The Utah Jazz may not want to go in on Trae Young if he becomes available
By Chad Porto
Trae Young is a name that a lot of Utah Jazz fans are focusing on right now. The fandom wants to see the Jazz go after a "star" player and he's a name many people expect to see traded. He's seen as a dynamic scorer, who shoots a lot and scores even more, but he's doing so on a team that isn't going anywhere, in part due to how it's built and also due to his own limitations. He's not a bad defender, he's worse. He's allowing guys to score on him to the point you think he was facing Steph Curry every night.
And if his league worse defense wasn't bad enough, he's not the scorer he's sold to be. He's 15th among just fellow point guards this year for his three-point accuracy according to StatMuse. Also according to them, Young is 23rd in the NBA among all guards at finishing at the rim with a rate of just 42.6. He's a high-volume scorer but it's fair to say he's not elite.
He's an average scorer at best, not even cracking the Top 25 for true shooting percentage among guards in the NBA for this season. He's a good passer, putting up back-to-back 10-assist seasons, but as he's supposed to be some dynamo, Steph Curry 2.0 type of three-point shooter, seeing how downright average he is should make any Jazz fan concerned.
He's not putting forth a great showing to make me, or really anyone think, that he's worth some huge haul. You could argue a pick in the first round and a prospect like Keyonte George, but I wouldn't o beyond that for Young. I maybe wouldn't even include George.
Young's scoring is downright league-average at best these days, and with him only being an option to score from about 15 feet out, it's easy to key up on him and take him out of the action. Plus, add on how bad he is on defense and it wouldn't be surprising to see his career go the Allen Iverson route, but faster.
Iverson was done as an elite player by 32 and earned some of the most bogus All-Star nods in NBA history. By 33 he was a bench player. I could see Young coming off the bench by 30, if not sooner. Especially if he's going to continue to not put forward any effort on defense.
The Jazz should be mindful to avoid trading for a guy like Young unless he comes in at the same cost as John Collins. Then consider it.