I saw parts of a couple of Hawks games and came away with two ideas. First, I want Bembry on my team. His hustle and ability would help anyone and increase the play of his teammates. The second one is Trae Young is among a very short list of the worst defenders I've ever seen in the NBA. Last year, I thought this was so but gave him the benefit of the doubt. I realize this is only preseason but he was beyond awful. His effort last year and now on D is best described as patchy and has no clue what to do.
Unless Reddish becomes Klay Thompson, the trade last year was absolutely terrible.
Analyzing that trade on the surface is really a ridiculous thing to do without context of the two teams. Atlanta wants to be a new age NBA team with lots of 3 pointers and quick possessions/ lots of possessions. They led the league in possessions per game last year by a considerable margin (106.4 to #2 NO's 105.6). Trae fits very well into doing both of those teams with his shooting and passing (which I'd wager he leads the league in assists sometime within the next 3 years). The Hawks also managed to draft Reddish and Hunter, both considered potentially high ceiling defenders, with one of the reasons for doing so being that they would be able to cover up Trae's defensive deficiencies.
Should Trae be a better defender than he is? Probably. But it's important to realize that:
#1. That's not what the Hawks were asking from him during his rookie year, and
#2. Many first year PG's struggle defensively, and then go on to improve as their careers go on.
I'm not claiming that he will ever be an above average defender, but if he can become a below-average to average defender that the Hawks can cover up with switches from Hunter/Reddish, they will be ecstatic. Also, I'd argue that there's a real argument to be made that PG defense is less valuable than defense at other positions, but that's not really my point here.
I'm not claiming that Trae is/will be a better player than Doncic in a vacuum, or even that Reddish + Trae is/will be > Doncic. But for what the Hawks envision for the future of their team, the trade absolutely made sense and still does.