Atlants • Atlanta Hawks basic supervisor Landry Fields mentioned Wednesday former Utah coach Quin Snyder is amongst these being thought-about to switch Nate McMillan.
The Hawks fired McMillan on Tuesday, and Fields confused their eighth-place standing within the Japanese Convention shouldn’t be acceptable for a crew that superior to the convention finals in 2021.
Snyder, 56, was 372-264 as Utah’s coach from 2014-22. He guided the Jazz to 6 consecutive playoff appearances earlier than stepping down after final season.
Fields mentioned Snyder’s availability “is an element within the sense that I really feel comfy mentioning his identify, however there are different candidates I don’t wish to point out as a result of they’re part of different groups.”
Snyder was a Hawks assistant in 2013-14.
Different doable candidates, together with Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson and Milwaukee assistant Charles Lee. Each are former Atlanta assistants.
Fields mentioned he has began speaking with potential candidates and will make a rent this season. Assistant coach Joe Prunty started serving as interim coach with Wednesday’s apply however is probably not concerned within the interview course of for the full-time place.
“To do that now, kind of final minute, there’s sufficient on Joe’s plate,” Fields mentioned, including his message to Prunty to deal with the duty at hand and “we’ll cowl every part else later.”
McMillan, 58, went 99-80 as Atlanta’s coach, together with a 27-11 document as interim within the second half of the 2020-21 season. His success that season in main Atlanta to the Japanese Convention finals earned him the full-time place.
McMillan couldn’t observe up on that success. The Hawks misplaced to Miami within the first spherical of the playoffs final season after surviving the play-in match.
Atlanta is struggling to stay within the high 10 for a return spot within the play-in subject. The Hawks misplaced 4 of six video games earlier than the All-Star break and are just one recreation forward of Tenth-place Toronto within the East.
Fields mentioned he thought-about a training change for one month and was influenced by back-to-back losses to Charlotte and the New York Knicks earlier than the break.
“I do imagine there was slippage and I felt that was a necessity we would have liked to handle,” Fields mentioned.
Fields mentioned he didn’t seek the advice of level guard Trae Younger or different gamers earlier than making the transfer. Fields mentioned hypothesis McMillan’s efforts had been affected by conflicts with Younger had been unfair to the participant and weren’t a consider his resolution to make a training change.
General in 19 seasons, McMillan has a 760-668 document with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Path Blazers, Indiana Pacers and Hawks.