Hawk’s head coach, Nate McMillian, has been a polarizing figure during his tenure in Atlanta. He was praised for leading a team fresh out of the lottery to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, and finishing with a record of 27-11 as the interim head coach in 2021. Just a season later, he was at the helm of an underwhelming-squad which scrapped its way into a play-in spot and looked discombobulated for much of the year. What caused the radical change in seeding and player performance? Only players and coaches in the Hawk’s locker room will genuinely know the, but it’s easy to speculate. For the sake of argument, it is understood the Hawks dealt with multiple injuries and Covid-protocols last season, but there were some fundamental coaching issues at hand as well.
For instance, Atlanta was a top-tier offense in the league this past season, but there was a noticeable
difference between the schemes and sets from the year prior. The 2021-Hawks seemed to run some iteration of a pick-and-roll almost every time the ball went down the floor, with multiple pin-down screens and cutters coming from the corners. The 2022-Hawks played a lot of isolation basketball, with
Trae Young handling most of the on-ball duties. It almost seemed that when Young did not have
the ball, it was inevitable that the Hawks would not score. This made it nearly impossible to score with the defensive intensity of the NBA playoffs. Miami easily exposed Atlanta for their lack of diversity on the offensive end of the floor with multiple traps, double-teams and box-in-one looks on Young.
During the Hawks ECF run, Atlanta completed comeback after comeback to claw their way to the fifth seed and even won games in the playoffs that way, solely based off their style of play. This past season the team struggled to finish games and blew massive leads en route to a sub-par season. However, not all of this can be pinned on McMillian, as Atlanta’s defense also saw a massive decline in their effort, despite McMillian’s prowess as a defensive leader.
The 2021 Atlanta Hawks believed in themselves and their team, while the 2022-version did not. Whether you want to point the blame at players, the coach, or the front office, Nate McMillian had some hand in both the failures of this season’s team and the success of the previous.
During the offseason, the front office made an emphasis to not keep this franchise in NBA purgatory, making multiple franchise altering moves. The Dejounte Murray-trade, the Kevin Huerter-trade, trading future first-round selections, all signify that the team wants to compete now and for years to come. It has been abundantly clear that outside of franchise cornerstone in Trae Young, no one’s job is safe, especially McMillian’s.
McMillian’s previous coaching exploits have not given fans much confidence that he can change. Especially when one dives into his time with the Indiana Pacers, Portland Trailblazers or even his Seattle Supersonics days, where his resume is marred by early-playoff exits. On top of that, there were multiple situations throughout his Hawks’ tenure when simple changes should have been made to give the team a chance to win, but the adjustments never came or when they did, it was too little too late.
Coach McMillan will not start the year on the hot seat, but the front office is carefully monitoring what is going on. A slow start to the season or scraping by with a .500-record, might turn up the temperature for Nate and his staff. One thing that McMillan can look forward to is a fully healthy roster and a bunch of new pieces. He will be given the chance to solidify himself, but the leash is short.
What are your thoughts about Coach McMillan? Will this be the year he can return the Hawks to prominence? Will he survive the season? Let us know in the comment section below!
