Trae Young is as atrocious at defense as he is great at offense...

[Smoke117]

The numbers don't lie:

Looking at the data, the best two offenses in the NBA are the Dallas Mavericks and whichever team is playing against Young and the Hawks. Doncic and the Mavs lead the NBA by scoring 116.1 points per 100 possessions. When Young is on the court, Hawks opponents are also pouring in 116.1 per 100..

And just as Atlanta's offensive on/off numbers reveal how important Young is on that end of the floor, the team's defensive numbers have an opposite plotline. With Young on the bench, the Hawks' defensive rating is 106.8, which would rank just below the Clippers for sixth best in the NBA.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28822418/the-problems-trae-young-signature-plays

That shows how much it actually matters to be able to defend at the PG position in this perimeter era. Young is a great offensive player whose contributions are basically erased as he's pretty much a matador on the defensive end letting every single guard do what they want. The hawks literally fall from a top 5 worst defensive team in the NBA to a top 6 team when he's not on the floor...jesus.

[Smoke117]

I don't want to hear about this bullshit about he's so small and weak that he can't play defense...The Point God, Chris Paul is barely 6 feet and 35+ and he's still one of the best defensive guards in the world. That bullshit excuse is just that...bullshit.

[scuzzy]

:lol

[Smoke117]

The hawks LITERALLY drop an entire 10 points when Young is on the floor defensively. It doesn't even matter what he does offensively when he's the definition of a cancer on the other end.

[Ghost1]

he also looks like a lollipop that fell between the couch cushions

[Whoah10115]

He's also in his 2nd season after a year in college, and they're a bad team.

No one is giving him big awards this season.

[tontoz]

I think Trae's defensive weakness is one of the reasons they got Capela. He can cover up some of Trae's defensive lapses.