The Atlanta Hawks fired coach Lloyd Pierce, the team announced on Monday. Pierce has been the team’s coach since the start of the 2018-19 season and oversaw a rebuild period for the franchise after a period of sustained mediocrity. Pierce was 63-120 overall during his tenure thanks to an extremely young squad, but after a spree of free agent spending this off-season, the Hawks’ property clearly expected more immediate results.
“We would like to thank Lloyd for his work and commitment not only to the Hawks organization, but also to the city of Atlanta,” said general manager Travis Schlenk in a statement. “He and his wife, Melissa, are incredible people who have made a positive impact across the city,” said Schlenk. “We have high expectations for our team on the pitch and we believe that by making this change, we can have a strong second part of the season.”
These have not yet arrived. The Hawks are between 14 and 20 with the All-Star break approaching. Right now, they are the number 11 seed in the Eastern Conference. That wouldn’t even give them a place in the play-in tournament if the season ended today. Atlanta suffered injuries in most of his signings as a free agent, as the lead quartet of Danilo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Kris Dunn played only 49 combined games in the entire season.
Former Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan, who joined Pierce’s team this season, accepted the job for an interim period, the team announced. The Hawks were initially uncertain whether he would accept the position based on his loyalty to Pierce. McMillan coached the Hawks for three games this season, when Pierce was absent from the team that was watching the birth of his second child.
The Hawks’ property clearly defined a playoff or search mandate for the front office and technical staff. At the moment, these expectations are not being met. Whether they are premature in nature is another matter, but without being in a position to make it to the playoffs at this time, management felt it was time to make a change. Pierce’s term with the Hawks will end without a playoff appearance.