The Atlanta Hawks (29-30) officially parted ways with head coach Nate McMillan on Tuesday night. The move comes almost exactly two months after they demoted president of basketball operations and general manager, Travis Schlenk, on December 21st.
While the timing of the firing was somewhat surprising, the decision itself was not. After losing four of its last six games heading into the All-Star Break and continuing to flirt with the play-in line in the Eastern Conference, it was clear that the Hawks were not moving in the right direction.
At the very least, the Hawks will be getting ahead of the field with this decision, but Jon Chuckery isn't convinced that they are totally throwing in the towel on the season.
The Hawks will turn to longtime assistant Joe Prunty to take on the role of interim head coach in McMillan's absence, and he has unique experience that could be useful to the team.
"They're not throwing away this season, they're not looking to tank," Chuckery explained after the news broke about Nate McMillan on Tuesday night. "You have a guy that has coached a team on an interim basis before, gotten them to the playoffs, and took the Celtics to seven games."
Prunty took over for a sinking ship in Milwaukee after they fired head coach Jason Kidd midseason in 2018 after they similarly struggled to break free from the .500 mark. He then propelled them to a 21-16 record to help them lock up a seven seed in the playoffs and compete with the second-seeded Boston Celtics.
Currently sitting at eighth in the Eastern Conference and 3.5 games behind the New York Knick with 23 games left to play, the Hawks certainly have their work cut out for them, but they could use a similar propulsion. For all of its shortcomings, the roster in Atlanta is still very talented and there is still plenty for the Hawks to play for down the stretch.