Trae Young believes in the future of the Atlanta Hawks with Quin Snyder in charge.
These comments came on the heels of the Hawks' elimination in Game 6 at the hands of the second-seeded Boston Celtics. Yet that loss, or even the claim, isn't the story -- the budding relationship between Trae Young and Quin Snyder is.
Despite only posting a 13-15 record after taking over in March with only 21 games left in the regular season, Snyder appears to have this team on the right trajectory. That starts with his star buying in.
Snyder walked into a seemingly untenable situation. The team's architect was unceremoniously ousted, its head coach was fired (for the second time in three years), and its star was clearly frustrated.
Yet somehow, here we are.
"I'm excited for this summer. Quin (Snyder) is one of the best coaches I've ever had," Trae Young said on Friday afternoon during his end-of-season media availability. "He brings something special to our team. I really enjoy playing for him."
Even in such a small sample size, we saw flashes of what this team could become. We saw it in Game 5 when Atlanta was a 13-point underdog and was without suspended Dejounte Murray in a road matchup against the NBA title favorites. The team went to war for its coach and, despite the loss last night, we saw that again in Game 6.
“It’s kinda tough when you're in the position (during) the year and you want to put in your stuff but everybody’s already played 40, 50 games, or however many we’ve played at that point,” Young said on Thursday after the game. “I think he’s going to be great for us and I’m excited for the future with him.”
Now with a full summer ahead for them to implement the new head coach's vision, we could see further growth from the Hawks.
An offseason of change looms large in Atlanta. There's a bloated payroll and it feels like the island of misfit toys at times, but with Snyder in charge and Trae bought in, there's plenty of room for optimism.