Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young was snubbed from the All-NBA team list

With the amazing season that Trae Young had in his second year with the Atlanta Hawks, he was an unfortunate All-NBA team snub.

The league released their All-NBA teams, and Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young received one Second Team vote and 10 Third Team votes. There were cases to be made for other players such as Bradley Beal, but Young has a more legitimate case on his hands.

In year two of his career, Young averaged 29.6 points and 9.3 assists for the Hawks. Both of those totals put him in the top five of each of the categories. Though the numbers he produced didn’t contribute to many wins, Young kept the Hawks competitive in most games.

When you look at all three All-NBA Teams, each player was in the playoffs. When the NBA  announced All-Stars for the season, the knock against Young was that he didn’t have the Hawks in playoff contention.

The team had expectations of improving, but injuries and an unexpected suspension of John Collins hurt them to start the season.

If the Hawks had made the playoffs, there’s a good chance Young would have made a team.

Looking at the players that made All-NBA teams, you can’t say that none of them deserved it. What you can say is that Young could have made it over a few people.

The first person to look at is Ben Simmons.

Simmons is definitely an All-Star and possesses a passing ability and size that most guards don’t have. Add that he’s one of the best defenders at his position and you have a player that can be a rough comparison to Magic Johnson.

The problem with Simmons is that he’s not a great offensive player. He can get to the rim with ease, but once you take that away, he can’t be productive in the half-court.

Young has an argument for his spot on the All-NBA Third Team. He averaged more points and assists than Simmons, and he was the best player on his own team.

Joel Embiid is arguably the best player on the Philadelphia 76ers, and he didn’t make an All-NBA team. Something just doesn’t seem right.

Many thought that Kyle Lowry should’ve made the third team list over Simmons, but Young also had a better season than him.

It looks as if the list is made for players that have good teams, but doesn’t that take away from individual stats? The voters have made the award about team success, and not what the player has done.

You could say that Young played like a top-five point guard this season. You can’t say the same thing about Simmons and Lowry.

To make things fair, there’s another reason Young didn’t make an All-NBA team this season.

Young has a case for what he did on the offensive side of the ball, but what may have held him back was his defense. He’s been ranked as one of the worst defensive players in the league in his first two seasons, and it’s mostly due to his size.

If he can show some improvement on that side of the ball, he can have a chance to make an All-NBA team in the near future.

With Atlanta Hawks GM Travis Schlenk continuing to improve this team every year, Trae Young will soon be able to make an All-NBA team, if team wins are a requirement.

For Young, it won’t be the question on if he’ll make a team, but when he will make it.