ATLANTA – By almost any acceptable measure, this season has been a failure for the Falcons. They haven’t won as many matches as they should have. They failed to win a playoff run for the second year in a row. They fired their head coach (Nate McMillan), kicked out the former head of basketball operations (Travis Schlink) and at one point saw the franchise turn into a slam dunk for his dysfunction.
But something significant has happened over the past few weeks, and it’s probably more important than winning a few more games: Trae Young has been sold on his head coach.
“I mean, Quinn (Snyder) is the future,” Young said. “I think with him here this city will win the championship.”
This was late Thursday night, after a 126-120 loss to the Celtics eliminated the Hawks from the playoffs in six games. I asked Young how he had felt playing for Snyder over the past two months and his thoughts on the future, which seemed important given Young’s falling out with his first coaches, Lloyd Pearce and McMillan. What followed was a love fest.
He called Snyder “really smart”.
He said he was “really excited” about the future.
When it came to defence, he said, “There are things I’ve improved at. If I make a mistake, I’ll apologize. I’m not going to be perfect now but there are a few things I’m going to focus on this summer and next season that I’m looking forward to.”
On Snyder’s arrival late in the season: “It’s kind of tough when you get to the position (during) the year and you want to put your stuff down but everybody’s already played 40 or 50 games or whatever number of games we’ve played in that time,” Young said. “I think it’s going to be great. For us, I’m excited about the future with him.”
If you need a moment to absorb these words, that’s understandable. Accountability and maturity were sometimes an issue for Young.
The Falcons lost the game and the playoff series. But there was not the same level of doom as after last year’s opening round loss to Miami. They won two games over the heavily favored Celtics, including game five in Boston when they missed a suspended Djaunt Murray. They almost won Thursday to force a Game 7.
The Celtics must have felt like they ran away. They were clearly supposed to be the better team but they often didn’t play their part. This game had 22 lead changes and 15 ties. But Young, after a 38-point night in Boston in a 25-point Game Five and a half first Thursday, struggled in the final two quarters. Ice Trae got cold: 1-for-13 from the floor and five points in the second half.
The Celtics cornered a bit more, Young said, and Marcus Smart rarely let go of his player in the second half and was “more aggressive.” “In the first half… I was able to hold the ball with his direct dribble and attack immediately and create some space, but in the second half he was more attached to me.”
The Hawks led 113-110 with less than five minutes left, but then Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Jason Tatum scored 3 straight seconds and the Hawks never got close to five points the rest of the game.
The series has come to its logical conclusion. But if Young really bought into Snyder — and vice versa — that sounds like progress.
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The Hawks were never expected to be a serious postseason contender when Snider took over with 21 games remaining. The introduction to this season as well as his team was all about giving him a chance to take stock of the roster and move on and start implementing some of his philosophies and plans.
The Hawks have a bloated payroll and many mismatched pieces. They need to take important steps. But the beginning of the shift has emerged to turn to Young, and whether Snyder will be able to relate to him remains to be seen.
Apparently, he has. When asked about Young that day, the coach said, “He and I have been talking about this summer, connecting and getting better. Trey is talented and he can get better, he wants to get better and I’m going to try to help him get better.”
This was as clear a statement as Snyder’s was about Young’s future in Atlanta. Then came Young’s words after the final loss. He talked about “bringing the right pieces” for Snyder, and about setting up a summer camp and full training with his coach.
“We couldn’t even make the playoffs,” Young said. “It could have been worse. We have to focus on the future now. We can’t worry about the past and everything that happened all season, all the bullshit and stuff. We showed in moments what we can do with Quinn as our coach.”
Young never spoke in such glowing terms about a head coach, even when he hugged McMillan during his run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. It certainly didn’t help matters.
It should also be noted that Snyder is Young’s first head coach with a level of independence and security. It is also possible that Young realized that his own reputation in the league had been in tatters and that he was being humbled. Regardless, something seems different now.
Snyder’s motto since taking office has been “to be the best version of ourselves”. The Hawks were the ones in this series, given the circumstances and recent wreck.
In a quiet locker room afterwards, DeAndre Hunter said, “It’s hard to change coaches in the middle of the year. Different plays, different language, everything’s different. But in this series, we just said we’d nail it and we did.”
Snyder has praised the players and coaches he has inherited and acknowledged that the past several weeks have given him some ideas. But he said a lot about the future.
“I need a chance to process this whole thing,” he said.
But one potential problem may have been resolved.
(Top photo: Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)