The next Hawks trainer will have to solve the puzzle Trae Young

Lloyd Pierce, like so many coaches, was fired for reasons beyond his control. The Hawks were supposed to push the playoffs after a painful rebuilding process in their first two seasons in charge. But waves of injuries prevented Pierce from having a full squad, and Atlanta parted ways with his coach on Monday. These injuries also prevented him from finding an answer to the dilemma that his replacement, be it interim coach Nate McMillan or someone that Atlanta hires in this off season, will have to deal with: How much can and should Trae Young play without the ball?

The Hawks gave Young the keys to the offense from day one. He has been one of the players with the most dominance of the ball in the NBA for the past three seasons:

As a result, Young accumulated large individual numbers, with career averages of 24.1 points and 8.8 assists per game. But none of this translated into the team’s success. The Hawks were one of the worst teams in the NBA in their first two seasons, and have a record 14-20 with a net rating of -0.3 this season.

There are good and bad things about having total control of crime. It is easy for Young to get into the rhythm because he always has the ball, but it also means that he has no one to prepare him for easier kicks when he is fighting. The most telling statistic, according to Synergy Sports, is that only 8% of his shots this season took place in catch situations, compared with the 39.2% he shot in the dribble.

It is an unusual situation for such a young shipowner to be. Trae made it to the league after a stint in college and was immediately one of the NBA’s smallest players, at six feet and eight pounds. He was thrown into the fire immediately. There was no apprenticeship period for him to learn the NBA game and develop physically while playing a minor role in the attack.

This is the typical career of players like him. In his early seasons, Damian Lillard played a minor role in a veteran team led by LaMarcus Aldridge. James Harden and Russell Westbrook were forced to split the ball into a super team in Oklahoma City. Steph Curry never dominated the ball like Young because of Golden State’s unique offensive system.

Ironically, the other point guard who was asked to do everything immediately is Luka Doncic, to whom Young will always be compared because of the nightly change of his teams. Neither of them showed much interest in playing with the ball. But it’s also a little bit like the chicken and the egg. Don’t they want to give up the stone because they don’t feel comfortable doing it or because there is no one on their team who they trust to pick it up?

Young never had much help in Atlanta. The team’s attack collapsed completely as soon as he left the ground in each of his first three seasons. That should change this season after the signings of Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn. Instead, it was the same story as always. The Hawks go from an offensive rating of 115.4 with Trae to 101.8 without him. That is the difference between no. 7 offenses in the NBA and no. 30

Young’s role is a long-term puzzle for the franchise, but the team’s immediate problem is injuries. Gallinari played 22 of 34 games, Rondo played 18, and Bogdanovic, who has been out since early January with an avulsion fracture in his left knee, played only nine. Dunn did not play anything while recovering from ankle surgery out of season. The most important injury was De’Andre Hunter, who injured his knee on January 29. Hunter emerged as his best two-way player in his second season, and the Hawks were unable to replace everything he provided at both ends of the floor. They are 9-9 with Hunter this season and 5-11 without him.

Atlanta could have waited to see what Pierce could do with the entire squad at his disposal, but GM Travis Schlenk felt it was time for a change. McMillan, a longtime NBA coach who was Pierce’s assistant principal after spending the last four seasons in Indiana, will have a pleasant situation. He must be more successful than his ex-boss just because he will have a better team to work with.

There are two red flags this season that may have led Atlanta to act now with Pierce. The first is performance at the decisive moment. The Hawks have the second worst net rating (-21.1 in 63 minutes) in the clutch (the last five minutes of a game with a margin of five points or less). They blew up 11 leads in the fourth quarter.

The second is the result of a history in The Athletic about a discussion in the theater between Young and John Collins. This kind of thing happens all the time in the NBA, but it rarely leaks into the media. It clearly impacted Young, who had one of the worst games of his career in the loss to Charlotte (seven points out of 2 out of 9 shots and three assists) after the contest.

The main theme in both editions is how Trae dominates the ball. Collins, who declined an extension for less than the maximum and will be a restricted free agent this offseason, was frustrated by his lack of opportunities in the attack. Despite receiving many assists from Young, he wanted the Hawks to play more freely, allowing multiple players to control the ball. It is difficult to interpret Trae’s lack of aggression against the Hornets as anything more than a criticism of Collins, with him essentially saying, “See what happens when I’m in a minor role in the attack.

But this argument goes in the opposite direction when it comes to critical time. Young is in charge of everything at those times, and he hasn’t been particularly effective. He is throwing 38.5 percent of the field and 20 percent of the 3, while distributing 13 assists and nine turns. It is difficult to pinpoint a reason, especially given the small sample size of just 63 minutes, but it cannot help the fact that defenses can attack you, knowing that no one else will initiate the attack.

Young people are almost certain to improve over time in the fourth half. He doesn’t have much experience in big games at the NBA level because the Hawks were very bad in their first two seasons. He is still five to six years away from his prime. The question for Atlanta is how your crime should be at that point.

The Hawks already have the pieces in place to be a perennial team in the playoffs. Your best players have been very effective together this season. Young, Collins, Hunter and Clint Chapel have a net rating of over-12.9 in 204 minutes. Combine these four, none of whom are more than 26 years old, with two promising wards at Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter and Atlanta have one of the best youth teams in the league.

But the game is played differently in the playoffs compared to the regular season. In the postseason, the defenses will force an owner with control of the ball to give up. A man’s offense can only go so far. The Hawks are far from ready for that, mainly because Young is not.

That’s why the next coach is so important. They will have to design an attack that empowers more than one player. Most importantly, they will have to get Young to stick to a more balanced system. Pierce had little choice but to let his star shipowner be the system in Atlanta. Until Young learns to give this up, the Hawks will always have a roof.