Atlanta Hawks: 2018 NBA Draft grades

No. 5: Trae Young, Oklahoma (via Dallas Mavericks)

This was for sure an interesting pick for Atlanta because of the fact that they could have had Doncic. Young is one of the better offensive players in this draft though and could arguably be the best.

He can score from anywhere on the court and most importantly, he can shoot the 3. That’s obviously what people think of first when it comes to Young. The most common comparison we see from him was All-Star Stephen Curry.

Of course, no one expects him to be that good, as it would be extremely hard to do so. However, Young is very undersized at 6’2″ and 180 pounds. His statistics are off the charts though. In his only year at Oklahoma, he averaged 27.4 points, 8.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 36.0 percent from downtown.

Even if he doesn’t get to play point guard at times if they run Schroder out there with him, Young can still be effective because of his shooting abilities. If you’re not familiar with his game, here’s a look at how well this flamethrower shoots the ball and plays on the offensive end.

The biggest question mark will be his size and whether he will be able to get his shot off. His offensive IQ shows us that he won’t have a problem, and even if he does, he will find ways to adkust. His defense isn’t very good, but he can be an elite offensive player. Time will tell if that trade was worth it, but the addition of Young itself was good one at No. 5.

Grade: A-