Shortly after Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Friday that Hawks head coach Nate McMillan had “strongly considered” the possibility of resigning from his position, McMillan met with reporters for a pregame press conference ahead of the team’s matchup with the Lakers. Predictably, the first question he received focused on Charania’s report.
“I read that article briefly,” McMillan responded (Twitter video link via Brad Rowland). “I’ve never spoken to that reporter before. I think the last two weeks, he’s written a couple articles with some sources in our organization that are making some comments about me and some things that I’m saying and doing.”
Earlier in December, Charania also received a byline (along with Sam Amick) on a story about a verbal confrontation between McMillan and star Trae Young, which is presumably the other report McMillan was referring to.
“Look, at the end of the year, I’ll do as I’ll always done,” McMillan continued. “At the end of the season, I talk with my family and see if I still have that flame, that fire to continue next season. But that’s the end of the season. All of us think about retiring. But that’s at the end of the season.
“We’re going to move on past that, that story. We have a (playoff) race to prepare for. We’re trying to get our guys healthy and make another run at the playoffs. But the things that were reported — look, I’m here to coach this team and I’ve talked to (team owner) Tony (Ressler) many times. Our goal is to make the playoffs and that’s what we’re working towards.
After concluding his statement, McMillan waited a beat and jokingly added, “So we’ve squashed that, right?”
While it sounds like McMillan doesn’t intend to step down from his position anytime soon, his comments probably won’t quell speculation about his long-term future in Atlanta. Charania wrote that McMillan “appears to be near the end of his tenure with the Hawks after the season,” suggesting that either the head coach or the team (or both) may want to move on in the spring. That still sounds like a very real possibility.
Of course, winning solves a lot of problems, so if McMillan can replicate his second-half success from the last two seasons, perhaps his future will look a whole lot different a few months from now. McMillan, who took over for Lloyd Pierce midway through the 2020/21 campaign, led the team to a 27-11 record and two playoff series wins that year. In ’21/22, following a 17-25 start, Atlanta went 26-14 the rest of the way and won a pair of play-in games to secure a postseason berth.
This season, following a splashy summer trade for Dejounte Murray, the Hawks are once again off to a slow start. The club has lost three games in a row and nine of its last 13 to drop its overall record to 17-19. Atlanta holds the No. 9 seed in the East and is only ahead of the No. 11 Raptors by a single game.
Modern coaches and FOs have to share decison-making with players but have to accept all of the accountability. Difficult to navigate but is becoming the norm.
The reason the Hawks have played much better in the 2nd half of the season the past couple yrs with Coach Nate is bc the team has been much healthier then. We’re 1-0 this season with our full rotation available & healthy. Hopefully Clint & Dre get back soon & we can see what this team can do. It would also help if ownership was willing to go into the luxury tax (like they said they would) to add some toughness/beef at the 4. I love Jalen Johnson & the fact that he’s getting important mins now is definitely helping his development, but he’s a liability at the 4 rn. Having a guy like Moe Harkless would have helped but tbh we need someone like a Mook Morris or Jae Crowder that could be depended on to hit corner treys as well as be that ornery vet…. Bron was just superhuman last night tho. Somehow we keep getting his birthday game & it was predictable that he would be dominant.. link to m.youtube.com
I agree it’s really on ownership. Basically trading Huerter and a 2nd for Justin Holiday, Vit and a future protected 1st hurt the Hawks this current season. The tax isn’t pleasant but they should have kept Huerter. Maybe splurged on Deon Wright also.
Hawks have a really good team on paper imo, but injuries will always be a concern. It’s the NBA and guys get hurt but the Hawks seem to have an institutional habit of preffering talent vs likely availability. Other than Trey and J Holiday, everyone has serious injury risk factors.
Bogdon, Hunter and even young Griffin have leg issues that will be issues off and on there whole careers.
Clint missing time here and there every year. Oneka does to. Collins has miss time every year. Murray has been better and better after the ACL missed season but the way he plays both ways as hard as he does gives me future concerns as well.
Reddish (carrying injuries since HS), Oneka,Jalen Johnson and Griffin were all drafted basically with injuries at the time.
Dont get me wrong, I prefer top end talent over injury concerns but it also means a team needs to be deeper, maybe 11 rotation players deep.
Holiday and Culver for Roco could give you guys the PF help and still stat under the cap.
Same with Culver and stuff for Jaesean Tate.
Wonder what McMillan risked for telling the truth about a media lie? Players, Coaches, GM’s, and owners should do it more often, and prove to some of us that we are still watching professionals work. The media blurs the line berween absurdity, Kim Kardashian, and what is actually happening with basketball way too much these days. Nice job Nate Mac!
Shams is a sham.
I mean, Shams’ report said that McMillan has considered resigning, but that it’s not imminent and something might happen in the spring instead.
I don’t think anything McMillan said contradicted that (I’d even interpret “all of us think about retiring” as essentially confirming the crux of the report).
Yeah, McMillan seemed to tacitly acknowledge that the report was accurate and even potentially mentioned the source. Nate said he hasn’t spoken directly to a reporter but inferred that he might have had conversations with individuals in the organization and the reporter might have derived the information from that source.
Yes, he did say retirement, but look what he said about it. Retirement at the end of a season, while on an expiring contract is normal. Resigning in the middle of the season is catastrophic, and chaotic. The media wanted resigning in the middle of the season out there for click bait, or whatever that tactic is used for, and Mac crushed it with a giant sledgehammer. Embellishment, advertisement. or whatever the excuse, it comes off as a lie, and dishonest to many of us not in the media profession.
If he’s not going to step down, McMillan has incentive to strongly deny the story, since he doesn’t want his players to think he’s considering quitting on them.
I think if were entirely untrue, he would’ve disputed it in much stronger terms (ie. “That story is totally false. I’m committed to coaching this team and haven’t even thought about stepping down”). Just my two cents though.
Journalists are just selling themselves as a product. Easy for them to bend the truth or “mis-report” it for clicks and notoriety. As we were taught in high school, find multiple sources for information and look for confirmation. Wait…isn’t what journalists are trained to do? Although sports journalism is really Entertainment Tonight for former jocks.
I think Hawks would do better to go with a new coach. I know injuries plague them but they have a lot of talent. A couple years ago they’re in the ECF. I think the Huerter trade wasn’t a good move. But I’m just a Celtics fan,lol.