Recent comments made by 92.9 The Game hosts Carl Dukes and Mike Bell about Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young may have gotten lost in translation.
On Monday’s edition of Dukes & Bell, Dukes said the narrative since the firing of head coach Nate McMillan had become that the duo are trying to run Young out of town. But Carl said people are getting valid criticism confused with hating. He had to spell it out for listeners on the show.
“We don’t dislike Trae Young. I talked to Trae’s father this weekend – we don’t dislike Trae Young, OK?” Dukes said. “Rayford he knows, Trae knows, at the end of the day we’ve supported Trae. But when things go wrong with your organization and things are ‘floundering’ you go where is this going, what’s the direction? And the star needs to be involved.”
Dukes and Bell both pointed out the fact that even though team officials said Young was excused to tend to a personal matter, it was interesting how there was plenty of reaction to McMillan’s firing from other Hawks players while Young was absent.
Over the weekend, Young put out an inspirational tweet on his Twitter, and on Sunday night Bell responded saying he wanted Young’s performance to match that of the last two contests.
Young was quick to clap back at Bell.
Bell said on Monday that he stood behind his original thoughts from last week regarding leadership.
“I think leadership is something you need. I think all the elite teams have it,” Bell said. “Celtics have it, you’ve heard about what the culture is like at other franchises like Golden State. So if I said Trae needs to have a larger presence on Wednesday, how that translates to me or Carl running Trae out of town that’s ridiculous guys! Now that’s heat. I’m criticizing the man, and I have strong opinions. And that’s why we are the number one show in town. But I think he should’ve been there!”
“I think Trey’s lack of leadership is part of the reason Nate is no longer here,” Bell added. “The good news is we got a clean slate, we’re excited about what we’re gonna get with Quin Snyder. And if he wants to come at me on Twitter then that’s his prerogative. He can say whatever he wants.”
Dukes said ultimately he and Bell are just doing their job and trying to keep people’s feet to the fire.
“For what we do it’s about accountability,” he said. “The fact is we hold all of our stars accountable. And I’ve said this time and time again. I’m never gonna take shots at a guy outside of the realm of sports but maturity, performance, leadership, winning, how you lose, Mike – on and off the court what you do in the community it all adds up. That’s the make-up of a star in any community – including Trae Young.”
