Snyder is one of the latest in-season coaching replacements in NBA history.
ATLANTA — In a surprise move in the final hours of the NBA All-Star break, the Hawks parted ways with head coach Nate McMillan, and before the weekend was up, had replaced him with Quin Snyder.
Snyder will bring offensive innovation, an exciting name, and a respected authority to Atlanta, said Locked On Hawks podcast host Brad Rowland on a Monday edition of the Locked On NBA podcast.
“He’s a lot more innovative on the offensive end of the floor especially,” Rowland said. “The Hawks, in addition to maybe a new voice, needed another mind to accentuate the strengths of guys like Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.
“As soon as they brought Murray in, I was thinking aloud that McMillan was probably not the guy they were eventually going to have to make that all sing on offense.”
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Atlanta is 16th in the NBA in offensive efficiency this season despite the presence of two All-Star guards in Young and Murray.
Hiring someone quickly who has a track record engineering stellar offenses and building winning teams makes the late-season move much more palatable.
“If you’re going to move the way they did … getting a guy who you can certainly win the press conference with in Quin Snyder is probably at least a very good messaging approach for your fans,” Rowland said. “If you’re going to do this now, coming out of it with what I think is a top-10 coach in the league based on his performance in Utah, that’s a pretty good way of emerging from this whole thing.”
Snyder will reportedly make his debut as Atlanta head coach on Tuesday at home.
