Reports surfaced throughout last season that there was a disconnect between Hawks star Trae Young and former coach Nate McMillan, who was fired in February before Atlanta made its final playoff push.
The Hawks moved quickly in replacing McMillan, hiring former Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who is widely respected across the league as a very good coach, and quickly earned the trust of Young in ways that McMillan couldn’t.
It was clear throughout the postseason that Snyder and Young had a good working relationship, and Young’s recent comments on The Draymond Green Show only further cemented the belief about the relationship between star player and coach.
“Anybody who’s been in this business, they know that getting past the first round is hard,” Young began. “So winning a championship is at a whole ’nother level, so that’s not easy. When people say you don’t have to go through anything—stuff like that—I mean confrontation with your coaches and players, like sometimes it’s good and it’s what’s needed to get better and push forward. Hopefully Quin for me is my Steve Kerr. I hope Quin is the guy that we win three, four championships with. I mean, that’s my plan.”
"I hope Quin is the guy that we win 3, 4 championships with. That's my plan."
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) July 17, 2023
—@TheTraeYoung talked to @Money23Green about his new head coach at the @uninterrupted Film Festival pic.twitter.com/YvxGKzrOKF
Young and the Hawks fell to the Celtics in six games in the first round of the East playoffs last season, but the expectation is for Atlanta to be much better in Snyder’s first full season with the team when the season kicks off in a few months.
