Trae Young’s NBA debut against Knicks anything but easy: ‘Humbling is the word’
NEW YORK — The stage was set for Trae Young to have his “Hello, World” moment in the NBA, to light up the New York stage with long bombs and quick bursts to the basket that would quiet the faint but growing questions about a draft-night deal that will forever link him to the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic.
Instead the New York Knicks had other plans, unwilling to play nice in the debut of the Atlanta Hawks rookie who’s been compared to the likes of Stephen Curry and Steve Nash … or the next great bust.
No great declarations were made in the Knicks’ 126-107 season-opening thrashing of the rebuilding Hawks, and Young’s 14 points, six rebounds and five assist won’t do anything for either side of the debate on his professional prospects.
Unfazed, Young walked through the bowels of Madison Square Garden with his shooting shirt on, nonchalantly and rhythmically snapping his fingers with an ease he likely wished he performed with in his debut while hearing the faint cheers of the Knicks faithful in the background — essentially at his expense.
Most of his lone season at Oklahoma featured shots too long to measure and a fervor many have welcomed to today’s game. Those moments were dampened on Wednesday evening.
“I could’ve played a lot better,” Young told Yahoo Sports after the game. “Made a few turnovers that I wasn’t making in the preseason. That’s gonna happen. I’m gonna continue to grow.”
What used to be a playground for opposing stars was anything but on this night, as Young was harassed and smothered into a nondescript debut.
“Humbling is the word,” Hawks first-year head coach Lloyd Pierce told Yahoo Sports about Young’s performance. “Patience.”
Pierce has the temperament and demeanor to ride out Young’s highs and lows that are sure to come. The Hawks aren’t saddled with unfair expectations, and Young doesn’t play in a city that has such a strong basketball lineage that he won’t be able to breathe in his own ecosystem.
“This is great. It’s great,” Pierce said without a hint of sarcasm. “It’s really about when you’re young and used to success, you’re used to doing everything. … There’s a big-picture focus that we have.”
Make no mistake, Young wanted his first game to show the world he’s next in a long line of successful point guards in a game that now allows for freedom, creativity and — most importantly for him — unbridled 30-footers with plenty of time on the shot clock.
“When you’re young, you think you just hit a shot, you need to make the next one. It’s not [that way],” Pierce said.
Instead, Young found the lanes closing quickly, arms flailing and broad shoulders impeding his progress to the basket, helpless as these starless Knicks blitzed the Hawks in the second quarter with a 49-point outburst that turned the game on its head.
Young found another diminutive point guard, another former college star who came to the league with outsized expectations, another “Trae” of sorts, taking advantage of him as the game started to slip away.
Trey Burke was a lottery pick coming off an accomplished career at the University of Michigan and looking to join the point guard party in 2013. But he found defenses too quick and too eager to pounce and he was considered too small to distinguish himself before a winding road brought him back to a prominent role in the NBA — and into the post against Young.
Burke hit a fadeaway the first time, and baited Young into a foul a few possessions later from the same spot on the floor, barking to anyone within earshot, “He can’t guard me.”
Yes, humbling is the word, whether Young sees it that way or not.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say humbling, but it’s a learning experience,” Young told Yahoo Sports. “First time playing in the Garden, first time playing against these guys. I’m trying to get a feel for everybody.”
It won’t get any easier, as the talent at this position is as deep as it’s ever been, and the rules leave point guards on an island with little help in sight.
It won’t be long before Trey Burke turns into John Wall’s end-to-end speed, Russell Westbrook’s relentlessness, Damian Lillard’s boulder on his shoulder, and, oh yeah, that Curry fellow in the Bay Area.
The Hawks are aware that monitoring Young’s minutes, usage and even mental fatigue will play a huge part in his rookie experience.
“The target is a little different,” Pierce said. “He can play 25 minutes and [he’s facing] full-court pressure. We gotta look at all that, for a guy like that, to understand success doesn’t just come to him.”
Young’s four turnovers were more a function of the game being fast than him whipping careless passes around the floor. And even though a few of his forays to the basket were met with hard knocks, a few looks at the film will have him adjusting to the length and speed of the NBA.
“Everybody wants to see the Trae Young that’s gonna come shoot threes, but at the same time, that man can pass the ball,” Hawks veteran Vince Carter told Yahoo Sports. “You can still affect the game. He gets it.”
It’s here where Carter, 41, can impart his wisdom on Young, and it’s a primary reason why the Hawks signed him this offseason, to be a positive influence when the season begins to take its toll.
“We sit by each other a lot. We talk. I try to talk to him during bad times more than good times,” Carter said. “The best time to grow is when you’re having the worst time. It’s hard to accept.”
Carter had to chuckle at the parallels of sorts. He entered the league in 1998 with fanfare of a different kind, a high-flyer from North Carolina who was on the way to posterizing virtually every big man he encountered.
When asked about the first time he felt that target on his back, he didn’t hesitate: “The Knicks,” he told Yahoo Sports. “The Knicks. Period. The whole damn team.
“It’s nothing nobody can tell you. We can prepare you verbally. Nothing like going through it. Now we see it. Now you move forward.”
And moving forward for this team will feature plenty of losses and tough nights through the rebuild, but as Young casually strolled through the halls of MSG, he wasn’t letting an underwhelming night overshadow his own big picture.
“You can’t have your head down. It’s just one game. You let your head hang after one game, you’re gonna lose a lot more,” Young told Yahoo Sports. “It’s something you have to learn from. We’ll bounce back.”
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