Young's Maturation On Display As Hawks Edge Out Spurs

Linear growth is nearly always expected from second-year players, but isn’t always realized – especially for rookies as prodigious as Trae Young was. Improving becomes more difficult the better a player is, and given his high baseline and central role on his team, it would be understandable for Young to stagnate or improve only marginally. Instead he used his rookie year as a jumping off point and filled out his game to become a more consistent and versatile offensive threat.

There just aren’t many players who can do what Young does offensively, even at age 21, and few plays he can’t make with the ball in his hands. He hasn’t added to his game so much as he has solidified it. He makes most of the same passes, only more precisely; he’s taking and making the same shots, just at a higher rate than before; his reads haven’t changed much, but the speed and decisiveness with which he makes them has. That was on full display Tuesday night as Young poured in 29 points and 13 assists on 10-of-23 shooting in a 108-100 win. He started slowly, digested what the Spurs threw at him, and made the necessary adjustments in time to close the game with an incandescent fourth quarter.

“I’ve just got to continue to figure out how they’re going to play me,” Young said. “Whether it’s trapping or being physical or whatever it is, I’ve got to figure it out early in the game and adjust to that and make plays out of that.”

The biggest difference between this season and last is the command and maturity with which Young plays. He’s manipulating defenses rather than reacting to them and finding new ways to punish them for even slight breakdowns. That includes his ability to draw fouls – and, in the process, alter an opposing defense’s approach toward defending him. Young was one of the most NBA’s preeminent foul-drawers last season, but has done so even more effectively this year. He is a master at baiting defenders into cheap fouls on the floor – usually when fighting over the top of ball screens – and is more advanced in the art of drawing contact than most players his age. He’ll turn the corner off of a screen or dribble-handoff, then suddenly stop and fling up a shot in attempt to draw a shooting foul:

Just over a week after Philadelphia’s Josh Richardson and Matisse Thybulle picked up five and four fouls, respectively, Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray discovered just how tough dealing with Young’s tactics can be, picking up five personals in just 19 minutes. It’s difficult to account for the impact that has on a defense. Once a defender runs into Young for the first time, that possibility remains in his head for the rest of the game, and each foul is more costly than the last. That changes both the route and vigor with which that defender must pursue Young, who can use even the slightest hesitation to his advantage:

The downside for Young is that those fouls often don’t result in free throws, and save for a few lapses, the Spurs largely blanketed him in the first half. Young missed his first eight shots and struggled to finish over San Antonio’s length and positioning. He dished out eight assists in the first half but the Spurs challenged him at every turn, shutting off driving lanes, contesting shots, and physically fighting over the top of ball screens. “Trying to get back into a rhythm early in the game was kind of tough,” said Young, who was playing his first game since spraining his ankle on October 29. “I was just trying to find my rhythm and find my shot and it just wasn’t going down in the first half.”

Eventually, he discovered his shot and his rhythm. Rather than forcing the issue, Young played more patiently in the second half, which allowed him to pull San Antonio’s defense farther out of position and make plays for himself and teammates. “I just slowed down,” he said. Young scored 16 points in the final quarter, including four 3-pointers, and seemed to have a better understanding of how and where to attack a menacing crew of perimeter defenders. Even as the Spurs built their lead to 10 late in the third quarter, he and the Hawks never unraveled.

Part of Young’s growth as the Hawks’ foundational player will be learning how to steady his team and lead it through tense games like Tuesday’s. Leadership is a welcome quality in any player, but for someone like Young, who has a direct influence on nearly every one of his team’s possessions, the ability to remain decisive and poised in moments of stress is all the more crucial.

“I thought he did a great job really leading our guys down the stretch,” Lloyd Pierce said. “Part of his growth and leadership is understanding how to play 48 minutes and really impact the game in a variety of ways, and I thought he did so. He was so hard on himself because he wasn’t scoring, and as we’ve seen, he can score at any point, but I thought his leadership down the stretch was really the key part of the game, and it’s really encouraging to see.”

The Hawks will need everything Young can give them over the next 25 games as John Collins serves a suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Losing a prominent member of the team for such a prolonged period will test Atlanta’s resolve; the Hawks will need their point guard not only to carry more on offense, but lead the team through the emotional fluctuations of the upcoming stretch as well. If Tuesday is any indication, Young is well-suited for both tasks.