‘He’ll be an All-Star:’ Trae Young on hot streak but focused on wins

For Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce, there’s really no doubt about whether Trae Young will be an NBA All-Star for the second consecutive year.

“That won’t be an issue,” Pierce said with a laugh Saturday, one day after Young dropped 41 points on the Wizards in a Hawks victory. “He’ll be an All-Star. That won’t be an issue, it’s can we get some other guys to be All-Stars as well? It’s nice to be in a position where we say we think we’re capable of getting two or three. Trae will be an All-Star, that’s without a doubt.”

Pierce pointed to Clint Capela, John Collins and De’Andre Hunter as players on a much-improved Hawks team who should be in All-Star consideration alongside Young, who was named a starter in the All-Star game last year. Voting began Thursday, with starters determined by a combination of fan, player and media votes, and reserves will be selected by head coaches.

The Hawks snapped out of their slump, have a winning record at 10-9 and are No. 6 in the Eastern Conference standings, and Young’s stellar past few performances are a big reason why, along with improved team defense and contributions from the other names Pierce mentioned. It has taken this season’s Hawks team only 19 games to reach 10 wins, while last season’s team took 42 games.

For Young, the Hawks being more competitive this season is what matters most, not whether he’s an All-Star again. With his numbers, though, he will have an extremely strong case if this pace continues, as they’re not far from what qualified him as a starter last year (he was averaging 29.2 points and 8.6 assists per game at the time of the final vote last season).

As of Saturday evening, Young ranks No. 10 in the league in scoring (27.0 points per game) and No. 4 in assists (8.6 per game).

“It obviously would mean a lot to me to be an All-Star again,” Young said. “But at the same time, like I’ve said since the beginning of this year, winning is my main focus, and it’s been better this year; we’ve been winning more, and I think that’s what people have been wanting to see.

“So, we’ve been doing that, and that’s been my main focus is doing that, and I know everything else will take care of itself, which I hope it does.”

Over the Hawks’ past six games with Young available, in which they’ve gone 5-1, Young is averaging 34.7 points and 8.7 assists per game. Adjust that to the past five games, and he’s at 37.6 points per game, shooting 48.6% from the floor, 53.7% from 3-point range and 87.9% from the line.

What’s allowed him to sustain this torrid scoring streak, Young said, is sticking to the same routine he’s always had, trusting that his practice will pay off.

“I never lose track of what’s gotten me here,” Young said. “I stay focused, I stay locked in. Whether I’m shooting it good or shooting it bad, I’m staying level-headed, and that’s what allows me to get back into a rhythm quicker than I can just stay out of it.”

He has been red-hot, bouncing back from a rough shooting stretch from Jan. 2-16, when he made seven 3-pointers over seven games (shooting 7-for-37, or 19%, over that span) and shot 39-for-119, or 32.8%, from the floor overall.

The Hawks went 1-6 in that time period.

“I’ve worked too hard to let a couple games of me not shooting well affect me,” Young said after scoring 43 points in the Hawks’ 116-98 win in Minnesota on Jan. 22, once he had gotten his rhythm back.

“I’ve put in the work, and I know it’s going to pay off eventually. So for me, while everybody was worried, or even if they weren’t, for me, I’m never worried about my game because I know the work I put in.”

In the Hawks’ 116-100 win over the Wizards on Friday, Young made his 400th 3-pointer, in his 159th career game, which became the fewest games in NBA history to reach 400 3′s (previous fewest was Damian Lillard in 163 career games). He’s also the 10th player in Hawks history to reach that total.

What has impressed Pierce the most, though, is Young’s approach the past few games, as he has been in “attack mode.” Young is one of the best in the league at drawing fouls, but from Jan. 1-15, he averaged 5.6 free-throw attempts per game. From Jan. 16-29, or the past seven games, he’s averaged 13 free-throw attempts per game.

In Friday’s win, 18 of Young’s 41 points came in the fourth quarter, and Young went 16-for-17 from the line.

“I think the temperament that he’s had over the past couple games knowing he can get back to the free-throw line at a high level, knowing he can get going late in games and knowing that he’s had some decent starts,” Pierce said, “he’s been able to stretch the game out and still have an impact scoring the basketball and finding guys, but primarily with the scoring, he doesn’t have to take the deeper shots early when he’s in heat-check (mode), he’s kind of just letting them come to him a little bit now.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP