Atlanta Hawks: Evaluating Trae Young’s rookie season so far

Positives

When evaluating Young’s game, his craftiness and playmaking immediately stand out.

While no one will confuse the rookie for John Wall or Russell Westbrook in terms of athleticism, he knows how to navigate amongst the trees and hunt for contact or an open teammate. Watch him manipulate the Los Angeles Lakers defense before sneaking a bounce pass to the quietly good John Collins:

Of course, everyone knew about Young’s skills as a distributor from college, and that ability to conduct an offense has translated well in the pros. As of Feb. 18, Young is averaging 7.6 assists per game — which leads all rookies and ties him for 10th in the league — but NBA.com’s potential assists metric, which includes passes to players who shoot within one dribble, has him ranked ninth in the association.

Watch any Hawks game, and you’ll see Young dish out dimes like this skip pass in transition to a slashing Dewayne Dedmon:

Here’s Young using a brief hesitation to drive by Myles Turner before kicking it out to Collins once Thaddeus Young closes in to help:

Young’s passing prowess is also aided by the respect that opposing defenders give him on his jumpers from time to time, especially since he likes to chuck it from Steph Curry range. However, that may not last long because…