I’m imagining all the paperwork had been drawn up, signed, and just waiting for season’s end to make it official. Yesterday, Monday, July 5, Atlanta Hawks Interim Head Coach Nate McMillan became the Hawks official full time head coach. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but we do know it was a 4-year deal. McMillan is a graduate of North Carolina State and played most notably for the Seattle Supersonics during the 1990s. He has coached with Seattle (2000-2005), the Portland Trail Blazers(2005-2012), and Indiana Pacers (2016-2020) throughout his coaching tenure.
Hawks were just two games shy of making the NBA Finals this year. Under McMillan, Hawks went 27-11 during the regular season, finishing the regular season 41-31.
McMillan was assistant head coach of the team earlier this season. After the Hawks fell to 14-20, then Head Coach Lloyd Piece was let go and McMillan became the lead man. McMillan didn’t want to take the job at first, because Pierce and him were best of friends, but Pierce, who didn’t have any hurt feelings and knew it was just business, urged McMillan to accept the position.
The team was falling apart under Pierce, with stars Trae Young and John Collins at odds with each other. But under McMillan, whatever those two disagreed about was mended, and the team began playing for each other and the city.
The Finals begin this week, and once the champion is crowned, there will be a short 10-week turnaround until training camps start back up end of September. So during the time off, enjoy a little baseball and football and I’ll talk more basketball late September. Cheers…
Header photo courtesy of NBA.com
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