The Atlanta Hawks didn’t wait to find a replacement for Nate McMillan.
On Sunday, just days after McMillan was fired, the Hawks reached an agreement with former Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder to become their permanent head coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Assistant coach Joe Prunty served as interim head coach during a short trial.
Snyder is expected to join the team as early as Tuesday. His five-year contract, according to Wojnarowski, includes the remainder of this season.
Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee and Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson were among others. reported job candidates.
The loan gives the Hawks a proven head coach who went 372-264 in eight seasons during his tenure with the Jazz. It will also be a familiar setting for Snyder, who was an assistant with the Hawks for one season before landing a job with Utah.
What Quin Snyder brings to the Hawks
Snyder and the Jazz have made the playoffs in each of his last six seasons with the team, peaking in the 2020–21 season when they finished top of the Western Conference with a 52–20 record.
With Rudy Gobert fixing the paint, the Jazz were regularly among the top defensive teams in the NBA and found their offensive footing with the arrival of Donovan Mitchell. It was a team with defined roles, and the system secured them a permanent place in the playoffs.
Of course, there’s a reason Snyder is single and Gobert and Mitchell are out of the Jazz right now. While the system worked in the regular season, the team never made it past the semi-finals of the Western Conference.
The team’s playoff infamy grew with each lackluster performance, peaking in the 2020-21 season when it lost 2-0 to the Los Angeles Clippers in the series. Despite losing Kawhi Leonard to an ACL tear in Game 4, the Clippers won four games in a row, overcoming their own difficulties in the playoffs, and ended it all with a 25-point comeback in Game 6.
Cinder retired a year later after losing in the first round for the third time in four seasons.
The Hawks would love to make the playoffs right now
As bleak as the end of the Jazz Age has been, the Hawks now have bigger concerns than reaching the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
This was supposed to be a season that would take off after Atlanta traded for Dejount Murray, who added Trey Young, De’Andre Hunter and John Collins to the All-Star roster. That did not happen.
After going 43-39 last year, the Hawks are now 31-30, good for eighth in the East. Per Shams Charania from Athleticthe team’s management believes the problem is culture and is banking on Snyder’s ability to create a winning culture, as he did in Utah.
Given the team’s position in the playoff hunt, they’ll want Snyder to get to work quickly.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
