Atlanta Hawks: 5 reasons Trae Young was a good pick

1. Trae Young out-produced Luka Doncic

On a per-game average, Trae Young distanced himself from Luck Doncic by nearly 13 points last seasons. His assists per game were nearly double Doncic’s as well (8.7 to 4.6).

Per game averages are a little tough though, since Young played only 32 games last year and Doncic played 61. Doncic’s season might be a little more grueling, and against better competition, but we can look at per 36 minutes numbers for a better comparison. This will help Doncic a little since he averaged only 25 minutes per game last season; Young averaged just over 35 minutes per game.

Luka Doncic scored 20.9 points per 36 minutes, showing he should be able to step up to the spotlight in the NBA. However, Trae Young still holds a sizable lead with 27.8 points per 36 minutes. Young’s 8.9 assists per 36 minutes outpace Doncic’s 6.6 assists as well.

The stats say that Young is a better shooter too, despite his heavy volume of shots. Doncic averaged five free throw attempts per game and shot 80.1 percent. Young, as stated previously, attempted nearly nine free throws a game and made over 86 percent of them last season.

Both are destined to shoot well from the 3-point line as well. FIBA international rules have the 3-point line farther back than college basketball, but closer than the NBA’s. Doncic shot just 30.9 percent when attempting a 3-pointer; we’ve already documented that Young is a 36 percent 3-point shooter and a majority of his attempts were already “NBA range.”

Next: Complete 2018 NBA Draft grades for all 30 teams

Doncic could likely be the more promising prospect, but when evaluating the numbers, Young was more productive than Doncic before either of their jumps to the NBA.