Chicago Bulls: Every reason to draft Trae Young

Reason no. 2: Passing

In addition to being the best shooter in the draft, Trae Young is clearly also the top passer in the 2018 NBA Draft. Young’s passing stats from last season:

8.7 Assists per game (Division-One Leading), 48.6 assist percentage (Division-One Leading)

It’s incredibly rare to have a player like Young, who shoots and passes so efficiently day-in-and-day-out. Most notably, Young tied the NCAA single-game record with 22 assists against Northwestern State back in December.

Throughout the 2017-18 season, the Bulls seriously lacked an efficient passer. While the Bulls ranked 10th in the NBA with 23.5 assists per game, the Bulls also ranked 13th in turnover percentage at 14 percent. In total, the Bulls’ average passing didn’t mesh well with their well below-average shooting, thus putting them in the position to pick 7th overall.

Yes, Young has a bad reputation when it comes to turning the ball over. But, Stephen Curry wasn’t always the best when it came to securing the ball. Curry has always averaged at least three turnovers per game in every season of his NBA career, and Curry averaged 3.7 turnovers per game in his final year at Davidson.

The bottom line is, ball control can be fixed, worked around, or flushed out by excelling in other areas of the game. Steph Curry, a three-time world champion and two-time MVP has struggled with turnovers throughout his career, but he’s been successful by excelling in other areas.

Turnovers aren’t good, but they aren’t the end of the world.

Now back to Young’s success with passing the ball. Young took over an Oklahoma team that went 11-20 in the season prior to his arrival. Long story short, Young made it work with a poor surrounding cast.

Now imagine what Young can accomplish when surrounded by elite shot makers such as Zach Lavine and Lauri Markkanen? Young will be able to flourish with teammates who play better both on and off the ball.