“He’s a guy that I’ve enjoyed working with, and he’s showing some growth,” McMillan said. In his playoff debut on Sunday, he finished with 32 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Under interim coach Nate McMillan, Young averaged 24 points, nine assists, and four rebounds. The teammates who understand that are the ones I’m closest with.” I want to bring out the best in everybody and I hope they will bring out the best in me. “Sometimes, that will come along with controversy. “The basketball version is willing to do whatever it takes to win,” he continued. There’s two different people in me: the basketball version and the personal version. But there’s one thing I hope my teammates all understand. “I’m learning how to adjust and adapt to different people. “Not everyone thinks the way I do,” Young told ESPN earlier this season. Pierce was fired in March, a move Young reportedly supported. Tensions with Lloyd Pierce also grew, as Young didn’t respond well to the coach’s tough-love approach. In January, The Athletic reported that forward John Collins told Young during a film session to stop taking shots early in the shot clock. Young has even clashed with his teammates and coaches over his play. “I talk to him about it,” his father told ESPN earlier this season. But the same qualities that attract fans also breed resentment. Fans voted him an All-Star starter last season, and though he didn’t make the team this year, he has one of the best-selling jerseys in the league. The deep 3s and audacious passes he unleashes are made for highlight reels. But after earning 16 trips to the foul line this season in a December game against the Nets, Brooklyn coach Steve Nash, a Hall of Fame point guard Young grew up emulating, dismissed his tactics. He became a master of drawing fouls this season, often stopping on a dime or backing into defenders to draw contact. He did it once to JJ Redick in a preseason game and to Deandre Ayton in the Rising Stars game, then tried to do it to Trevor Ariza, who promptly gave him a shoulder to his chest. During his second season, Young developed a habit of dribbling through his defender’s legs. Young’s brash style of play didn’t earn him much love in the league, either. Young was quickly labeled a bust when he struggled early on in his rookie season, and even when he did show star potential, constant comparisons to Luka Doncic, the player Atlanta traded on draft night, diminished his accomplishments. “He never seemed to show it, whether it ever bothered him or not,” Kruger said. The harsh words in Lubbock could have been particularly hard for Young, whose father starred there. “I think back about games where, on the road, the team would run out on the court, and that was the loudest the arena would even get because they were rooting against us and him so hard,” Kruger said. Fans spewing ugly words Young’s way quickly became a common occurrence. During a matchup against Texas Tech in February 2018, the Lubbock crowd chanted “fuck you” at him. The mindset helped the Sooners become one of the nation’s best teams at the start of Young’s freshman year. “It’s somebody that definitely plays with an edge, and he’s always used that to his advantage of being doubted, or had that chip-on-his-shoulder mentality.” “I think you learn that with Trae pretty quick,” former Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Kruger said by phone this week.
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