Why firing Nate McMillan was the right move for the Hawks

Moving on from Nate McMillan was necessary for the Atlanta Hawks to reach their potential.

The Atlanta Hawks will be looking for a new head coach after parting ways with Nate McMillan.

Atlanta opted to go in a different direction Tuesday evening during the All-Star Break. The Hawks have been a playoff team ever since McMillan took over for an ineffective Lloyd Pierce in the interim during the 2020-21 NBA season. However, the improbable Eastern Conference Finals run two years ago feels like a distant memory with each passing day. This move was bound to happen.

McMillan is an incredibly likable guy and did a great job amid challenging circumstances, but the Hawks are in dire need of something different their former head coach could not provide. While his top assistant Joe Prunty will take over the team in the interim, it is abundantly clear what Landry Fields and the rest of the Hawks brass want, which is a Mike Budenholzer protege at the helm.

Atlanta is getting out ahead of this while attempting to stay competitive for the rest of the year.

Atlanta Hawks are justified in their firing of former head coach Nate McMillan

In theory, there are three types of head coaches any NBA team will need, one for each stage of their competitive life cycle. When a team rebuilds and coaches like Budenholzer do not want to be part of it, up-and-comers like Pierce get their opportunity. Should a team want to go from bad to respectable, go hire/promote the McMillans of the world. Atlanta is ready to enter the third stage.

The Hawks were always talented under McMillan’s guidance. It is why they were never down for very long. Unfortunately, consistency and accountability have not been this organization’s forte since Budenholzer left. This has coincided with Trae Young’s entire time in an Atlanta uniform. He should get some of the blame for McMillan’s sacking, but you can’t put the blame entirely on him.

While Tony Ressler has brought passion to the organization since buying the team, he is a bit of a meddler. It is his team after all, but he can be an agent of chaos. In truth, I’d rather him be passionate about fielding a winning product above all else. However, the business of professional sports is very hard, which is why those who made billions elsewhere do not always win big here.

Look. Has Young been enabled since coming over to the team since the Luka Doncic trade? Sure, but this isn’t something unheard of in the NBA today. Star players are coddled constantly, which has played a part in casual fans of the sport tuning out. This is more of an Adam Silver problem than anything. Regardless, I’d rather have Young on the Hawks than not. You can win big with him.

As the new-look front office tries to build around the franchise’s most talented player since Dominique Wilkins, it is imperative that it gets the right head coach for Young and the rest of the team. You can’t blame Young for Pierce failing. And to be totally honest, you can’t blame him for it not working out with McMillan all that much either. After all, he was initially the Hawks’ interim…

And it’s not just Fields who will have a say in who the Hawks hire to replace McMillan. Kyle Korver is his No. 2. There are few players as beloved by Hawks fans everywhere as their former All-Star sharpshooter. Korver flourished playing for Budenholzer, as did Hawks regional scout Jeff Teague. Although Atlanta is not prying Budenholzer away from Milwaukee, that is where the bar is in this.

Three candidates immediately jump off the page: Former Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, Golden State Warriors assistant head coach Kenny Atkinson and Milwaukee Bucks assistant head coach Charles Lee. All three have Budenholzer and Atlanta ties. Snyder would be the most well-received hire, but Atkinson and Lee would also be great fits. Why must this be a Coach Bud hire?

What made the Coach Bud Hawks so impressive is even though they did not have a top-25 player, they got top-25 production out of key players like Korver, Teague, Al Horford, and most notably, Paul Millsap. Budenholzer used a deep bench, focused on attention to detail defensively and was keen on player development. Offensive-minded Atlanta became a more complete team under him.

Under McMillan, there were constant communication breakdowns defensively and an offense that would go off-script more than not. His teams over the last year and change lacked discipline and it resulted in the Hawks not being a top-six team in the East. They are talented enough to be that and contend for Southeast Division crowns. Again, this is why McMillan was ultimately let go.

Overall, I do not feel like we are even close to the blow-it-up territory in this team’s competitive life cycle. We need to see this team get into stage three first. With the right head-coaching hire, Atlanta could have another Eastern Conference Finals run inside them. Given that the Hawks have only gotten that far in modern NBA history twice, anything beyond that should be seen as gravy.

Ultimately, the Hawks were probably going to move on from McMillan anyway after this season. Atlanta was not likely to get to the Eastern Conference Semifinals barring some unforeseen heater. McMillan more than bridged the gap from Pierce’s disastrous run into something respectable. For now, leave it up to Ressler, Fields and Korver to find the right guy to lead them.

Now that the tension has subsided, let’s see how well this team can play for the rest of the year.

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