Rookie Cards Vol. 1: Deandre Ayton, Trae Young, Josh Okogie
Last season at Oklahoma Trae Young became the first player to lead all of Div 1 in both points (27.4) and assists per game (8.7). Still, there weren’t many happy fans in Atlanta when the Hawks traded their No. 3 pick, Luka Doncic, to the Mavericks for Young at No. 5 and a future first-rounder.
Doncic leads all rookies in scoring with just over 20 points a game so far this season. He’s been phenomenal for the Mavericks and the team has to feel great about a future with Doncic as the centerpiece.
Trae Young’s been pretty good too though, at least as good as Luka — better, in my opinion. He dropped 35 points in a road win over Cleveland, the most by a rookie since Steph Curry scored 36 in 2010. It’s worth mentioning the Curry did it in February, 50 games into the season. Trae’s 35-point game was the third of his NBA career.
Steph has been the obvious comparison for Trae Young since he was in high school but comparing anyone to Steph Curry is quite a reach. 35 points in a game though, his third NBA game, is certainly worthy.
Young had three 40+ point games in college and is such an unbelievable shooter, especially from deep, that it overshadows his passing, which is the most impressive aspect of his game in my opinion. He is fifth in the league in assists, has had more assists in his first 10 games than anyone ever and he has 35 more assists than any other rookie so far. No other player has put up four double-doubles on points and assists in his first three weeks in the NBA.
Most of his numbers have been great. His efficiency numbers have not. 18.6 points per game have come on 42.3 percent shooting from the floor and 27 percent from 3. Young is also turning the ball over almost four times a game.
The low shooting numbers have been due, at least in part, to shot selection. He’s taking a ton of contested shots and an overwhelming number of them are shots he’s forced to create for himself. Only 13.5 percent of Young’s shots have come been catch-and-shoot attempts (Steph Curry-35.6, Kyrie Irving-30.7, just for comparison). 77.6 percent of Young’s shot have been taken after the ball has been in his possession for more than 2 seconds (Curry-53.3, Kyrie-64).
Eight of the Hawks’ top 11 rotation players are 25 or younger and five of 11 are playing their first season in Atlanta. Continuity and chemistry takes longer than 11 games to develop so that should improve over the course of the season.
Jeremy Lin has played limited minutes so far coming off an Achilles injury playing Young with another point guard to take advantage of his ability to catch-and-shoot. During Lin’s one season with the Hornets, Kyrie Irving was the starting point guard but they played significant minutes together most of the season. Walker’s volume of shots off the dribble decreased significantly and year over year, his scoring average rose 3.6 points, his shooting percentage by 4.2 points and 3-point percentage by 6.7 points.
Young was +1100 (sixth best odds) for Rookie of the Year at the beginning of the season. Wouldn’t have been a bad bet, and it still might not be.
Best Game Stat Lines:
- 10/21 @ CLE — 13 for 23, 35 points, 11 assists, 2 rebounds
- 11/3 vs. MIA — 9 for 19, 24 points, 15 assists, 6 rebounds