After having a full-fledged NBA season under his belt, Atlanta Hawks rookie point guard Trae Young explained the difference of playing the position in college as opposed to the NBA:

“I mean, you're managing a game in college,” Young said, with “managing” effectively in air quotes, according to ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz. “But when everyone on the court is a professional, the management is a different level.”

“The schemes — I feel like they're easier [in the NBA] because of the spacing.”

Young went from a struggling point guard trying to figure this NBA thing out to one thriving at his position as he understood the pace-and-space game the league has grown to be.

Starting from February, Young averaged a strong 23 points and nine assists per game until the end of the season, making use of the wide space to make plays for himself and his teammates:

“He learns from seeing,” said former player Kevin Garnett. “He's cerebral and this is the process where he can actually see what you're kind of explaining to him.”

Others who have made that transition have also observed the young Oklahoma product and his evolution, making the Rookie of the Year race a lot closer than most people thought it would be after the initial half of the season:

“Once he started making plays, he started shooting the ball better,” said Steve Nash, a dime wizard on his own right. “It took the pressure off his shot, because his teammates are loving the shots they're getting. And two, he's putting the defense in tough positions, because they're like, ‘Well, he's killing us either way now.'”

Trae Young finished out the season averaging 19.1 points and 8.1 assists through 81 games, erasing doubts of his fragility or the ineffective nature of his play style at the NBA level.