- 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.
6:50pm: It’s official, according to a team press release.
6:17pm: Nate McMillan has agreed to coach the Hawks on an interim basis, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
McMillan, who was the team’s associate head coach, was initially reluctant to replace close friend Lloyd Pierce. Pierce’s support to take the job swayed him, Wojnarowski reports in another tweet. Pierce was dismissed on Monday afternoon after coaching Atlanta for two-and-a-half seasons.
McMillan has a 661-588 (.529) record in 16 seasons as head coach with Seattle, Portland and Indiana.
McMillan coached the Hawks for a couple of games in February while Pierce attended the birth of his second child. He was hired as Pierce’s top assistant in November, just over two months after he was let go by the Pacers.
McMillan, 56, guided the Pacers to a 183-136 (.574) record over the last four seasons, earning four consecutive playoff berths during that stretch. However, Indiana was swept in the first round in three of the last four years. He initially planned to take this season off but had a change of heart after several teams pursued him with assistant jobs.
The Hawks have dismissed head coach Lloyd Pierce, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The club has put out a press release officially confirming the decision to relieve Pierce of his duties.
“We would like to thank Lloyd for his work and commitment to not only the Hawks organization but the city of Atlanta. He and his wife, Melissa, are tremendous people who have made a positive impact throughout the city,” general manager Travis Schlenk said in a statement. “We have high expectations for our team on the court and we believe by making this change now that we can have a strong second half of the season.”
Pierce, who previously served as an assistant coach in Cleveland, Golden State, Memphis, and Philadelphia, was hired as the Hawks’ head coach by Schlenk in 2018. Pierce led the team to a 63-120 (.344) record in two-and-a-half seasons, with no playoff appearances.
The Hawks’ sub-.500 records in Pierce’s first couple seasons were to be expected, since the organization was still in rebuilding mode. However, there were increased expectations in Atlanta in 2020/21 — the club badly wants to make the postseason this spring following a major spending spree in free agency. The Hawks are just 14-20 after getting off to a 10-9 start, and have coughed up a number of fourth-quarter leads.
It’s worth noting that Atlanta has been hit hard so far in ’20/21 by the injury bug, with all of the team’s major free agent additions – Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo, Kris Dunn – missing at least a dozen games due to health issues. Dunn has yet to suit up at all for his new team, while up-and-coming youngster De’Andre Hunter has been out since January. However, it seems the Hawks’ decision-makers weren’t willing to attribute the club’s inconsistent and underwhelming play in the first half to those absences.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Hawks are hoping that lead assistant Nate McMillan will take over as their interim head coach.
McMillan is certainly the most logical candidate to assume the reins on an interim basis — his résumé includes lengthy head coaching stints for the Pacers, Trail Blazers, and SuperSonics, and he ranks 22nd on the NBA’s all-time list with 661 wins as a head coach. However, McMillan – who is meeting with Pierce and the rest of Atlanta’s coaching staff this afternoon – has been “fiercely loyal in his support of Pierce,” Woj notes.
[UPDATE: Nate McMillan Agrees To Be Hawks’ Interim Head Coach]
Pierce, who is set to be part of Gregg Popovich‘s Team USA coaching staff at this year’s Olympics in Tokyo, is the second NBA head coach to be dismissed during the 2020/21 season, joining former Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- Hawks forward Solomon Hill said the Heat never made an offer to retain him in free agency, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Hill, who wound up signing a one-year deal with Atlanta, has averaged 4.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 18.9 MPG in 33 games this season.
- One of the Heat‘s top “bubble lineups” is finally back in place, Barry Jackson writes for The Miami Herald. The team has won five straight contests and is working to bounce back from a COVID- and injury-riddled start to the season, playing the 14-19 Hawks on Sunday night.
Hawks swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic has progressed his rehabilitation to include one-on-one play with contact, the team tweets. Bogdanovic hasn’t played since January 9 due to an avulsion fracture in his right knee. His next step will be reintegration into team practice. Bogdanovic was one of the premier acquisitions of the offseason, signing a four-year, $72MM offer sheet that the Kings declined to match.
- Another of the Hawks’ high-level acquisitions, Danilo Gallinari, is showing signs that he’s prepared to make a bigger impact. Gallinari’s 38-point eruption against Boston on Wednesday is more of what the team expected when Gallinari arrived in a sign-and-trade with the Thunder, as coach Lloyd Pierce told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner. “That’s Gallo. We know he’s capable. We know he can give us some more. We want him to give us more,” Pierce said.
Appearing today on Toucher & Rich on The Sports Hub 98.5 WBZ-FM in Boston, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge discussed his team’s recent slump and reiterated a couple points he made last week, expressing a belief that the team as constructed as not “good enough” to compete for a title and putting the blame on himself for the roster’s shortcomings (Twitter links via Keith Smith of RealGM).
While Ainge accepted responsibility for the holes on Boston’s roster, he also shared some concerns about the team’s intensity level. Ainge stressed that he believes in the club’s current players, but said, “I wish they were playing harder” (Twitter link via Smith).
“The intensity level hasn’t been there,” Ainge said (Twitter link via Smith). “I don’t know how to explain it. Our team isn’t playing well. They don’t play hard all the time. I don’t have an explanation. It’s been frustrating for the players and the coaches.”
According to Ainge, surrounding Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with more scoring and more “dynamic talent off the bench” is a priority. While the Celtics’ top executive restated that he doesn’t want to make a move just to do something, he said the team is always looking for ways to upgrade its roster. “Time will tell” if it happens before the deadline, Ainge added (Twitter links via Smith).
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Specifically addressing the possibility of utilizing the Celtics’ $28.5MM trade exception before the trade deadline, Ainge noted that the exception might be easier to use during the offseason, when the hard cap isn’t a concern and more teams around the NBA can afford to make big-money deals that drastically shake up their rosters (Twitter link via Smith).
- Appearing on Felger & Mazz on 98.5 FM in Boston, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck made it clear that the franchise is happy with Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens, despite the club’s struggles. “They’re our guys and we’re sticking with them, and it’s not even a question in my mind,” Grousbeck said (audio link via NBC Sports Boston).
- Hawks big man John Collins is one potential trade candidate who could appeal to the Celtics, so Chris Kirschner, Jay King, and Jared Weiss of The Athletic dug into a hypothetical trade to try to determine whether there’s a match between the two teams. Kirschner – who cover the Hawks -and the two Celtics’ writers ultimately agreed that something like Payton Pritchard, Carsen Edwards, and two or three first-round picks might work.
The Mavericks have “quietly gauged” the potential trade market for Kristaps Porzingis as they continue to evaluate whether he can be the team’s second star behind Luka Doncic, league sources tell Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
“They’ve kicked the tires on everybody on their roster that’s not named Luka,” a person with knowledge of the situation told Fischer. “You know (president of basketball operations) Donnie (Nelson); they’re always tinkering.”
Mavs owner Mark Cuban disputed the report, telling Tim Cato of The Athletic that his club has “not discussed (Porzingis) with anyone.” However, Ian Begley of SNY.tv backs up Fischer’s reporting, citing sources who say Dallas reached out to the Warriors to gauge their interest in the big man.
As Fischer explains, Porzingis’ ever-growing injury history and his struggles on defense are possible concerns for the Mavericks. Still, it sounds like if Dallas is discussing Porzingis at all, it’s more about the team doing its due diligence or considering hypothetical scenarios than actually looking to move on from the 25-year-old. Cato says it’s “incredibly unlikely” the former No. 4 overall pick will be traded this season or in the summer.
According to Fischer, the Mavericks are believed to be more interested adding a center who can complement Porzingis in the frontcourt, such as perhaps Andre Drummond. Dallas would like a big man with “physicality, rebounding, (and) toughness,” one source tells Bleacher Report.
While it’s not clear if Hawks big man John Collins will be a pre-deadline trade target for the Mavs, league sources believe the team would make a “significant offer” to him if he reaches restricted free agency in the offseason, per Fischer.
Dallas has also explored the trade market for additional shooting and perimeter defense, according to Fischer, who adds that the Mavs appear to have been one of the more active teams in the early stages of trade conversations around the league.
Porzingis’ injury issues and his defensive shortcomings have prevented him taking a major step toward stardom since arriving in Dallas, and he owns the most expensive contract on the Mavs’ books, with three years and $101MM+ left on his deal after this season. However, that contract isn’t interfering with Dallas’ ability to upgrade the roster, as the club still projects to have a significant chunk of cap room available in the summer of 2021.
Hawks big man John Collins met the NBA’s “starter criteria” on Friday night, increasing the value of his qualifying offer in restricted free agency this summer, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
The starter criteria requires an RFA-to-be to start at least half of his team’s games in the two seasons leading up to his free agency. Collins started 41 of Atlanta’s 67 games in 2019/20 and has now started 29 of 72 this season, for a total of 70 starts out of 139 games, surpassing that halfway point.
As a result of meeting the criteria, Collins’ qualifying offer in restricted free agency will now be worth $7,705,447 instead of $5,899,793.
For some players, the difference between meeting the starter criteria and not quite getting there can make a significant difference in how their free agency plays out, as it did a year ago for Kris Dunn. When he met the starter criteria, Dunn ensured his qualifying offer was worth $7.09MM instead of $4.64MM — the Bulls subsequently declined to tender that QO, making him an unrestricted free agent, a move the team may not have made if the financial commitment was smaller.
In Collins’ case, the value of his qualifying offer is almost irrelevant, as he’ll certainly be able to sign a far more lucrative long-term contract than the one-year, $7.7MM QO. Barring a very surprising development, his qualifying offer will essentially be a placeholder.
Six 2021 RFAs – Collins, Jarrett Allen, Lonzo Ball, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, and Devonte’ Graham – have now met the starter criteria. Once he returns from his shoulder injury, Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen is the best candidate to get there next, as he needs just five more starts.