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Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young has struggled out of the gate during his initial stint in Summer League, going a woeful 4-of-20 from the field during his debut against the Memphis Grizzlies, outshined by rookie big man Jaren Jackson Jr. (picked a spot before him), who dropped a tantalizing eight trifectas to start his career with a bang.
The shooting struggles continued for Young the very next day, shooting 5-of-16 from the floor, struggling to find consistency, yet still taking the same wild shots that he rained down during his lone year at Oklahoma.
Yet the 6-foot-2 dynamo wasn't overly worried about his performance, still shooting well under 30 percent through his first two games, including a combined 2-of-16 from deep.
Article Continues Below“My main thing right now is to make the right plays,” said Young, according to Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “As a team are not knocking down shots that we are going to eventually hit.”
New head coach Lloyd Pierce noted that same emphasis.
“The shots aren’t falling but I wouldn’t say he’s necessarily struggling,” said Pierce. “We charted a lot of things. We are looking at how he is facilitating and getting guys involved. For me, the biggest thing is, is he making the right plays?”
Young's shot has often come out at the short end of the rim, now faced with bigger, faster, and more athletic defenders. Despite putting on 10 pounds between the end of his college season and the NBA Draft, the 183-pound point guard is still overwhelmed by the hectic defense in the NBA — but only time will tell if he's able to adapt to an entirely different beast.
Young has the opportunity to take over the reins of the point guard position, as the Hawks look to part ways with Dennis Schroder — but this move can only be made possible if he thrives in his role and shows enough potential to be the floor general of the future.
