J-Speaks: Historic Performance By Hawks' Rookie Guard

Ever since the Atlanta Hawks traded for the draft rights to guard Rayford Trae Young, the No. 5 overall pick out of the University of Oklahoma in June’s draft from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for guard Luka Doncic, the No. 3 overall pick, there were a lot of critics pouring cold water on Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk for that decision. Well at least for one game, Young showed that he will be a major reason the Hawks rise back to prominence. 

In the Hawks (1-2) 133-111 at the Cleveland Cavaliers (0-3) on Sunday night, Young had the best game of his early NBA career with 35 points and 11 assists on 13 for 23 shooting, including 6 for 14 from three-point range. 

How good was the leader in scoring and assists during the 2017-18 NCAA performance that night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH to start this week, he was the first rookie to have a stat line that incredible since the player his game is most compared to in two-time Kia MVP of the now defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry, who did it twice in his rookie season of 2009-10. He also joined Curry and recent Hall of Fame inductee Jason Kidd as the only rookies in league history with at least 35 points, 10 assists and six made three-pointers. 

He had 36 points and 13 assists in leading the Warriors to a 132-102 win versus the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 10 that year. A month later, he had 35 points and 10 assists in the Warriors 117-90 loss at the Orlando Magic on Mar. 3.

To bring into clearer context what happened on Sunday night into greater context, according to www.basketball-reference.com, Young became just the 11^th rookie in NBA history have achieved that kind of stat line for a single game. That list includes Hall of Famers Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Michael Jordan, who did it twice; recent inductee Jason Kidd; Oscar Robertson, who accomplished that feet 11 times in the 1960-61 season; Jerry West, the logo himself; and Elgin Baylor; Geoff Petrie; former Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Milwaukee Bucks’ guard Sherman Douglas and future Hall of Famer LeBron James.   

“It’s special, I mean for me,” Young said after the win to NBATV’s Chris Miles, WNBA champion Candace Parker and Greg Anthony after the win. “But I know I didn’t do this all by myself. My teammates did a great job coming out and of making shots for me. Making big plays on both ends.”

Those teammates include his starting backcourt mate Kent Bazemore, who had 23 points, going 4 for 8 from three-point range. Rookie big man Omari Spellman had 17 points going 4 for 8 from distance, while starting center Alex Len had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four block shots. Starting forward Taurean Prince had 14 points with six boards and DeAndre’ Bembry had 13 points off the bench hitting three triples. 

After falling behind 34-24 after the first period at the Cavaliers and trailing by as many as 22, the Hawks outscored the Cavs on their home floor 109-77 over the next two quarters, which consisted of scoring 40 and 41 points in the second and fourth quarters respectably. 

The Hawks set a franchise record making 22 threes in 47 tries, including 10 connections in the fourth period on their way to shooting 49.0 percent from the floor on the night. Young made all six of his threes on the night in the second period going 6 for 7 scoring 18 points. 

As a team, the Hawks had 32 assists on their 48 made field goals and turned 18 Cavs turnovers into 23 points. Young to go along with his 11 assists committed just one turnover.   

While it may seem crazy to compare one year of collegiate experience to a future Hall of Famers and in the case of Curry and two-time league MVP and three-time NBA champ, this is the world we live in today. 

Fair or unfair, when you are an undersized lead guard, with the ability to hit threes from the other side of Lake Erie like Young did on Sunday night, observers and sometimes your critics are going to mentioned you in the same breath as Curry. 

In the case of Young, those parallels got only stronger when Schlenk, former executive with the Warriors as mentioned traded for him on draft night on June 21 with the Mavericks for Doncic, the Slovenian sensation and an additional First-Round pick. 

While comparisons like that may bother some young players coming into the league, Young seems to not only be unphased by it but has embraced it. 

He not only has patterned his game after Curry’s ability to make shots from long distance but the amazing ball handling ability of Boston Celtics’ All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and of All-Star and 2007 NBA Finals MVP now of the Charlotte Hornets Tony Parker’s uncanny ability to make shots around the basket. Perhaps the one player that Young really wants to emulate his game after is two-time Kia MVP and recent Hall of Fame inductee Steve Nash. 

To prepare for his rookie season, Young worked out with Parker as he focused on making everyone in his corner and not in his corner a believer. 

“The main thing focusing and coming into this year was building up my strength. Being prepared and ready from Day One,” he said. “That was my main focus was how I can prepare myself to be able to impact this game from Day One.” 

Young also said during his preparation that he worked with the best trainers and that he picked up things from real pros like Parker, Nash, and Houston Rockets’ nine-time All-Star lead guard Chris Paul. 

It also helps to have a head coach like Lloyd Pierce, who the Hawks hired in the off-season that has cut his teeth as a longtime assistant with the Warriors and Cavaliers the last five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers in developing the likes of first time All-Star and 2017-18 Kia Defensive Player of the Year candidate Joel Embiid and the 2017-18 Kia Rookie of the Year in Ben Simmons into the players they are today. Young has said that Pierce has been a tremendous help to him already. 

That budding relationship Young said goes back to when he first worked out for the Hawks during the pre-draft process where he got tidbits that Pierce gave to Nash, who he has known since they were collegiate teammates at the University of Santa Clara back in the middle of the 1990s. His coaching staff consists of former Cavs assistants in Melvin Hunt and Chris Jent. 

“I pick his brain as much as I can. He’s taught me so much already,” Young said of Coach Pierce, who got his first head coaching win against a team that hired him back in 2007. “I can’t to continue to learn from him.” 

Just 24 hours prior to the 35-point performance Young had, the highest scoring output for the 2018-19 rookie class so far this season, Doncic scored 26 points in helping the Mavericks (2-1) to a 140-136 win versus the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-2) last Saturday night. 

The two will face in the first meeting of what looks like of many scrutinized, over analyzed tilts as the Hawks face off against the Mavericks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA on Wednesday night.  

Young said to Miles that he watches NBA hoops like an other fan, whether they are diehard or casual but said and he saw what that Doncic did last Saturday night but said that he is in a great situation just like him. 

“I know I’m going to get compared to him throughout my whole career because of the trade but I don’t see why it can’t be great for both situations,” he said. “I think that’s what happened here but although some people may think different.” 

Trae Young’s performance to start this week at the four-time reigning Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers was a welcoming showing for a guy who flashed some of what he did during NBA Summer League, which came in just his third NBA game. 

With the prospect of a rough season ahead for the Hawks who are in the early stages of rebuilding their team into a perennial playoff contender and hopefully a team in the conversation of becoming NBA champions one day, it is foolish to anoint Young as the second coming of a game-changing player. He just turned 20 years old after all on Sept. 19.  

One thing that Young did with his performance was impress Doncic, who said on Twitter @luka7doncic with high-handed and fire emojis, “Congrats bro!” 

If both players are great as Tas Melas said on the Monday night edition of NBATV’s “The Starters” about the fan bases for both the Mavericks and Hawks, “We’re all winners if they’re both going to be very good.”

“The more they develop their games, the less we talk about the comparison to each other.” 

While having to prove his naysayers wrong has sharpened Young’s approach to be a great player, it has not taken away from the fact that he is living out his dream of not just playing in the National Basketball Association but being the startling lead guard on the Hawks as well as a player they are counting on to lead them to serious success in the future. 

“I definitely hear everything people say, things like that. But all I do is control what I can control and that’s preparing every single day as hard as I can with my teammates. Whether it’s with them or without them in the gyms late at night and just preparing,” he said. 

“My job is to just have fun and play the game the right way and I think I have done that all the way up to now and I’m going to continue to do that throughout my career.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 10/21/18 8:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “Pregame Show,” presented by Autotrader with Chris Miles, Candace Parker, and Greg Anthony; www.nba.com/games/20181021/ATLCLE#/boxscore/recap/matchup; 10/22/18 www.nba.com story, “About Last Night: Trae Young Breaks Out,” by Dan McCarney; 10/22/18 6 p.m. edition NBATV’s “The Starters,” with Tas Melas, J.E. Skeets, Leigh Ellis, and Trey Kerby; www.espn.com/nba/matchup?gameid=401070718; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trae_Young.