NBA Draft Profile: Oklahoma G Trae Young

Trae Young

Position: Guard

Height: 6-2

Weight: 178

School: Oklahoma

Young is often described as a "polarizing" prospect. In reality, most people who watch him can agree on a couple things - he's a gifted scorer with glaring defensive deficiencies, and he had to handle a ridiculous amount of the offensive load as a freshman at Oklahoma. Where people split on Young is their projection of him in the NBA.

In his only college season, Young led the country with 27.4 points per game and 8.7 assists per game. He was a bit of a one-man team for the Sooners, who lost eight of their last 10 games heading into March Madness, sneaking in with an 18-13 record. Young's shooting dipped during that stretch, as he shot 25.3 percent from three-point range.

A McDonald's All-American and five-star prospect coming out, Young averaged 42.6 points as a senior in high school. The kid can score.

Strengths
Young has plenty of offensive strengths - deep range, a quick release, tight handles, a nice floater. He also showed the ability to draw fouls, averaging 8.6 free throw attempts per game, which will be a valuable skill against NBA defenders who try to bully him, and he has good instincts and vision as a passer. You also have to be impressed that he carried his team as a 19-year-old freshman, with his 37 percent usage rate highest in the nation.

Weaknesses
Even with all those strengths, Young is far from a perfect offensive player. Turnovers per game (5.2) is not a good stat to lead the country in. His small frame is also a concern at the NBA level, though Young said at the combine he's already gained 10 pounds of muscle. You could also criticize Young's shot selection at times, although you have to consider that he had the burden of putting the team on his back. The No. 1 issue for Young, however, is defense. His lack of elite athleticism and lack of size hurts him the most on that end, and his defensive effort was often subpar, even with the caveat that he obviously had to exert a lot of energy on offense.

How he'd fit with the Sixers
This is a very interesting question. If the Sixers are going to take a guard, chances are he'll be a good defender with length and athleticism, qualities that Young does not possess. That said, Young can certainly shoot and create his own offense, both skillsets the Sixers would like to add. It's not so crazy to envision him lighting it up off the bench as a rookie, occasionally playing off the ball with the first unit. But the Sixers would likely have to hide him defensively. Still, the team might feel that Young can turn into an adequate defender and that his elite offensive abilities make up for his weaknesses on the other end.

NBA comparison
Young is somewhere between Stephen Curry and Jimmer Fredette, players with insane college stats who obviously turned out very differently. Former Sixer Lou Williams isn't a bad comparison for Young, though Young is a better passer and more ready to contribute immediately than Williams was straight out of high school. That said, the two are very similar physically, and they're both electric scorers who are vulnerable defensively.

Draft projection
The odds are Young will go somewhere between No. 5 and No. 9. It would be a surprise if he fell to the Sixers at 10, so if the Sixers want him, they'd likely have to trade up.