That is possible. It is also the most charitably-inclined way to assess Smart's role. As a public service, let me posit the opposite, least-charitable assessment.
Smart is fickle and capricious with players, so playing time and rotational space are in part determined by his whim. Some players see his Ubuntu corporate team-building bullshit as phony and maybe aren't great at hiding their feelings.
Smart is also thin-skinned and takes anything less than credulous buy-in as a personal affront.
Royce Hamm might think he made his bones helping save Smart's overrated ass with last year's late rally and is frustrated to find that he still has to accept all of Smart's midwit motivational garbage like a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman in order to get playing time he's earned on the playing and practice court.
It's a personality conflict and while I'm not normally inclined to assume some 20-yr old kid is the mature one in the equation, I carry a lot of doubts about Smart's authenticity. What makes more sense to me than "suddenly, Royce Hamm stopped working hard and the coaches didn't think he could contribute!" is "Royce Hamm feels like a grown man treated like a kid and he's bristling at it, and Smart is making an example of him".
Like I said, that's the least charitable way to assess the situation.
Which is way more fun!