This time last year, the Atlanta Hawks were flirting around the .500 mark and to some, was not where the team should have been as expectations were that the then Nate McMillian led club, would have been playing more competitive basketball and would have been at least a top four to six team in the Eastern conference. However, as Atlanta continued to struggle throughout the season, eventually the club would move on from McMillan and there would be some calls for moving on from All-Star Trae Young as well.
Fast forward to this season, while Young has continued to put up All-Star numbers, recently tying Oscar Robertson for consecutive 30 points, 10 assists games at seven in a row and become fifth all-time with 71 career games with at least 30 points and 10 assist, there still seems to be some thought that Atlanta should considered Trae Young as the source of some of their issues, with some thoughts that he does not make his teammates better. On Wednesday, during The Steakhouse on 92-9 The Game, Steak Shapiro shared his thoughts on why he believes that Trae Young does not need to shoulder any blame for the team’s 12-18 start to this season.
Admitting that he himself has spent time “getting after” Trae Young in the past on the airwaves, Shapiro states that he believes in relation to this season, Young was not warranted the negative chatter about his play. “There’s nothing to get after Trae Young about,” Shapiro said, adding that he believes Young would be listed behind Dominique Wilkins as the second best player the “Atlanta Hawks have ever had,”. As he continued, Shapiro noted that Young’s assist this season give more than enough reason for fans to not be as concerned about his defensive performance, believing that Young has been playing better defensively under Snyder.
“This is not a Trae Young problem, this is so many other places. We don’t defend anybody,” as a whole Shapiro added. Click the link above to hear Steak’s comments in their entirety:
