Trae Young Should Share Blame for Hawks' Disappointing Run

The Atlanta Hawks were disappointing during Trae Young's tenure. Young seems to blame the organization, but he should understand that he shares the blame himself.

Of course, the Hawks weren't perfect. They could have done a better job building around Young, but in the same breath, nobody should discredit how difficult Young is to build around.

He did not make this organization's job easy.

Moreover, nobody should discredit the Hawks' 2020-21 Eastern Conference Finals run.

It would be an exaggeration to call Young's time with the Hawks a "failure." Perhaps "disappointment" is accurate. A Conference Finals run is a real accomplishment, but when every other season was so underwhelming, it only carries so much weight.

But why were those seasons so consistently underwhelming?

Young says the teams were poorly built. He says that in Atlanta, he never had "a teammate that can draw double teams."

He's largely correct. Jalen Johnson was still developing during Young's time with the squad. Dejounte Murray was an intriguing backcourt partner, but teams will generally live with whatever he can produce in a one-on-one setting. Otherwise, Young did not play with many stars in Atlanta.

That's all true, but there's a reason why it was hard to bring in a superstar running mate for Young. NBA cap space is finite, and the Hawks needed to insulate Young with premier defenders with the space they had. He's one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

And that's a huge reason why the Hawks couldn't bring in a superstar.

Cap space wasn't the only obstacle to building a great team around Young. Ask yourself this:

If you were an NBA player, would you want to play with possibly the worst defender in the league?

How about if that player was extremely ball-dominant? Would you want to play with a guy who needs the ball to succeed if you were the caliber of player who consistently draws double teams?

This isn't meant to exonerate the organization entirely. Had the Hawks been able to bring in a Paul George type who's a high-end defender and shot creator, the Hawks could have fared better. Still, Paul George types don't grow on trees.

Atlanta's current roster construction shows how much the organization values two-way players. The Hawks have added defenders such as Lu Dort and Dorian Finney-Smith around Johnson.

Young is a tremendous talent, but he's a difficult player to build a team around. If he wants to find more success, he needs to work harder without the ball and do what he can to make up for his diminutive size on defense.

Until he can do that, he shouldn't be pointing the finger at his organization.