◤NBA◢ Atlanta Hawks sacked head coach Nate McMillan following loss, coupled by bust up with former head coach and star player..

2023-02-23 18:58

◤NBA◢ Atlanta Hawks sacked head coach Nate McMillan following loss, coupled by bust up with former head coach and star player..





The Atlanta Hawks announced on their official website on Wednesday that team head coach Nate McMillan had been sacked effective immediately.


The Atlanta Hawks made the announcement a full week after their 101-122 home loss to the New York Knicks last week (February 15).


Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields said in an official statement: "I would like to thank Nate for his leadership and professionalism during his tenure with the Hawks. He truly is a great coach. We would truly appreciates the kindness and work ethic that he brings us daily.”


"It's always very difficult to make a decision like this, especially in the middle of the season, but we believe it's in the best interest of our team to move forward with another new leading figure at the helm."


At the same time, the Eagles also stated in the official statement that the current assistant coach Joe Prunty will immediately take over the work of coaching the team as a interim head coach.


McMillan took over the coaching responsibility of the Eagles as a interim head coach in March 2021, becoming the 14th head coach in the team history. Under the leadership of McMillan, the Eagles successfully broke into the Eastern Conference playoff finals again after an absent of three years, which he guided the team to set this record for the second time, but they lost to the then-champion Milwaukee Bucks in the end, hence failing to get their hands on the championship Ring.


McMillan had achieved 99 wins and 80 losses while coaching the Atlanta Hawks. As a coach, the former Seattle SuperSonics legendary point guard has achieved a total of 760 wins and 668 losses as a head coach during his 19-year coaching experience.


The rumours that McMillan and the Eagles will part ways have long been speculated. As an assistant coach, he fell out with former head coach Lloyd Pierce, causing the latter to be sacked and got the opportunity to be appointed as interim head coach.


After being made permanent head coach in July 2021, the Eagles did not take advantage of their hot form of reaching the Eastern Conference finals in an upest fashion, but instead regressed more and more. Across the two seasons, dating back to the start of the last season, the team has only achieved 72 wins and 69 losses.


Not only that, in December last year, the team's general and point guard "Ice Trae" Trae Young also had a bust-up with McMillan in a warm-up shootaround before a game, and even refused to attend the game against the Denver Nuggets. At that time, there were media reports which rumoured that the 58-year-old coach considered resigning, but the Eagles executives lobbied McMillan to stay in the team because they hoped that the two would settle their differences one day. Dressing room atmosphere however became increasingly worse and eventually led to McMillan's dismissal.


The Hawks, who suffered a two-game losing streak before the All-Star Game break, are currently 8th in the Eastern Conference. Tomorrow night (February 24) they will host the Cleveland Cavaliers after the NBA Regular Season resume.