Who can replace Nate McMillan at Atlanta Hawks? Looking at potential replacements, including Quin Snyder
The Atlanta Hawks have finally dismissed head coach Nate McMillan after the first half of the 2022-23 NBA season concluded. The Hawks' first half wasn't impressive as they're currently in eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 29-30 record.
The Atlanta Hawks dismissed coach Nate McMillan, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/Jjh3qlCnCX
Now that Atlanta has no head coach, there are three coaches who are top candidates to be the replacement for McMillan.
Hawks top candidates are former Jazz HC Quin Snyder, Bucks assistant Charles Lee and Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson, per @wojespn https://t.co/JAstYpWprx
Quin Snyder
Quin Snyder has not been a coach for an NBA team since stepping down from his coaching position with the Utah Jazz in June 2022. He's got a great coaching record who can turn things around for any franchise. As the Hawks try to figure out how to make things work out for them, Snyder could be the perfect guy for their system.
Charles Lee
Unlike Snyder, Charles Lee isn't a household name in the coaching realm. However, he's been an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks since 2018 and his experience being under Mike Budenholzer could be his ticket to being a head coach and being the replacement for Nate McMillan.
Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson is currently an assistant coach for Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors. Earlier in the 2022 offseason, he was offered the position of head coach of the young Charlotte Hornets, but turned it down.
ESPN Sources: Kenny Atkinson has decided he won’t become the Charlotte Hornets’ head coach and will remain with Golden State as top assistant. After being offered job during the NBA Finals, further conversations led Atkinson to believe it would be best to remain with Warriors.
He had great experience of being a leader back in 2016-2020, with the Brooklyn Nets.
Hawks GM has been monitoring the team's success under Nate McMillan
No doubt Nate McMillan is a great coach. However, his stint with the Hawks wasn't fruitful, causing the team to let him go. Landry Fields, the team's general manager, shared that he has been monitoring the team under McMillan this season. But due to their lack of success, they had to look for a different leader to get them in the direction they wanted to pursue.
"This is something I’ve been monitoring. To have the overall showing that we did – I don’t want to put too much on the last couple of games with Charlotte and New York, but those were definitely significant. We’re just not seeing enough progress." Fields said.
GM Landry Fields to @TheAthletic: "This is something I’ve been monitoring. To have the overall showing that we did – I don’t want to put too much on the last couple of games with Charlotte and New York but those were definitely significant. We’re just not seeing enough progress."
With 23 games left in the season, will the move to fire McMillan be the right decision for the Hawks? It's clear that the Hawks are trying to be a legitimate playoff team, which is why they traded for Dejounte Murray over the summer. But a sudden change in the middle of the season could turn out to be negative for the team.
The Hawks have laid out their candidates and will probably have a new head coach before the month ends.
Also read: "That just gets me fired up" - Trae Young with subtle remark on Nate McMillan's "emotionally drunk" comment, says he doesn't "give a damn" about ref Tony Brothers' experience
Also read: NBA Rumors: Nate McMillan considering to resign as coach after a rocky stint with Atlanta Hawks