Numbers rarely in question for Young
Other things are up for debate
The numbers that Atlanta guard Trae Young are putting up are notable, averaging 28.1 points and 11.3 assists per game so far this season. Keep that up for an entire season, and he’ll do something that only Oscar Robertson, Tiny Archibald and James Harden have accomplished.
Stats like those typically get a player at least mentioned in an MVP conversation.
With Young, it might not even be a guarantee that he’ll be in the All-Star conversation.
The Hawks opened their post-Christmas schedule at Chicago on Tuesday night, when Young was trying to do something that nobody has ever pulled off in NBA history. He had at least 30 points and 10 assists in each of his last seven games, tying Robertson’s league-record stretch done in the 1964-65 season.
Nobody other than Robertson, until now, had ever managed that in more than five consecutive games.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m going to stop you right there,” Young said after he tied Robertson’s mark over the weekend. “Let’s go to another question. I don’t want to talk about my stats. Let’s talk about something else. Thank you, though. Appreciate you.”
He had to settle for tying Robertson’s record of 30-10 point-assist games: Young had 21 points and 13 assists in Atlanta’s 118-113 loss at Chicago on Tuesday.
But maybe the way Young didn’t want to talk about tying the mark is a sign of maturity from someone who has a confident swagger that can be perceived as arrogance. To his credit, he’s 6-foot-1 and might be the lightest guy in the league; the Hawks list him at 180 pounds, which seems generous. He doesn’t often let being the smallest player on the floor impede him in any way when it comes to putting up numbers.
But sometimes, his numbers get looked at as empty calories. Young’s stretch of 30-point, 10-assist games seemed barely noticed.
And it should be noted, the banged-up Hawks went 3-4 in those seven games with Young on this 30-10 tear. Great numbers, not great results.
“You can’t evaluate a player’s performance necessarily based on their stat line,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “That’s particularly true when you have a playmaker or a leader on the court.”
While Young’s intangible leadership skills also might get lost in the shuffle, if people did evaluate him solely on the numbers, he’d be far more revered.
Young averaged 26.7 points and 10.3 assists before the All-Star break last season — and didn’t make the All-Star Game.
Snyder points out some of the things that he believes Young doesn’t get enough credit for, like taking charges — no small feat since basically everyone in the NBA is bigger than he is. Young has helped the Hawks make the playoffs in each of the last three years as well, though at 12-18 now, Atlanta has some work to do if it will extend that streak next spring.
Young made it clear that he wasn’t happy about not being picked for the team that USA Basketball sent to the World Cup in Manila earlier this year. That, combined with no All-Star nod and not making the All-NBA team last season, seems to have made Young even more defiant.
“If you don’t think I’ve been disrespected, I mean, you’re just not telling the truth,” Young said when this season started.
Maybe he has been disrespected. Maybe he hasn’t merited more respect yet.
His numbers are elite, but for the Hawks — and for Young — to reach their full potential, those numbers need to add up to something bigger than stats.