Written by: Jordan Jasper
Over the past four to five years, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks team has been a disappointment to fans and the league in general. As it was just about six years ago, when the franchise stunned the league with 60 wins to finish the season. The team did not advance much, but they were making the playoffs and always had some interesting offense under the former coach Mike Budenholzer. However, just like Atlanta’s NFL team the future was promising, but it was not fulfilled. After losing and roster changes Budenholzer was fired, and he went on to have a have a good coaching run with Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks, who are currently third in the eastern conference.
The Hawks organization went on to hire Lloyd Pierce as the coach after moving on from Budenholzer. The roster seemed to look decent on paper with talented and young players such as Trae Young and Jon Collins, however Pierce could not bring out the most in the players. The team looked lost on defense and only ran plays through Trae Young at times, which translated to losses and missing out on the playoffs consecutively. After 3 years of missing the playoffs, the Hawks relieved Pierce of his duties. He was replaced by the well-known coach in the league, Nate McMillan this season.
Although, McMillan has not been in Atlanta for long, he has already been a major catalyst for change. He has the team looking motivated on defense and Clint Capela as the anchor for rebounding and defending the paint. Trae Young is still the focal pint of the offense, but McMillan’s game plan often presents more team basketball, rather than one player trying to be the “hero” in games. The new coaching efforts have lifted the Hawks into playoff contention in the
East, and they are highly convincing. The franchise is currently 6th place in the East.The Hawks are starting to look like a good team again as their translating motivation into wins.
