- Veteran wing Tony Snell looked like a salary throw-in when the Hawks acquired him from Detroit in the offseason, but he has played a meaningful role for the team, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic details. The 29-year-old, a free agent at season’s end, is knocking down a scorching 56.9% of his three-point attempts, including a last-second, game-winning buzzer beater on Thursday. Atlanta has now won its first three games since Nate McMillan took over as head coach for Lloyd Pierce.
MARCH 9: Reddish received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection and will be sidelined for at least two weeks, general manager Travis Schlenk said during an appearance on 92.9 The Game on Tuesday morning (Twitter link).
MARCH 8: Hawks forward Cam Reddish underwent a non-surgical procedure on Monday, the team announced (via Twitter).
Reddish, who has missed the last six games due to right Achilles soreness, will be placed in a walking boot. He’ll be re-examined in approximately one week.
Reddish is averaging 11.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.3 APG in 26 games this season, including 21 starts. He’s struggled from the field, making just 36.5% of his shots overall and 26.2% of his 3-point attempts.
The Duke product was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Hawks will have to decide this fall whether to exercise their team option on him for the 2022/23 season. Prior to this season, Atlanta exercised its option on Reddish’s contract for next season.
Reddish was one of the players said to be unhappy with coach Lloyd Pierce, who was replaced by Nate McMillan on an interim basis last week.
Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter did not receive a second PRP injection in his right knee, which increases the possibility he could return to action this month, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Hunter was originally projected to return in late March or early April after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on February 8. With the decision that a second PRP injection wasn’t needed, his timeline could be accelerated 7-10 days.
Hunter has increased his rehabilitation activities to include unrestricted weight room work and progressive court reloading, according to a team press release. His status will be updated on March 19.
We have more on the Hawks:
- In response to reports that several players lobbied for a coaching change, former head coach Lloyd Pierce said it’s the nature of the business on a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview (hat tip to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore). “I understand as the head coach it’s always going to be on me to make sure I put my guys, my staff, in position to operate successfully. So the relationships aren’t great. They are never going to be great. I’m the guy who has to pull the guy out of the game when he doesn’t think he needs to come out. … My job is not to be best friends with these guys. My job is for them to understand me, to respect me, to know I have a plan and vision and I got to get them to try to execute that.
- In a separate piece, Kirschner opines that the Hawks shouldn’t trade John Collins, arguing that the young big has gotten better each year, and there’s still room for improvement. He also fits well with Trae Young, though the front office doesn’t view Collins as a team’s second-best player on a championship-level squad. Kirschner also argues against pursuing Victor Oladipo in a trade, noting the team has already invested heavily in wing players.
- Interim coach Nate McMillan and his potential successor will have to design an offense that empowers more than Young, Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer opines. The head coach will also have to get Young to buy in to a more balanced system.
Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk, who spoke today to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic and Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, acknowledged that a number of the team’s free agent additions “haven’t performed as well as they wanted to.”
However, Schlenk said that veterans like Danilo Gallinari and Rajon Rondo have had an impact on the team off the court and expressed confidence that they can turn things around on the court. He also reiterated that the Hawks’ goal is still to have a winning season and to make the playoffs.
New head coach Nate McMillan will be tasked with getting the squad – which currently has a 16-20 record, back into the postseason mix. And while leading the team to a second-half surge might improve McMillan’s chances of getting his interim tag removed at season’s end, Schlenk insists that the veteran head coach has nothing to prove and is already assured of receiving consideration for the permanent job.
“He’s certainly going to have the opportunity to be the permanent head coach,” Schlenk said, per Kirschner. “No doubt about it. You can certainly argue that he’s got the best chance because he’s here right now, and we’ll have the ability to work with him for the next three months. He’s going to have the opportunity to coach games. I don’t know that there’s necessarily anything that I need to see. He’s got a proven track record. He doesn’t need to prove to me that he can coach NBA basketball. I know that.”
Schlenk also addressed a handful of other topics today, confirming that the Hawks hope Kris Dunn can make his debut with the team at some point later this month and discussing Atlanta’s approach to the trade deadline. Here, via Kirschner and Spencer, are a few of the highlights from the Hawks’ GM:
On whether the Hawks are actively exploring trade scenarios:
“Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything on the horizon, but that can change. You rarely get teams’ best offers. Nobody gets real serious until you get down to the last week or two. It’s hard to gauge. We certainly will look to do anything we can to do anything we can that feels like, is going to make us a better team in the short-term and the long-term. Those sometimes don’t go hand-in-hand, but we’ll look at any situation we think that will help us.”
On the team’s plan for John Collins:
“John’s a big part of our team… He’s made the decision this fall to go to restricted free agency, and that was his choice and obviously we respect it. But we’re going to have the opportunity to match any offer he gets. We’ll certainly make him an offer in free agency as well, and he’ll have the ability to see if he can get an offer from another team. But at the end of the day, we view him as part of our team, and I don’t see a restricted free agency situation where we would just let him walk for nothing.”
On whether Collins could be moved before the trade deadline:
“We listen about all our guys, that’s our job, to see what the value of all our guys are. John is a good young player, and teams have interest in him, no question about it. But we listen on all our guys, I guess is the short answer.”
The Hawks are expecting veteran guard Kris Dunn to appear in his first game for the team before the end of the month, as Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.
Dunn, who signed a two-year, $9.8MM with Atlanta in November, had his Hawks debut delayed after he went under the knife in December to address an ankle injury. According to general manager Travis Schlenk, the team was fully on board with Dunn’s decision to undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his ankle, knowing it would keep him sidelined until the second half.
“He made the decision, and we fully supported him to get that fixed, knowing that it would put us in a situation where he would miss the first half of the season and we’d get him back later on this month,” Schlenk said, per Spencer. “So we’re always going to support the players when it comes to doing the right thing for them, medically.”
Dunn is one of many Hawks 2020 free agent additions who has missed time due to an injury this season. Danilo Gallinari has been sidelined for 12 of Atlanta’s 36 games, while Rajon Rondo has missed 16 and Bogdan Bogdanovic has been out for 25.
The hope is that Dunn, who has a reputation as a strong perimeter defender, can help shore up a unit whose 112.5 defensive rating ranks 13th in the Eastern Conference and 23rd in the NBA.
The Timberwolves continue to explore ways to address their power forward position and have shown interest in the likes of Hawks big man John Collins and Magic forward Aaron Gordon, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Hawks’ and Magic’s asking prices for Collins and Gordon will be substantial, Charania adds. Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas hasn’t been shy about shaking up the roster since assuming control of the basketball operations department in 2019, but it remains to be seen how aggressive he’ll be at this year’s deadline with Minnesota holding the league’s worst record and at risk of losing its 2021 first-round pick (which is top-three protected).
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the pared-down nature of the NBA’s 2021 All-Star weekend, a Rising Stars Game showcasing the league’s top rookies and sophomores won’t be played this year.
However, the league has still announced the rosters for the event, via NBA Top Shot, naming the 20 players who would have been selected to participate if the game was taking place. Here are those rosters:
U.S. Team:
- LaMelo Ball (Hornets)
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Tyrese Haliburton (Kings)
- Tyler Herro (Heat)
- De’Andre Hunter (Hawks)
- Keldon Johnson (Spurs)
- Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
- Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets)
- Zion Williamson (Pelicans)
- James Wiseman (Warriors)
World Team:
- Precious Achiuwa (Heat) 🇳🇬
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Pelicans) 🇨🇦
- Deni Avdija (Wizards) 🇮🇱
- RJ Barrett (Knicks) 🇨🇦
- Facundo Campazzo (Nuggets) 🇦🇷
- Brandon Clarke (Grizzlies) 🇨🇦
- Luguentz Dort (Thunder) 🇨🇦
- Rui Hachimura (Wizards) 🇯🇵
- Theo Maledon (Thunder) 🇫🇷
- Mychal Mulder (Warriors) 🇨🇦
The 20-man group includes eight rookies and 11 sophomores. The 20th player, Porter, made the cut as a sophomore since he missed his entire rookie season in 2018/19 due to an injury — this is technically his third year of NBA service.
- Nate McMillan, who was named interim head coach of the Hawks on Monday, confirmed that Lloyd Pierce talked him into being his replacement, according to Charles Odum of The Associated Press. McMillan initially rebuffed GM Travis Schlenk’s offer to take the reins. “We had a conversation about the team and the move … and he just felt he didn’t think this would happen but he felt I could step in and do a good job with the team,” McMillan said. “He basically felt I should take this opportunity.”
There was hope entering the season in Atlanta that the previously-existent friction between Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce and star guard Trae Young would be a thing of the past, but it reemerged as the season progressed, according to Chris Kirschner, Sam Amick, and David Aldridge of The Athletic. And the Athletic trio suggests that Young wasn’t the only Hawks player frustrated by Pierce’s coaching style.
Sources tell The Athletic that several members of the Hawks were “eager to hear a new voice,” and that multiple players recently shared their desire for a change with team management. By the time Pierce was let go on Monday, player support for him was dwindling, per Kirschner, Amick, and Aldridge.
As the trio details, there wasn’t a single moment this season that resulted in Pierce losing the locker room, but it happened over time due to a number of small moments that added up.
“There’s no telling when he lost it,” a source close to the team told The Athletic. “He didn’t have support from many people. It came down to him not being able to manage egos. That’s what did him in, especially these young guys. It’s tough.”
The Athletic’s report, which is worth checking out in full if you’re a subscriber, includes many other interesting tidbits on the Hawks’ coaching change. Here are a few highlights:
- Pierce’s job security was already tenuous by the end of the 2019/20 season, but a number of factors – including the abrupt hiatus and Pierce’s strong voice during the social justice movement – helped save his job for the time being, according to The Athletic’s report.
- Multiple Hawks players felt last season as if they weren’t having their concerns heard when they approached Pierce about them, and started going to assistant coach Chris Jent with those concerns instead, per The Athletic. Players once again felt unheard this season when they asked Pierce about adjusting the late-game offense to make it more free-flowing.
- Sources tell The Athletic that Cam Reddish was among the players who bristled at Pierce’s coaching style and felt as if he was being “picked on” behind the scenes. According to Kirschner, Amick, and Aldridge, some Hawks players believe Reddish’s ceiling is as high as anyone’s on the roster and thought Pierce’s approach was stunting his development.
- The Hawks’ fourth-quarter struggles this season bothered team owner Tony Ressler, who “grew incensed” when the club kept losing winnable games by blowing late leads, per The Athletic’s trio. GM Travis Schlenk has said the decision to fire Pierce was his and his front office’s, but at the very least, Ressler had to sign off on it.
Addressing reporters on Monday night following the announcement of Lloyd Pierce‘s dismissal, general manager Travis Schlenk didn’t offer a ton of specific details for why the Hawks made a head coaching change, simply stating that the team was underachieving relative to its expectations, as Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta-Journal Constitution writes.
“As we said at the beginning of the season, our goal was to have progress this year, to move forward,” Schlenk said. “And we just felt like that wasn’t happening as quickly as we wanted it to. … We felt like for the organization, it was the best thing for us to do moving forward.”
Hawks owner Tony Ressler has admitted to pressing for the team’s big spending spree during 2020’s free agency period and badly wants to get back to the postseason. However, Schlenk said that he and his basketball operations staff made the decision to move on from Pierce, with Ressler’s approval.
“Certainly Tony signs off on all major moves we make on the basketball side or on the business side, as far as that goes, but this wasn’t a decision that Tony made,” Schlenk said, according to Spencer. “… I don’t think it’s any secret that Tony is very passionate and wants the organization to be successful. He’s willing to give us all the resources that we need to be able to do that. Up to this point in my tenure here, he’s been extremely supportive of any decision I feel like we needed to make, and this was the same situation here.”
Here’s more on the Hawks:
- Nate McMillan will be the Hawks’ interim head coach and is the first candidate named by Chris Kirschner of The Athletic in his list of possible permanent coaching options for Atlanta. Schlenk was noncommittal on Monday when asked about the possibility of McMillan holding the job permanently, stating that the Hawks will cross that bridge when they get there, per Spencer.
- Pierce’s firing raises some bigger questions about the Hawks’ decision-making, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who suggests the clock has begun ticking on Schlenk and the front office, especially if the team’s 2020 free agent additions don’t start providing more value soon. While injuries to Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kris Dunn, and De’Andre Hunter this season have been unlucky, the signings of Danilo Gallinari and Rajon Rondo look like “clear failures,” Hollinger contends.
- Schlenk shared some good news during his Tuesday morning appearance on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, announcing that Bogdanovic will play on Tuesday on a minutes restriction (Twitter link via Mike Conti). Bogdanovic has been out since January 9 due to a knee injury.
- A pair of veteran NBA coaches – Rick Carlisle and Gregg Popovich – expressed disappointment in the Hawks’ decision to fire Pierce, as Dwain Price of Mavs.com and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press relay.