Hawks owner Tony Ressler believes his team has underachieved this season, which is why he decided to overhaul the front office and signed off on the new group’s plan to replace head coach Nate McMillan with Quin Snyder, he tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Ressler, he’s staying out of basketball decisions and has given new general manager Landry Fields the autonomy to make those calls. The Hawks’ owner said he removed Travis Schlenk from his role as the team’s head of basketball operations because he wasn’t happy with the front office’s level of “collaboration and communication,” per Wojnarowski.
“I can tell you this: Landry and (assistant GM) Kyle (Korver) are running a much better, much more collaborative front office,” Ressler said. “That’s of huge importance to me because I think that’s how you get better. Having ownership, a front office, a coaching staff and the right roster — when all of those folks work well together, I think results improve. That was the objective and that’s why I made the change that I did.”
There has been some skepticism about the new-look Hawks’ front office due to the relatively inexperienced nature of the head executives, along with the reported empowerment of Tony’s son Nick Ressler. However, the elder Ressler expressed full confidence in the new group.
“What I’ve always done is rely on people who know more than I do to run a business better than I could,” Ressler said to ESPN. “Who makes the decisions (now), it’s undoubtedly Landry with Kyle — with (head coach) Quin (Snyder). (They) are going to work beautifully together from what I can tell. I do believe we will make better decisions going forward than we have done in the past.”
Here’s more on the Hawks:
- In a separate interview with Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ressler insisted that his son Nick’s influence in the basketball operations department has been overstated. “Nick works in the organization, helps me in both the business and basketball operations, helps me understand the goings-on of the organization, if you will, helps me evaluate what we’re doing,” Tony said. “But he sits in the same role (I do). He’s in ownership, but is full time to the organization. So the simple answer, is ‘No, he’s not in charge of any (basketball) decision-making.'”
- Although the Hawks have made some roster moves this year that seemed aimed at avoiding the luxury tax, Ressler insists those moves weren’t driven by him. “We’re not worried about the luxury tax,” he told Williams. “… Do I think it’s a good idea to be incredibly average (and) in the luxury tax? I’d rather not. I’d rather be contending in the luxury tax or being a great team in the luxury tax. But at the end of the day, I’ve never suggested a trade to get out of the luxury tax ever. Whoever said that will be giving you an untruth, directly, indirectly, intentionally, unintentionally. Never said it. Never will.”
- Rival executives lauded the Hawks for the hiring of Snyder, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who spoke to Williams for the latest HoopsHype podcast. There have been suggestions that Snyder may have taken the job in part to have a bigger say in roster changes — when Williams spoke to Snyder she got the impression that while Fields and Korver will “weigh his opinion pretty heavily,” but she doesn’t believe Snyder’s voice will be the “end all and be all.”
- Williams also touched on the slow-developing chemistry of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, saying “they’re still learning from each other” and suggesting that the two guards may not have a close relationship. Williams is surprised by that because Young was eager to team up with Murray in the offseason. Williams says Young “is a nice guy,” but has heard “sometimes he has some trouble endearing himself to his teammates off the court,” though she says people like playing with him.
- Veteran wing Bogdan Bogdanovic is expected to decline his $18MM player option for 2023/24 and enter unrestricted free agency, says Scotto. Williams is a little skeptical Bogdanovic will exceed $18MM per year on his next contract due to his injury history, but Scotto believes he could at least equal, if not exceed, that total on annual basis, noting that the salary cap is expected to go up each year for the foreseeable future. It could be tricky for Atlanta to re-sign Bogdanovic, Scotto adds, citing luxury tax concerns.
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
Considering all the front-office and head coaching changes, I think the Hawks’ offseason will be one of the most interesting to watch.
Hawks took out Sixers to go to East Finals. Now a year and half later. They have more talent. They have a new coach.
And and and and yet ……….. The Knicks are so much better (37 – 27).
Will the Hawks even make the playoffs this year. Is the question??????
This roster’s ceiling is higher than the Knicks. Unfortunately, it’s floor has been lower.
Let’s see if a new coach remedies that (again).
What is Trae doing off the court that the others find so offensive? People mocked my McDonalds comment, but would it be that surprising if it was some real petty bs?
I loved your McDonalds comment bro.
Username checks out.
I appreciate it. Remember for when top commenter voting begins.
It’s the fact he acts like that eastern finals run gives him the same privileges as the Golden State Warriors…
Plus he seems lazy and a coach killer…
Knicks 122 ….. Heat 120 .
Yup . …….
Should have hired Nick Van Exel as the HC not Snyder
Atlanta has a Trae Young problem.
That’s been the refrain of certain media members, for sure.
Trae’s not been one to hide his displeasure when those certain media members diss him.
Chris Kirschner, former Hawks beat writer, in particular, got some chilly treatment. I don’t live in ATL, but it’s easy to imagine there are other media who have received similar passive aggressive retaliation.
But the nonverbals b/t Trae and his teammates say something very different.
Reaction: Ressler’s doing the same bipolar dance he did thru the Budcox episode.
Hard to trust the man in anything he says when he admits to some deceptions, and in other cases, the evidence that he was being deceptive speaks for itself even if he’s not willing to admit he was being deceptive.
Also, painfully lacking self-awareness, as-if a man in his position and with his authority could ever presume he has a great handle on what other people *really* think–in this case about the gravity of his son’s voice.
What Ressler does, whether he realizes it or not, is that he puts relatively inexperienced, unheralded people into the prime leadership position of his basketball franchise (first Bud, then Travis, and now Landry).
And/but that’s a set-up for inviting triangulation… for inviting all the people who are not the GM to knock on the owner’s door, and for the non-basketball-expert owner, then, to feel he has a ready excuse to weigh-in on basketball decisions due to “conflict.”
The pattern is vivid now.
If he were authentic, NO direct basketball decision would ever come to his attention. NONE. He would give his GM a budget, ask the GM to keep him informed, and approach him only if the budget needed to be modified.
That area, and hiring/firing the GM, are the only areas where an owner’s decisions are legit.
I want to like Tony Ressler. I used to like Tony Ressler. But he’s only got himself to blame for how much license he’s given himself to be deceptive.
To like you, I have to trust you. I’m just one fan, but Ressler has given me too much reason to distrust him at this point.
I’m not a flippant, shallow, reactionary fan who hates on owners, by the way. In my own career, I’ve been a decision-maker, and vulnerable to potshots from people in the bleachers. So, I realize there could be an aspect to this where he doesn’t want to reveal to much out of respect to Travis and possibly others.
But he can be more transparent about himself. No one’s keeping him from that but Tony. And to the degree he resists transparency, he resists rebuilding trust.
Glad Tony sat down for the interview. But don’t really see he did anything in the words he chose but dig his hole deeper.