Trae Young‘s struggles could pay big dividends for the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night.
At this point, it’s tough to gauge where Trae Young’s draft stock stands. Once somebody who excited both scouts and fans, the Oklahoma native has hit a wall in the second half of the season. The Sooners are floundering, and Young’s struggles are a big reason why.
With those struggles come plenty of valid concerns. His frame might not hold up against NBA competition, while his shot selection becomes a bigger issue when shots aren’t falling. On top of that, he’s a defensive liability who has shown no signs of improvement on that side of the ball.
All of this should leave Philadelphia 76ers fans elated, though. Young is still a top-notch prospect with a high NBA ceiling, and even the slightest chance he could drop into Bryan Colangelo‘s lap is a tantilizing thought. He fills a lot of the Sixers’ biggest holes on the perimeter, while their roster covers a lot of Young’s biggest weaknesses.
More from Draft
- Philadelphia 76ers Ten Biggest Mistakes of the Last Ten Years
- The Sixers sign four undrafted players after the NBA Draft
- Players the Sixers should target in undrafted free agency
- How to Watch the 2023 NBA Draft as a Sixers Fan
- 2023 NBA Mock Draft: 5 wing prospects 76ers could target
Struggles and cold spells aside, Young is still averaging 27.5 points and 8.9 assists while shooting 36.1 percent from three on over 10 attempts per game. He’s in a high-volume role and is relatively efficient, which is hard to do at any level.
He’s also being asked to do virtually everything for the Sooners’ offense. They lack viable secondary and tertiary creators, leaving Young to carry the burden on a nightly basis. That’s part of the reason Young has struggled with fatique in the second half of the season — he just doesn’t have the energy needed to support that load every night.
With the Sixers, of course, Young would no longer need to carry that burden. He’d be able to work off the ball more, running around screens and using his game-breaking range to open up space for Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
People have (wrongly) labeled Young as a ball-dominant scorer with shoddy shot selection because that, to an extent, is the only role he has been asked to play. He’s capable of scaling back and making plays within the offense, though, which is something NBA teams (the Sixers) can bring out once he’s surrouned by superior talent.
Young is also a really smart player, which gets overlooked far too often. His small frame will leave questions about his finishing ability at the next level, but he’s an advanced playmaker with tight handles and the ability to break down defenders off the dribble.
Related Story: 2018 NBA Mock Draft 3.0
He’d be an easy pick-and-roll threat and somebody capable of generating offense when things slow down, something the Sixers still desperately lack at times.
Where Markelle Fultz fits into all of this is still unknown. Young and Fultz could probably coexist, even if it isn’t the best of situations on an individual level. Where Fultz’s progression leads him is still unknown, but this is one of those situations where you take the best player available and figure out the fit later.
Young obviously compliments Philadelphia’s primary core, and working Fultz into that equation is a secondary concern.
Maybe the Trae Young hype exceeded reasonable expectations earlier in the year, but he’s still an excellent prospect with a clear NBA skill set. His upside is unique, as his shooting is the kind of potentially-generational skill that few prospects possess.
Next: 2018 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0
If he somehow falls to the Sixers, taking him is a no-brainer. The Lakers pick is currently projected to fall somewhere in the 10-14 range; I doubt Young is available, but the mere possibility is something worth tracking.