Since Trae Young was drafted No. 5 overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, and quickly traded to the Atlanta Hawks on draft night, he’s been one of the league’s best players.
During his time as the Hawks franchise player he’s led them to the conference finals, while also personally adding to his list of accolades. Those include two All-Star nods and one All-NBA third team selection.
But despite that, he’s also been carrying around the “coach killer” label, with the Hawks moving on from Lloyd Pierce and Nate McMillan during Young’s five seasons.
During a recent episode of his “From The Point” podcast, Young took some time to give his side of things.
Young Says Some Coaches Just Don’t Mesh With Certain Personnel
In an attempt to put an end to the “coach killer” label that’s begun to follow him, Young spoke his peace.
“Certain coaches just fit certain teams … it doesn’t make them good or bad.”
“For me, I haven’t had very many coaches,” he explains. “Coming into the league, I had a coach Lloyd Pierce. Me and Lloyd had such a good relationship, but there was a lot of rocky roads. I think the reason me and Lloyd couldn’t see eye to eye on certain things is because he wants to win just as bad as I did, but the team wasn’t built to win at that time.”
“I feel like he was brought in to be a development coach,” Young says of Pierce, “and I was trying to win. … And those two things just don’t work well with each other.”
Young continued by talking about how hard he played under Pierce.
“I was playing hard, but I feel like we didn’t see see eye-to-eye, and I just feel like he didn’t believe in me as much as the organization did at times, and we just kind of bumped heads. And to be honest, I have so much love for him.”
What About Former Coach Nate McMillan?
Young didn’t speak too much on former head coach Nate McMillan, with whom he also didn’t see eye to eye, but he did rave about new head coach Quinn Snyder, who joined the team right after the All-Star break.
Young’s Dad Calls Snyder Best Thing That’s Happened To Him
In April that endorsement was seconded by, Young’s dad, Ray, who’s come to his son’s defense on numerous occasions — as any father would — like when the media and fans have tried to put the team’s failures the last two seasons solely on Trae.
Ray called Snyder, the former head coach of the Utah Jazz, “the best thing to happen” to his son in the NBA — “No disrespect at all for anyone here before.”
That says a lot, and Snyder is a damn good coach who learned to co-exist with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in Utah.
Now let’s see if Atlanta can win because it’s seems the origami action has twisted Iredell into a pretzel trying to pleaS a superstar who hasn’t produced much team success.
Luka Vs Trae
One final thing as well: The Luka Doncic and Trae Young comparisons will last forever because of the draft night trade, but let’s stop acting as if Luka has done or accomplished so much more than Trae when he hasn’t.
