Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young practices free throws before playing against the New York Knicks on Oct. 27. (Eric Jones/Senior Staff Writer)
This year’s Atlanta Hawks team has so much potential. Trae Young, a two-time All-Star point guard, leads the squad along with guard Dejounte Murray, who returns for his second year with the team after signing a four-year, $120 million extension in July. If the two play at the top of their game, they can be amongst the best backcourt combinations in the NBA.
The Hawks are entering this season hoping to redeem themselves after finishing eighth in the Eastern Conference with a mediocre 41-41 record last year. However, if the home opener is any indication of how the rest of the season will go, Hawks fans may be in for a rough ride: The Hawks lost a tough one to the New York Knicks 126-120 on Oct. 27.
The team boasts a talented backcourt duo, and their frontcourt is also stacked with solid young forwards, such as Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson. Hunter led the team in scoring against the Knicks with 27 points, while Bogdanovic and Johnson added 16 and 11 points, respectively. If Young and Murray can complement them by consistently playing well, the Hawks can take their performance to the next level.
Players are also still adjusting to Head Coach Quin Snyder’s new coaching style. With the Hawks struggling midway through last season, Nate McMillan was fired from the head coach position and replaced with Synder, who had most recently coached on the Jazz’s staff, was hired. Given that Snyder is in his first full season with the Hawks, Young expressed that the team is still learning Snyder’s playbook but have confidence in his leadership.
“I haven’t had a coach that … preaches getting up threes, getting to the basket, getting layups and attacking the glass when we shoot,” Young said. “So I mean, this is a whole different scheme. Every coach brings something new and something different, and he’s been one of the best coaches in our business since he’s been coaching in the league. We believe in him, we trust what he’s given us. We just got to get more reps under it, and get our offense back to where it needs to be and where it should be.”
The Hawks were repeatedly down in the score against the Knicks, and while they cut the lead close to within five points, they never managed to break through and take the lead. They missed crucial scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter, including center Clint Capela’s failure to convert an alley-oop that would’ve tied the game with roughly 20 seconds left.
Young said that he mostly attributed the loss to the team’s performance leading up to the fourth quarter instead of missed opportunities down the stretch.
“If we played better throughout the first three quarters, we wouldn’t have been in that position anyway,” Young said. “I don’t get focused and caught up in the last few possessions. I feel like the whole game is important. So we got to take care of the game and every quarter. It’s not just the last few minutes.”
In the postgame interview, Snyder commended his team’s efforts but noted that a lack of execution ultimately cost them the game.
“I’m obviously happy with the way we battled back in the fourth quarter, but we made too many mistakes relative to execution on the game plan, contesting the shot,” Snyder said. “When we did some of those things, we saw some success and just said it’s a question of doing them all the time.”
Despite tallying 18 points and 12 assists, Young shot just 22% from the field and had six turnovers. Young said that he believes he can improve in “every area” and the team will have to “trust the process.”
“Us, as a team, we’re gonna get better if we just continue to listen to Quin and we just continue to get these reps up in our offense, and I feel like our offense is affecting our defense right now,” Young said. “For me, I got to do better in those positions and I will. I’ll help my teammates out. ”
Eric Jones (25B) is from Short Hills, New Jersey and is studying finance, accounting and Spanish. Outside of the Wheel, Jones volunteers for SPARK Mentorship Group, works for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and plays on the club tennis team. Jones’ hobbies include basketball, biking, tennis, volunteering and traveling.
