear in Oklahoma and people were comparing him to Stephen Curry. Young was the first player in college basketball ever to lead the country in scoring and assists.

27 ppg – 3 rpg – 8 apg – 42% fg – 36% 3p

He was a shooting machine and a great play maker but his biggest knock was his size, athleticism and inability to react to a double team.

In his rookie season Young has struggled specifically shooting the ball

38% fg – 24% 3p

Here is Young’s Shot chart for the 2018-19 season (32 games):

Attempts: 36% of his shots from behind the arc and despite his poor shooting he averages an atrocious 6.4 3 point shots per game.  This is not something the Head coach should be allowed but Young has seemed to tone down a bit. Using his play-making ability to his advantage and taking the ball more to the hole.

The real question is why Trae is struggling so much in the NBA to make and find his shots? He has the potential to be great in this league and just needs to make some adjustments.  He has been extremely inconsistent and looks like Ben Simmons because his shot is basically nonexistent, and it is not just his shooting his overall impact is terrible as the Hawks are -11.2 difference with Young On-Off court. His offensive rating is 95…. I understand the Hawks do not have pieces but there is no reason for him to be playing this bad.

To answer the question for his shooting woes was difficult. What I have been able to collect is that Trae thinks he is a better shooter than he really is. The college game and the NBA game are very different in the sense of defensive schemes and the way teams trap are much cleverer. Young has not been able to read this and it has resulted in a multitude of terrible shots by the rookie and leaves me to question just how much film he is studying.  Analysts have compared him to Stephen Curry but clearly, it has stuck with him as he tends to pull up from well behind the 3-point line. Way too many times does he take a contested shot and waits too long to pull up. In various situations, he has a shot, but he waits too long to take it. Example: when he comes off a screen young tends to try to penetrate too much before rising his shot which allows time for his defender to get a light or heavy contest on his shot. When a big man switches on the screen I can see young really does not take high percentage shots. Often when he should pass to the roll man or take the big man to the bucket he will try to rise over a 7-footer and brick the shot.  Very bad shot selection and that clearly reflects on inexperience and with his poor shooting percentages.

With the right coaching staff and training, he can sit down and watch film and find different attacking points because clearly shooting is his weakness right now.

The Atlanta Hawks may not regret the draft night trade, but the rookie needs a lot of work if he wants to be live up to the hype that surrounds him.

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all have a great holiday I am JL2 and you can follow my basketball page @jl2hoops!

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