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To start with a positive note, he might be just in the bottom quarter of the league this season defensively rather than his career long residency in the bottom decile. A chucker more than a shooter whose TS% is only salvaged around league average because of his foul baiting. His body is the type that when his speed starts to diminish, his career will drop like an anchor.

He's a starter in that he's in the top 30 PGs, but I wouldn't want him to start for my team. (Or be on my team at all with that contract.)

Ball4life32 wrote:

ChiTownHero1992 wrote:He's obviously a starter but he is no star...his defense is beyond terrible and his offensive game can be stopped, to me he'd make a great 3rd option, an ok 2nd option....a team that wants to be mediocre forever will keep him as the 1st option....

Not sure how you average 26/11+ and not considered a star but even when he’s not shooting well offensively his playmaking has the hawks a top offense consistently. His playmaking gets underrated.

Scoring numbers mean very little to me anymore in today's NBA where Malichi Flynn and Corey Brewer can go for 50 points...scoring is beyond easy and anyone can do it. What makes you a star is all of the other things and all of those adding up to winning games when they matter (such as the playoffs).

Man, what a stupid thread.

His skill set says you have to build around him.
His skill level says you shouldn’t build around him.

ChiTownHero1992 wrote:

Ball4life32 wrote:

ChiTownHero1992 wrote:He's obviously a starter but he is no star...his defense is beyond terrible and his offensive game can be stopped, to me he'd make a great 3rd option, an ok 2nd option....a team that wants to be mediocre forever will keep him as the 1st option....

Not sure how you average 26/11+ and not considered a star but even when he’s not shooting well offensively his playmaking has the hawks a top offense consistently. His playmaking gets underrated.

Scoring numbers mean very little to me anymore in today's NBA where Malichi Flynn and Corey Brewer can go for 50 points...scoring is beyond easy and anyone can do it. What makes you a star is all of the other things and all of those adding up to winning games when they matter (such as the playoffs).

I agree on scoring even though both of those guys you mentioned did it on one game samples...but the best part of his game is passing/playmaking.

ShootersShoot wrote:Man, what a stupid thread.

Im just trying to figure out how a player can supposedly be a player "you can't win anything with", but then be a bonafide starter. Isn't the point of the game to win?

How do some people think he isn't a starter? He's close to if not an all star. When you hear he's overrated it means he shouldn't be considered a star, and that's fine if you want to argue that. I dont think he can lead a team too far in the playoffs again despite the ECF run. But he's clearly a starting caliber player. I think he'd be amazing playing with Wemby.

ChuckChilly wrote:

ShootersShoot wrote:Man, what a stupid thread.

Im just trying to figure out how a player can supposedly be a player "you can't win anything with", but then be a bonafide starter. Isn't the point of the game to win?

By this logic steph curry wasnt a bonafide starter this season.

ChuckChilly wrote:

ShootersShoot wrote:Man, what a stupid thread.

Im just trying to figure out how a player can supposedly be a player "you can't win anything with", but then be a bonafide starter. Isn't the point of the game to win?

Do you consider Lauri markkanen or scottie barnes bonafide starters? After all, their teams had a worse record than the hawks.

I think the misconception here is that one cant be a bonafide starter if their team didnt make the playoffs? By this logic, nobody on any lotto team could be a starter on a winning team. See how terrible this logic is?

hardenASG13 wrote:How do some people think he isn't a starter? He's close to if not an all star. When you hear he's overrated it means he shouldn't be considered a star, and that's fine if you want to argue that. I dont think he can lead a team too far in the playoffs again despite the ECF run. But he's clearly a starting caliber player. I think he'd be amazing playing with Wemby.

because its not supposed to make sense, trae young went againist the nba establishment with his choice of basketball style.. he was supposed to be " the chosen one" and he went to the "dark side" lol by choosing to emulate harden aka darth vader

ShootersShoot wrote:

ChuckChilly wrote:

ShootersShoot wrote:Man, what a stupid thread.

Im just trying to figure out how a player can supposedly be a player "you can't win anything with", but then be a bonafide starter. Isn't the point of the game to win?

Do you consider Lauri markkanen or scottie barnes bonafide starters? After all, their teams had a worse record than the hawks.

I never said I didn't think Trae was starter material. I'm just trying to get the logic of other people here. I'm not even a fan of his even though I watch the Hawks every single game, but people say so many egregious things about Trae that it makes my brain go in knots. Like calling him a midget when he is the same height or taller than Darius Garland, Kyle Lowry, Mike Conley, and Terry Rozier, while being just an inch shorter than Tyrese Maxey, Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson. All starting guards in the playoffs.

NBA4Lyfe wrote:

hardenASG13 wrote:How do some people think he isn't a starter? He's close to if not an all star. When you hear he's overrated it means he shouldn't be considered a star, and that's fine if you want to argue that. I dont think he can lead a team too far in the playoffs again despite the ECF run. But he's clearly a starting caliber player. I think he'd be amazing playing with Wemby.

because its not supposed to make sense, trae young went againist the nba establishment with his choice of basketball style.. he was supposed to be " the chosen one" and he went to the "dark side" lol by choosing to emulate harden aka darth vader

I don't remember anyone calling him the chosen one.

He will never be a 1 or 2 option for a contender. I do think he can be a starter player depending on the cast around him. He just gives up too much on the other side, and he's not the more efficient player.

"Add to ignore list"

hardenASG13 wrote:

NBA4Lyfe wrote:

hardenASG13 wrote:How do some people think he isn't a starter? He's close to if not an all star. When you hear he's overrated it means he shouldn't be considered a star, and that's fine if you want to argue that. I dont think he can lead a team too far in the playoffs again despite the ECF run. But he's clearly a starting caliber player. I think he'd be amazing playing with Wemby.

because its not supposed to make sense, trae young went againist the nba establishment with his choice of basketball style.. he was supposed to be " the chosen one" and he went to the "dark side" lol by choosing to emulate harden aka darth vader

I don't remember anyone calling him the chosen one.

lol they were calling trae the next steph curry when he was at oklahoma and this was at pretty much the height of "steph curry mania"

steve kerr, steph curry immiedately shot down the trae/steph comparisons until they saw that trae was putting up elite numbers( after spending a summer in houston with james harden), then like snakes they tried to get back in traes good graces( but it was all fake) as steve kerr completely snubbed trae young from team usa.. lol and team usa ended up embarrasing us on the world stage, those fiba refs arent quite as good at corruption as the nba refs huh





https://www.basketballnetwork.net/latest-news/gilbert-arenas-is-very-critical-of-steve-kerrs-team-usa-after-neglecting-trae-young-yet-again

tsherkin wrote:

HMFFL wrote:One of these days we'll see how effective Trae can be when he has a future hall of famer in the frontcourt as a teammate. The man cannot dunk, so that's not an option, but he's very good at everything else on offense. Try looking over his numbers.

He could really use a high-end big to feed, and then a decent wing. A situation where he doesn't have to be a high-20s volume scorer would be pretty sweet for a dude with his shooting and playmaking. He is quite deft at moving the ball around, but you can't give him Dejounte Murray and sadness and expect him to be The Guy in the way that some of the larger guys can for at least a round or two.

Yeah that would be great but you can't pay that guy $45 million. That's the major problem, not that he probably is one of the worst defenders to ever play in the NBA. He does have a high assist rate but also a high turnover rate, and career-wise he's just a league-average 3-point shooter. You just can't pay that guy to be your offensive #1 and expect to win.

hauntedcomputer wrote:
Yeah that would be great but you can't pay that guy $45 million. That's the major problem, not that he probably is one of the worst defenders to ever play in the NBA. He does have a high assist rate but also a high turnover rate, and career-wise he's just a league-average 3-point shooter. You just can't pay that guy to be your offensive #1 and expect to win.

So, his turnover rate isn't actually a big deal because it's a match off to his assist rate. At 45% to 16%, that's not remarkable. Magic was a career 40.9% AST, 19.4% TOV guy, for example. 86-91, he was at 46.9% and 18.1%. Stockton was a career 50.2% AST, 20.8% TOV guy. Nash was at 48.6% and 21.4% from 05-12.

So that actually isn't any sort of issue at all.

Trae has some issues, for sure, but that isn't one of them. I agree that he's paid too much, though, and obviously that he shouldn't be the #1 option. That's the problem, he's being overextended and overpaid due to the role he's been painted into. And it doesn't suit him.

mowcrowbar wrote:"Add to ignore list"

My title was extreme for a reason, but I probably should have just put "should Trae be a 6th man" so it wouldn't appear like I'm trolling.

Trae has made great improvements with his defensive ability. He is not nearly as bad as he was a couple of seasons ago. He is never going to be great at his size. He has adapted his defensive game.

ChuckChilly wrote:Most of the takes on here is that Trae's defense and overall basketball IQ is so bad that it completely negates any of the positives he brings. This led me to question if most people think he's starter worthy or even a NBA player at all. Whats your take?

Yeah, you are asking the wrong question. Obviously he is starter but is he someone you want to build around or want as your first or second option is the real question.