“Trash Journalism,” Hawks CEO Steve Koonin calls out Shams Charania for reports on Head Coach Nate McMillan considering resigning
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Steve Koonin, Shams Charania and Nate McMillan
In a recent interview, Atlanta Hawks‘ CEO Steve Koonin had some harsh words for NBA reporter Shams Charania over reports of head coach Nate McMillan potentially leaving the team. Koonin accused Charania of engaging in “trash journalism” and using false information to create sensationalist headlines.
According to Koonin, Charania’s story was “trash journalism”. This is what he said on the “Dukes and Bell” radio show on 92.9 “The Game” in Atlanta; “This is made-up stuff. I’m literally calling Shams out. It is just hack journalism. Hack”
One of the key reasons McMillan is considering resigning, according to Charania’s report, is his tension with superstar Trae Young. This tension first emerged publicly after a heated exchange at a gameday shootaround in early December. The Hawks coach did respond to the report in a recent postgame press conference.
Despite reports that McMillan considered resigning, there is no indication that he is planning to do so. Although he did say that he will consider retirement at the end of the season. What the future holds for McMillan, only time will tell.
Does this McMillan report destroy Shams Charania’s track record of credible reports?
Charania’s report still had some credible sources to back up what he said in the report. This included quotes from McMillan himself. “I’m coaching in a different generation of players that I played with and really kind of coached,” McMillan, told The Athletic. “It’s different the way you communicate, the way the game is played and how they see the game. They see the game different than when I played it and when I started coaching.”
It’s easy to see from quotes like this why it might have seemed like McMillan was considering retiring. The issues between McMillan and Hawks superstar Trae Young have been visible for all to see, with Young even sitting out a game due to the now-infamous shootaround mishap.
The Atlanta Hawks have been an absolute disaster this season. The Dejounte Murray trade has not really worked out and Atlanta is currently 17-19. Trae Young is having possibly his worst season since he was a rookie and tensions are at an all-time high. The Hawks desperately need a solution to turn around this season or the future that they mortgaged for Murray will soon be compared to all-time bad trades like the Nets trading for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
That being said, it surely isn’t all over, if the coach and the star hash out their issues and the stars figure out how to coexist on the court, Atlanta is a very dangerous team. Along with that, it is a team with experience in the Conference Finals so they have shown that they can compete with the best. It’s an uphill task to recover from this, but it isn’t impossible.
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