I Take Back My Trae Young Take

Ok, I will be honest from the rip: I’ve had some pretty bad takes, BUT I do NOT proclaim myself to be an expert on sports. I have no clue what goes on behind the closed doors in the locker room or what players do in their off time.

Thus I bring you to probably one of my worst takes of all-time:

Yikes. Yeah, not pretty.

Keep in mind, that was BEFORE Nate McMillian coached a game for the Hawks and Atlanta looked absolutely pathetic.

Flash forward to Game 1 of the Hawks-Knicks series earlier this week. With the game on the line, a bucket needed to win in an ELECTRIC Madison Square Garden, Trae Young got the shot he wanted and won the game….and then pulled a full heel turn like he was The Rock coming up through the WWF.

I gotta give Trae credit. In one of the defining games of his career, he dropped 32 on one of the best defenses in the league but more importantly, he got his teammates involved, picking up ten assists in Sunday night’s game.

That was my critique against Ice Trae: he played hero ball and stuffed the stat sheet, but he refused to take advantage of the supporting pieces around him. Combine that with the report of John Collins calling out Young in a January film session, I was completely sold on the idea that the Hawks were dead.

I thought they were going to maybe get a seven seed and get bounced out in the first round by the Sixers or the Nets.

By no means was I trying to discredit Young or personally go at him--Atlanta’s roster has talent and so does “Ice Trae”--I simply expected more from him to lead this team to one of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference, which he did.

And if you’re whining about this like “Oh Matt, you need to be consistent with what you say about players” all I can say is this:

People change their minds, dummy.

No one downs a bottle of vodka or tequila and says, well, I guess I have to keep doing this the rest of the night to stay consistent.

No because you’re going to be puking your guts out or making bad decisions if you do. I’m pumped to see the Reggie Miller version of Trae Young and I hope he embraces being New York’s most hated man since Anthony Cuomo or Bill de Blasio depending on your preferences.