The Hawks fired Lloyd Pierce on Monday and immediately afterward there were numerous theories and rumors as to possible reasons the team moved on from its head coach.
Among the more popular ones was rifts that had developed in the clubhouse, and while some of them revolved around the relationship between LP and John Collins, who is hoping to prove he's worth a max contract, another one involves Trae Young.
Sean Deveney, who is an NBA columnist for Forbes Sports and Heavy.com, joined John and Hugh on Friday morning and dove into what he's heard and what he believes about the possibility that Young could have been a big factor in the removal of Pierce from his post as Hawks head coach.
“The players, perhaps Trae Young most importantly, weren’t necessarily behind Lloyd Pierce and that was one of the reasons behind that," says Deveney on Pierce's firing. ”Trae Young feels like he comes in after the year that he had last year and sacrificed, given up shots, done a more thorough job of trying to get everyone else involved and you look at the standings and it’s not paying off.
"If you’re Trae Young you’re looking at it like why am I sacrificing if nothing is getting better," continues Sean Deveney. "It’s performance-based and the fact that they weren’t performing, that’s what bothers Trae Young. And you see this a lot of times with developmental coaches, it’s not uncommon to see. But the surprising thing was how quickly the Hawks moved on him.”
To hear all of Sean Deveney's comments, click here.