The Atlanta Hawks Continue To Be A Circus, This Time They Fired Nate McMillan Despite Still Being In Playoff Contention

Dylan Buell. Getty Images.

Advertisement

Advertisement

There's a chance when you saw that Woj tweet come across your timeline, that you were a bit confused. Nate McMillan is a good coach, who has shown to have previous success with the Hawks to the point where he was 99-80 (.553) in his 3 seasons after taking over for Lloyd Pierce in 2020-21. He signed a 4 year extension in 2021!

Sadly, this should not have been a surprise. Just two months ago we learned that Nate McMillan and Trae Young basically hated each other's guts

Hawks All-NBA guard Trae Young and coach Nate McMillan had an exchange at Friday’s shootaround that led to Young choosing not to attend the team’s home win over Denver at State Farm Arena, sources with knowledge of the situation tell The Athletic.

While Young was receiving treatment on his right shoulder, sources say McMillan asked him whether he would participate in shootaround, receive treatment during walk-through and play in the game against the Nuggets. But Young made it clear that he wanted to focus solely on his treatment while missing shootaround and deciding later in the day whether he would play.

That approach, however, was not McMillan approved. Since the face of the Hawks’ franchise was deciding not to take part in shootaround, McMillan ultimately presented him with two options for that night’s game, sources said: Play off the bench — or do not show up to the arena. Young responded by saying he would not be playing against the Nuggets, and the team ruled him out while citing right shoulder soreness.

and when you combine that beef with the fact that the Hawks currently sit at 29-30 and 3 games back of the 7 seed, this is usually what happens. When you have a franchise player vs the head coach, who do you think wins that battle? Especially for a team that already went through this drama with Trae Young?

For the Hawks, this issue is a microcosm of tension that exists among Young, McMillan and the locker room. The Hawks have held multiple team meetings early this season to resolve various conflicts, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

For Young, whose strained relationship with former Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce played a large role in his firing in March 2021, it’s the latest sensitive situation that has caused many people within the Hawks to question Young’s leadership approach.

I dunno, call me crazy, but it's maybe not the best look to be having one of the worst shooting seasons of your career (42/32%), your team to be under .500 and in threat of hitting the Lottery, two months ago you're beefing with the head coach and now that head coach is fired.

Make no mistake, I can't imagine that if Trae Young wanted Nate McMillan coaching this team, the organization would fire him. Then again, who the hell knows what's going on with the Hawks front office. I think it's much more believable that in an era where franchise guys are demanding trades left and right that a guy with this type of deal still on the books

is going to get his way. The last thing the Hawks probably want is for Trae to pull a Kyrie or KD or Simmons, so this is the short term move you make to try and prevent that from happening. It might suck for McMillan, but welcome to the NBA in 2023. There's no denying that the Hawks are one of the more underachieving teams in the league given the talent on their roster, and the "win now" trade for Dejounte Murray hasn't exactly translated into all that much winning. That's tough.

Advertisement

When it comes to who the Hawks select for this job moving forward, it's pretty clear it needs to be someone who knows what they're doing defensively. Remember when the Hawks had that awesome season not too long ago and people thought maybe it was the start of something? A huge part of that was the Hawks finally starting to defend. Well, last year? The Hawks finished with the 26th ranked defense. This year, it's 21st. It should then not surprise you that these last two years have kind of stunk for ATL. Part of that is injuries, part of that is simply being bad at defense. 

So I look at names like Quinn Snyder and Kenny Atkinson and those are two defensive minded coaches that make sense, in theory. It is interesting how you didn't see the name Ime Udoka listed by Woj, despite he now being free to go wherever he wants after the Celts officially cut ties last week. I could also see Doc coming back home to the Hawks if the Sixers flame out and he gets canned