Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash directed some harsh criticism towards Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young a few weeks back.
During an outing between the Nets and Hawks, Young had a pick set for him, worked to get his defender directly behind him and then just stopped in place. The defender inevitably ran into Young from behind and got called for a foul.
Nash did not like that.
“That’s not basketball” – Steve Nash
Trae Young was drawing cheap fouls and Steve Nash was tired of seeing it, not being able to do anything about it. Coach Nash had to have a word with this ref. Talk heavy coach. #WeGoHard – @Keith_McPherson pic.twitter.com/tMEbkSD6Ga
— Talkin’ Nets (@TalkinNets) December 31, 2020
“That’s not basketball,” he could be seen complaining to an official.
This week, Young responded to Nash.
“I saw that it blew up and everyone was talking about it,” he said, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
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— Game 7 (@game7__) January 19, 2021
“I bet if I was playing for Steve, he’d be happy. It’s something in the midst of competition that he was wanting to win, and I was wanting to win, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes. I think him wanting to get in the refs’ ears a little bit was just trying to help him.
“I learned a lot about drawing fouls from him. If he says it’s not basketball, he must’ve been saying it about himself because he’s done it a couple of times throughout his career and was so successful.”
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— Game 7 (@game7__) January 19, 2021
So far this season Atlanta ranks second in the NBA in free throw percentage, shooting 81.9 percent. Young, meanwhile, is shooting 88.9 percent from the charity stripe and ranks second in the league when it comes to free throws attempted per outing with 9.69. The only person ahead of him is Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Young’s tactics work, so regardless of how Nash feels about them, he won’t be stopping them any time soon.
Of course, the Hawks are not without drama. Various members of the team hate the fact that Young is the franchise centerpiece, and that will need to be resolved somehow. But none of Young’s issues with his teammates have anything to do with Nash’s criticism, which was quite obviously born out of frustration and not any sort of legitimate concerns.
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