Trae Young was last year’s runner up for rookie of the year to Luka Doncic in the NBA. This summer Young has been spending a lot of time in New York City training with NBA Trainer Chris Brickley in his Black Ops runs. During these runs, the sophomore guard out of the University of Oklahoma has been in his bag of tricks as he has been giving NBA veterans Dennis Smith Jr. and Lance Stevenson this summer.
This past season Young averaged 19.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and shooting 41.8 from the field. Dating back to his time as a sooner, Young has been compared to former back to back MVP Stephen Curry.
Earlier this season, I spoke with Curry to get his thoughts on the comparison between himself and Young.
“My name is Stephen Curry, and his name is Trae Young, and we are two different players. Obviously, I encourage him to continue to be himself and learn. He is going to be great, but he is going to be his own player,” Curry told me.
However, NBA legend Rod Stickland doesn’t believe that Young’s game resembles Curry’s at all as he spoke about on the Scoop B Radio Podcast with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson.
“I don’t really believe that,” said 17 year NBA veteran, Rod Strickland.
Last summer Young reached out to Strickland for guidance prior to being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks and then traded to the Atlanta Hawks.
“He reached out to me to ask me how he could ever have a game like that,” Rod Strickland said 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 In the 1988 NBA Draft, by the New York Knicks with the 19th overall pick. He is now the program manager with the G-League.
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Landon Buford is an accomplished sports and entertainment journalist based in Richardson, Texas, with over a decade of experience covering the NBA, WNBA, NFL, WWE, MLB, and the entertainment industry. Known for delivering high-impact stories and headline-making interviews, Buford has earned a global audience through content that blends insider access with compelling storytelling.
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