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THE ATHLETIC DATE: 05/29/2021

Trae Young’s star is growing and is showing no signs of slowing down soon

By: Chris Kirschner https://theathletic.com/2620700/2021/05/29/trae-youngs-star-is-growing-and-is-showing-no-signs-of- slowing-down-soon/

Trae Young walked off ’s court Wednesday after unknowingly being spat on, cursed out and taunted for his wispy hair with the Hawks having just lost Game 2 to the Knicks, and all he could do was mischievously smile while holding his index and middle finger downward with his thumb in between to make an A.

He had a message for the Knicks crowd, too: “I’ll see y’all in the A! I’ll see y’all in the A!”

As the final moments of Game 3 wrapped up Friday and a convincing 105-94 Hawks win was all but sealed to give them a 2-1 series lead, Young reminded everyone where they were.

“We’re in the A! We’re in the A!”

Knicks wing Reggie Bullock was called for a foul with under two minutes to go after getting a bit too physical with Young. That led Young to point up toward the scoreboard to remind Bullock the game was over. John Collins rushed over to protect Young, Bullock pushed Collins and was called for a technical foul.

All Young could do was laugh at the Knicks’ frustration boiling over, and it gave the Hawks’ point guard an opportunity to soak in the screams of a sold-out crowd in Arena.

“I love it. I love it,” Young repeated as he looked up to the crowd with a wide smile as chants of “MVP!” permeated the walls of the building.

Young is the star the Hawks have longed for since . That’s not to say that good basketball players haven’t played for , because that would be disrespectful to Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Paul Millsap and maybe, begrudgingly, Josh Smith, but none of those guys had pizzaz and flair like Young has.

Young embodies this city wholeheartedly. Atlantans always feel disrespected by something or someone, just like Young has felt in his three seasons in the league. And God forbid anyone not from here makes fun of something of their own because they will jump down your throat, which is represented by how fans protect and fight in Young’s honor with everyone who’s against him on the internet.

What makes this moment we’re witnessing from Young so encapsulating is we knew how special a player he was. We’ve all watched the games over the past three seasons, even when it felt like no one outside of Hawks fans were. We all sat through some miserable team performances over the past three seasons, and we all knew what the discourse was going to be surrounding Young after those games. And we all knew that whenever the opportunity came for Young to be on this stage, with this opportunity to erase all of the lame narratives, he wasn’t going to falter. He’s built for this.

Even with the Knicks blitzing him, picking him up at half court, full court, shading him all different directions, double-teaming him, getting extra physical when refs might or might not be watching, none of it has mattered. The Knicks came into this series with a heralded defense, and to give credit to them, their defense hasn’t been an issue, but it also hasn’t been a problem for Young to pick apart with relative ease.

“I’ve had so much preparation. I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this position,” Young said Friday night. “I’ve prepared, it feels like, my whole life for this stage and these moments. For me, it’s all about the hard work I put in behind the scenes that makes it easier for the game. The preparation is where it starts.”

What makes Young impossibly difficult to defend no matter how good of a team you have is his ability to adjust and improvise. In Game 1, New York mainly used its point guards to try to limit him. The second game, the Knicks tried using more of its wings. The third game, the Knicks made more of a concerted effort of trying to stop his scoring by blitzing him and being as aggressive as they could.

With the Knicks’ game plan of doing all they could to stop Young from scoring, it forced him into more of a facilitator role — a role he thrives in. Young has already established himself as one of the game’s best passers, and it was on full display Friday night. The Hawks tied a franchise record with 16 3-point makes in the postseason, and most of those were set up by Young, who finished with 21 points and 14 assists. Through his first three postseason games, Young has the most points in franchise history with 83, beating out and , both of whom have their jersey numbers in the rafters.

If the Hawks are making their shots the way they were Friday night, which wasn’t the case on Wednesday, they’re extremely tough to beat because of the amount of clean looks they get because of Young’s presence and ability to make every pass, no matter how difficult it might appear.

“When you have a guy who can find open seams, sees them and can make those passes, it just makes everything easier,” said Collins, who bounced back after a brutal foul-troubled-plagued Game 2 performance. “I feel like the defense has to respect you and play you honestly when you have a guy who can make all of those plays, as well as having guys who can make shots as well. Trae is an elite playmaker, as we all have come to know. I’m sort of used to it by now, but I don’t take it for granted.” One of the biggest areas of growth we’ve seen from Young, especially in the time Nate McMillan has coached this team, is his trust in his teammates. Since his rookie season, Young has consistently mentioned how the assist is his favorite stat he can put down for himself in the box score. Because of the talent surrounding him in his first two seasons, that stat was more challenging to get some nights, and for the Hawks to win most nights, Young would have to score 30-plus and force plays that weren’t there.

He doesn’t have to do that now. He can rely on Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, Danilo Gallinari and others to make shots this season. Young has realized the scoring doesn’t have to solely be placed on his shoulders now. He can have nights like Friday where he scores 21 and totally dominates with his passing ability.

“When I got here, he knew why I was here,” Bogdanovic said. “He needed another guy to win games. Like Nate said, he’s like a Ferrari. He’s just learning to drive a car. I think he enjoys it. He enjoys (playing) with me. I enjoy playing with him, too. He makes my game so much easier.”

That’s the underrated part of Young’s game. He makes everyone on the court with him better because of how much attention he commands. That’s why the Hawks are building around him the way they are with high-level shooters on the wing and a lob threat for when Young attacks the paint. There’s no glaring weakness in his game on that end of the floor. He scores at all three levels, he passes with both hands and makes the right reads. He’s even cut down on the careless mistakes he’s been prone to make with his live-ball turnovers through three games, which shows just how locked in he is. He only had two turnovers in Game 3.

“He’s the guy who’s controlling everything ,” McMillan said. “He’s showing growth managing and running a team. He’s showing trust and giving the ball to Bogi and getting Bogi opportunities and ‘Dre opportunities and JC and Clint, getting those guys involved. So he’s showing some growth in his play, managing and understanding what he needs to do on the floor. He’s keeping all of those guys involved while continuing to stay aggressive, and he’s making good reads. We’ve talked a number of times — he has to cut down his turnovers. He’s too good of a passer to have five and six turnovers a game. Two is OK. But five or six is a big number for a guy who passes as well as he does.”

What’s almost incomprehensible to even fully grasp right now is Young is just 22 years old. This isn’t even his final form yet. He’s only just ascending to his prime. He’s going to continue understanding how to be effective defensively, which I think has been a surprise through three games. The Knicks have, perhaps mistakenly, not attacked Young as much as expected on that end of the floor.

It should make Hawks fans feel relieved that they have one of the NBA’s best up-and-coming stars in the league. There’s no reason for anyone to doubt his abilities anymore. He’s the real deal.

“He’s in the third year in the league and he’s already showing something that the greats have shown before him,” Bogdanovic said. “So if you look at history and go through the guys who’ve been in the league, he’s pretty patient and the time will show. He’s a competitor. He likes these comments. He likes when people doubt him. He uses that as his energy to motivate himself, and he’s pretty good at it.”

The legacies of the game’s greats are mostly defined by what they accomplish in the postseason. Jordan. Kobe. LeBron. Russell. Kareem. Magic. Bird. The regular season is just the warmup for the real opportunity to show what you can do. Young’s performance through three games has reminded me of the amount of pressure rapper J. Cole had on himself when Jay Z hit him up in 2009 to appear on a track produced by called “A Star Is Born.” Cole wasn’t known in the mainstream music world yet, but his mixtapes had put him on the map and gave him credibility in the rap game. Those who were listening before Cole arrived to those not in the know knew that his flow and lyrics were upper echelon and it was just a matter of time before everyone knew.

All this time leading up to his chance to impress the rap legend, Cole was desperately trying to get signed by Roc Nation, Jay Z’s label. The first time Cole ever appeared in a studio with Jay was to record this song. To up the pressure just a little bit more, Beyoncé was also in the studio as she and Jay watched this up-and-coming rapper write and perform this verse for “The Blueprint 3.” Cole delivered in his moment, and a star was born.

Young is delivering in his moment, and his star is growing.

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