Getty Images Steph Curry and Kevin Durant celebrating after scoring a basket.
Trae Yong has been compared to Steph Curry since college.
But one NBA legend says that he doesnt play anything like Steph.
“I don’t really believe that,” said 17 year NBA legend, Rod Strickland.
Young is a huge fan of Strickland and reached out to him for guidance this summer before he was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. “He reached out to me to ask me how he could ever have a game like that,” Rod Strickland told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“I basically told him that that’s part of the process. What you experience one game is good because now you know what’s in front of you…I told him it’s going to make him better.”
Strickland was drafted by the New York Knicks with the 19th pick in the 1988 NBA Draft.
The NBA’s assists leader in 1998, Strickland played for the Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets.
Strickland sees longevity in Trae Young’s future. “He’s really great at ball strength,” he said.
GettyAtlanta Hawks guard Trae Young
“He sees the court, so I think he has a bright future. The way the NBA is played now, with the court spread– whether he’s on the ball or off the ball, he can make plays, he can make shots. The NBA is looking for shot makers. The NBA is threes, drop the ball and kick it to threes, transition threes, and ball screen. That’s mostly the NBA. I think he’s good enough to do that.”
Strickland posted career numbers of 13 points, three rebounds, and seven assists during his career. He shifted into coaching after becoming an assistant coach with John Calipari at both Memphis and Kentucky,.
He says the world will be his oyster in the NBA. “He didn’t shoot a good percentage in college,” he said.
“But he took some bad shots in college, he was forcing shots in college. But that was the college game. That was their system. But I think if he gets quality shots in the NBA, which he will, I think it becomes different.”