Landry Fields Discusses Atlanta Hawks Coaching Change

Summarizing Landry Fields press conference after the Atlanta Hawks coaching change.

At 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, reporters squeezed into the media area at Emory's Atlanta Hawks practice facility. All eyes were on the team's general manager Landry Fields who addressed the press for the first time since he fired head coach Nate McMillan on Tuesday.

Fields opened his remarks by thanking McMillan for his service to the team. "The man has over 750 wins in his career. That is an unbelievable achievement."

However, Fields then gave a brutal assessment of the state of the locker room. "As of late, my pulse and read on this team is that it was time for a change of late." 

Fields said he could tell players weren’t responding to McMillan’s voice in the locker room before reiterating the team was trending in the wrong direction and had contemplated the move for over a month.

Fields may not have been the only party considering a move, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that McMillan had expressed a desire to resign throughout the season. Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked Fields if McMillan asked to resign. Fields said McMillan never expressed that message to him. 

#Hawks GM Landry Fields says finding someone able to motivate is an important aspect of their coaching search

Confirms Quin Snyder is a candidate for the job. @11alivenews pic.twitter.com/XCwJ0a40qR

— Reggie Chatman Jr. (@ReggieChatman) February 22, 2023

After Fields' wrapped up his press conference, it was interim head coach Joe Prunty's turn to speak with the media. Prunty pointed out the difficulty of implementing big changes on the fly but planned to "tweak some things going forward."

Prunty confirmed another assistant coach would be tapped to fill his old role on the bench, "but no decision has been made yet."

John Collins and Dejounte Murray also spoke with the media. Collins said, "McMillan’s coaching style might have fit better for an older roster." Collins expressed hope that the new coach will have "more guidance for a team that needs help on the development and mental side."

Kevin L. Chouinard of Bally Sports said, "Dejounte Murray reiterated a few times that the NBA is a business. He said that the first thing that he did when he woke up to the news yesterday was call Nate McMillan. Said they had a great conversation."

With the coaching change behind the team, they now must focus on the last one-third of the regular season in front of them. Atlanta has a record of 29-30 and ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference. They host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at State Farm Arena.