Trae Young summer league

[TINY]

But you'll see a lot better players, he didn't even win conference POY. He led the nation in scoring (on 42% shooting) and led in assists (with a 1.6:1 ratio). That just tells me his usage rate was insane bc that's what he was promised. He also was by far the worst defender on the court each game. He was the 3rd or 4th best pg in college this year.

I love most of OU players, but just don't like the way he plays.

And he was the highest drafted player in the conference. The guys whose livelihood depends on talent evals all agreed he was the best point guard in the country. The more you talk the more obvious it is that you just have a personal beef with Trae.

 

[WichitaSooner]

But you'll see a lot better players, he didn't even win conference POY. He led the nation in scoring (on 42% shooting) and led in assists (with a 1.6:1 ratio). That just tells me his usage rate was insane bc that's what he was promised. He also was by far the worst defender on the court each game. He was the 3rd or 4th best pg in college this year.

I love most of OU players, but just don't like the way he plays.

For the sake of argument, let's say you're right and he was "only" the third or fourth best PG in the nation as a true freshman. The fact you are bashing him for that is ridiculous. The guys you presumably consider the two best were upperclassmen playing on far better teams with far more talent surrounding them. Just because he doesn't play the style you prefer doesn't mean he wasn't a great player. It's just insane people on this board can continue to act like he was the primary problem on a team that had zero leadership from upperclassmen, and had a senior center who got worse each of the past two years. Obviously Trae took some bad shots and turmed the ball over, but I'm crazy enough to think he will improve that seeing as how he is 19 years old!

 

[BCSooners]

For the sake of argument, let's say you're right and he was "only" the third or fourth best PG in the nation as a true freshman. The fact you are bashing him for that is ridiculous. The guys you presumably consider the two best were upperclassmen playing on far better teams with far more talent surrounding them. Just because he doesn't play the style you prefer doesn't mean he wasn't a great player. It's just insane people on this board can continue to act like he was the primary problem on a team that had zero leadership from upperclassmen, and had a senior center who got worse each of the past two years. Obviously Trae took some bad shots and turmed the ball over, but I'm crazy enough to think he will improve that seeing as how he is 19 years old!

My argument was against someone saying we'll never see anything like him again. He far outplayed his expectations (which were already high). He definitely made OU better bc of his talent and was a 1st team AA. I never said he wasn't a great player. Lattin did get better, his role expanded to something he wasn't suited for.

 

[hoopsaustin]

My argument was against someone saying we'll never see anything like him again. He far outplayed his expectations (which were already high). He definitely made OU better bc of his talent and was a 1st team AA. I never said he wasn't a great player. Lattin did get better, his role expanded to something he wasn't suited for.

Lol

 

[hoopsaustin]

But you'll see a lot better players, he didn't even win conference POY. He led the nation in scoring (on 42% shooting) and led in assists (with a 1.6:1 ratio). That just tells me his usage rate was insane bc that's what he was promised. He also was by far the worst defender on the court each game. He was the 3rd or 4th best pg in college this year.

I love most of OU players, but just don't like the way he plays.

I gotta know.. are you implying that 42% shooting is bad?

 

[thebigabd]

I really don't get why its a problem for some people to not like the way he plays.... I certainly don't. Just because he plays for a team you like doesn't mean you have to like his "style".

I didn't like that Lon let him do whatever he wanted... I didn't like that Lon gave up on team basketball to accommodate Trae Young.... I don't like that Trae shoots from well beyond the NBA line so frequently (and he misses a vast majority of those btw), I don't like that he plays no defense...

I really don't get the appeal... 32% 3pt shooter in Big 12, bad assist/turnover ratio in Big 12... horrible defensive player... He was pretty well figured out in conference play and had nothing but volume to prop his stats.

Hopefully the guy does well in the NBA... His entire style and everyone around him (parents, high school coaches, college coaches) have let him do whatever he wanted to get him to where he is now, which is in the NBA. But the Hawks won't let him pull up from 5+ feet behind the NBA line for long. The buck stops here, so to speak. They will bench him, cut him, trade him, whatever if he doesn't buy into the system, play with control and professionalism, make shots, and contribute to winning games.

Also, his draft position doesn't mean much... Anthony Bennett was taken #1, Dragan Bender was taken #4 and averages 6 ppg, Jon Isaac was taken #5 and is a backup post player for the Magic, Frank Ntilikina was taken #6 and averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds per game... I could go on and on with players like this. Not saying that is TY's fate, just saying draft position doesnt = success (on court).

 

[TulsaWorld]

From Bill Haisten's latest column...

During Atlanta’s first two NBA Summer League games at Salt Lake City, Utah, he really struggled to make shots.

Summer League exercises essentially are scrimmages involving the least experienced players on NBA rosters. The outcomes are meaningless, but it’s safe to presume that Young’s excitement level was maxed before his first professional competitions.


It’s also safe to presume that during each game, excitement was supplanted by frustration.

...


In his first two summer games, he was 9-of-36 overall from the field.


For a guard who is viewed by some as having some of Steph Curry’s offensive characteristics, Young’s 25 percent shooting in the Summer League must be sobering.


During the 103-88 Atlanta loss to Memphis, two of Young’s first-quarter 3-point shot attempts were airballs. As he attempted a change-of-direction dribble move, he was stoned by Brandon Goodwin — an undrafted Grizzlies rookie from Florida Gulf Coast.


Goodwin exactly shadowed every aspect of Young’s movement, and Young was forced to get rid of the basketball.


It was a cold-slap-in-the-face reminder that NBA athleticism is at the ultimate level. Goodwin wasn’t drafted, and yet he’s probably a more dynamic athlete than 98 percent of the defenders Young encountered while at Norman North and OU.

Link

 

[steverocks35]

The Trae Young criticism is really misplaced in my opinion. He had one of the worst supporting casts in the Big 12. A team full of guys that couldn't shoot, rebound, or defend, and he still led the nation in scoring and assists. As we have documented over and over, if his teammates could even finish at an average level, Trae's assists probably would have gone up by 5 a game. The fact that he still trusted his teammates as much as he did and still passed to them at all as the season progressed is amazing to me.

 

[BCSooners]

I gotta know.. are you implying that 42% shooting is bad?

It's average. I was demonstrating that he led the nation in points but he didn't shoot amazing, he just shot a lot.

 

[BCSooners]

Lol

The dude improved his shooting %, FT %, points, rebounds, and was the defensive anchor in less minutes as a sophomore. He's OU's all time leader in blocks even though he never averaged more than 23 minutes a game.

If you allow him to be an energy guy that's your 5/6th best player then he looks good. If you are relying on him to score then you'll be disappointed.

 

[tmeyer3307]

Couple of things.. Trae can play defense, he just didn't put a lot of effort into it. Actually I think he got better as the season went.

I argue with a couple of my KU buddies ALL the time about a few things. Supporting cast was awful at OU compared to KU, Graham could not do the things that Trae did(not even close) If Trae had played for KU they most likely win a national, he scores less, but may average about 12-13 assists.

I don't understand why so many ppl hate on him and his style. He plays fast and puts pressure on the defense. He makes plays for his teammates over and over and then he can beat you from anywhere on the court. Makes the game more exciting in my opinion 100pct.

I'm willing to bet he has a long career in the league. Worse case he's a legit backup pg that can score. Hopefully the Hawks surround him with some shooters and allow him to operate with all of that space. I think he will be averaging closer to 20 and 10 sooner than later.

 

[steverocks35]

The dude improved his shooting %, FT %, points, rebounds, and was the defensive anchor in less minutes as a sophomore. He's OU's all time leader in blocks even though he never averaged more than 23 minutes a game.

If you allow him to be an energy guy that's your 5/6th best player then he looks good. If you are relying on him to score then you'll be disappointed.

Are we really going to re-litigate Lattin? He was terrible on offense and a poor defender who did ONE thing fairly well, which was come from the weak side to block shots. That's it.

 

[Max Power]

Can lon hurry up and get 2 or 3 commits so we can stop re-hashing the same arguments from the last 2 years

 

[BCSooners]

Are we really going to re-litigate Lattin? He was terrible on offense and a poor defender who did ONE thing fairly well, which was come from the weak side to block shots. That's it.

He was good on switches, good on hedges, worked to get back into plays when he got beat, hustled really well. He was poor on offense (which I already stated) & struggled against bangers bc he never bulked up which also made him struggle on defensive rebounds.

My argument was that he didn't get worse from his sophomore year. Not trying to legitimize him as a great player.

 

[steverocks35]

He was good on switches, good on hedges, worked to get back into plays when he got beat, hustled really well. He was poor on offense (which I already stated) & struggled against bangers bc he never bulked up which also made him struggle on defensive rebounds.

My argument was that he didn't get worse from his sophomore year. Not trying to legitimize him as a great player.

He was literally not good at any of those things, except hustling. He may not have gotten worse, but he improved almost negligibly from sophomore to senior year.

Edited to add: If your argument for how good a player is includes "good on hedges" then maybe he's not even close to being a good player.

 

[thebigabd]

Can lon hurry up and get 2 or 3 commits so we can stop re-hashing the same arguments from the last 2 years

Today in the break room at my office, a bunch of guys were discussing something. I didn't want to participate, as what they were discussing was not interesting to me. My options were:

A.) Walk away
B.) Join their conversation in a productive way
C.) Walk up to them and ask them to change what they are talking about to something that interests me

I see you went with Option C.

 

[vbdad]

Couple of things.. Trae can play defense, he just didn't put a lot of effort into it. Actually I think he got better as the season went.

I argue with a couple of my KU buddies ALL the time about a few things. Supporting cast was awful at OU compared to KU, Graham could not do the things that Trae did(not even close) If Trae had played for KU they most likely win a national, he scores less, but may average about 12-13 assists.

I don't understand why so many ppl hate on him and his style. He plays fast and puts pressure on the defense. He makes plays for his teammates over and over and then he can beat you from anywhere on the court. Makes the game more exciting in my opinion 100pct.

I'm willing to bet he has a long career in the league. Worse case he's a legit backup pg that can score. Hopefully the Hawks surround him with some shooters and allow him to operate with all of that space. I think he will be averaging closer to 20 and 10 sooner than later.

He was an absolutely a terrible defensive player. Could he play it? Maybe but we don't know because he didn't try.

He is more talented than Graham but who knows how the team would have reacted to him or how he would have handled being one of the guys. Remember Norman North improved after he left. They didn't have much talent his senior year (although those guys did better the next year) but they did have talent his junior year.

 

[steverocks35]

So you're judging his defense while at the same time saying there's no way to judge his defense. Ooooookay.

 

[BCSooners]

He was literally not good at any of those things, except hustling. He may not have gotten worse, but he improved almost negligibly from sophomore to senior year.

Edited to add: If your argument for how good a player is includes "good on hedges" then maybe he's not even close to being a good player.

Again you are not listening to my argument. I said he was better than one thing and he improved from his sophomore year. And yes he was good at those things.

 

[BCSooners]

So you're judging his defense while at the same time saying there's no way to judge his defense. Ooooookay.

So he is a pathetic defender, but no one knows how good he could be bc he doesn't try.