As their lopsided season comes to an end on Thursday in the hands of the Boston Celtics, Trae Young can only be excited for such greater possibilities to come with him and his Atlanta Hawks squad.
The fact that the Hawks managed to claw their way back to the playoffs after a turbulent first-half of the season, Young is proud of what they were able to accomplish as they look forward to a bright future moving ahead into the offseason.
“We could even not have made the playoffs,” Young said after their Game 6 elimination loss against the Celtics, per Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It could have been worse. We’ve got to focus on the future now. We can’t worry about the past and what all went on through the season and all that, all the nonsense. We’ve got to focus on the future and what we’ve got going. I think we showed strides. I think we showed what we can do with Quin as our coach. I’m excited for the future.”
Upon the major acquisition of Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta entered the 2022-23 campaign motivated and holding high hopes of landing themselves in the mix of undisputed title contenders in the Eastern Conference. But instead of the fulfilment of these aspirations, they endured a dramatic time in the initial part of their season.
Besides injuries and inconsistencies, the Hawks faced uncertainty on the complementing skill sets of both Young and Murray given their ball dominant tendencies. But more than all of these issues, the exit of Nate McMillan following a 29-30 start served as the focal representation of their disappointing season.
It was a disastrous beginning that the Hawks didn’t expect to blow them up. As such, they went on to tap Quin Snyder as their newest bench boss.
Snyder, who parted ways with the Utah Jazz last summer after nine years of partnership, instantly made wonders and flipped the franchise’s fortunes around. With his bright tactics and that fresh presence he offers from the sidelines, he helped the Hawks to register a 41-41 record and be able to make it to the playoffs for the third year in a row.
Though what they expected for this season didn’t go well as planned, the franchise cornerstone in Young is fully optimistic that he and Snyder will be able to carry Atlanta towards the promised land one day.
“Quin is the future,” Young said. “I believe with him here, this city’s going to win a championship.”
