Just five days after the Atlanta Hawks dismissed Nate McMillan, a new head coach has already arrived to take his place. While the Hawks quickly sprung into action, searching for McMillan’s replacement, few expected Quin Snyder to be able to come to terms so quickly with Atlanta.
Yet, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports, Snyder and the Hawks have agreed to a five-year contract. This deal will immediately take effect, and Snyder is expected to be on the sidelines coaching Trae Young and Co., possibly as soon as Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.
Assistant coach Joe Prunty took over for McMillan on an interim basis and managed to win the only game he got to coach. But he’s now once again expected to slide into the team’s top assistant role, this time under Snyder instead of McMillan. Yet, Prunty will get one more chance to prove his worth in the lead chair, Sunday night against Brooklyn.
Snyder rose to fame thanks to spending eight seasons at the helm with the Utah Jazz, where they reached the playoffs in his final six years with the team. He has a career 372-264 record in the regular season and a 21-30 record in postseason play.
Now Snyder will look to take a Hawks team that currently sits at 30-30 ahead of their Sunday night matchup against Brooklyn. Snyder’s main task will be getting the Hawks into the playoffs, where they currently sit as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
After sneaking into the postseason as the ninth seed after advancing past the play-in round, the Hawks wound up getting eliminated quickly, four games to one, against the Miami Heat during last year’s playoffs.
The hope is they can avoid a similar fate this time around. Perhaps Snyder is the right man for the job. The Hawks surely hope he is after going all-in by trading for Dejounte Murray this past offseason.
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