Hawks Notes: Accountability, Collins, Coaching Change, Young

Forward John Collins showed appreciation for Nate McMillan, who was recently dismissed as head coach, but said his coaching may have been better served on a veteran team rather than a relatively young one like the Hawks, according to Gabriel Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required).

“I feel like everybody isn’t going to be on board with all of anyone’s decisions, but I’m saying more so in terms of what Nate was asking from us as a group and where we are mentally, professionally, in years and experience,” Collins said. “It just kind of creates a divide of the expectation versus where we are, what we have developed to as young players. So I feel like he’s a little bit more suited for just guys who are older, understand the game. Whereas the young team, we need guidance. And I feel like we need a different kind of guidance. Hopefully, our new coach can come in and bring us that spark.”

He believes player development should be a point of emphasis for the new coach. However, Collins also said the players need to do a much better job at holding each other accountable.

“I feel like we’re all young. We want to develop into the best players we can be,” Collins said. “So, you know, what we do before and after games and just being held accountable to a certain standard. We just need to grow up mentally. I feel like we’re talented, we’re extremely talented in a lot of aspects with the basketball and what we do on the court. But in terms of leadership, togetherness, the brotherhood, the culture we have here, that’s where we need to grow and hold each other accountable. Just making sure we’re mentally locked in in the right areas to succeed on the court.”

Collins then expanded on how the players can become better leaders, per Burns.

• Collins remains in the NBA’s concussion protocol and will be out Friday versus Cleveland, tweets Hawks reporter Brad Rowland. Collins was involved in a collision last Wednesday against New York and was later diagnosed with a concussion.
• All eyes will be on Trae Young over the coming weeks, months and into next season, according to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, who notes that Young has now had well-known differences with two coaches who were subsequently let go in fewer than five seasons. Schultz asked Hawks GM Landry Fields about the topic. “Whenever you see that in the past, those are definitely areas you want to maintain a focus on,” Fields said. “But for us, it’s not a huge concern and to place any emphasis on Trae in these matters is totally unfair to him, in my opinion.” Schultz believes Young needs to make drastic improvements as a leader, and suggests Collins’ comments about accountability could be pointed at Young, though Collins declined to provide names.
• Young had an excused absence for the past two days, which is why wasn’t around for media availability, per Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Young later sent out a tweet saying that he was dealing with a family medical issue.
• In case you missed it, the Hawks are reportedly targeting Quin Synder to replace McMillan. The details are here.