Lloyd Pierce has been Dismissed

[terrell]

3 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Before Schlenk, it should be the medical staff. They are way too conservative with these players. Bogi is practically auditioning to play and they wont let him. Dre being out 10 weeks for what he had is ridiculous. Don't get me started on Dunn and Rondo. Why would the medical staff allow these players to be signed if they weren't healthy? Clint was ready to play a week after we traded for him. They made him suffer watching the team when he could help. I was ok with this two years ago and last year because it allowed our young guys to develop while staying in contention for high draft picks but we are not in that mode any more. 

Dont forget about Cam..smh

[bleachkit]

21 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I would expect nothing less.

 

 

What actually happened...

Schlenk: Llloyd, it pains me to do this, but we have decided to go in a different direction. I hope you understand.

CLP: What!? Are you firing me?

Schlenk: We have the utmost respect for you and honestly think the world of you as a person, but we feel in order to get the most of this team, a new voice was needed. I'm sorry.

CLP: Are you f'n kidding me? Let me tell you something ass hat. This roster is garbage. Gaaarrr-baaggeee. Trae cant guard a f'n lemonade stand. He may as well help the other team score when he's on defense. And the great Gallinari. Gallo has the lateral quickness of a cigar store indian. He makes the Pope look young. Did you exhume him from an ancient tomb? And Kevin, he softer than a baby's behind. Is he playing tiddlywinks out there? What about your boy Cam. This guys fumbles basketballs like they are covered in motor oil, he bricks threes like he's building an out house, probably for all these crappy players to go shit in. And Rondo. What the f---k is he even doing here.? You will never win with this team. Never!!!

Schlenk: You know Lloyd, you sound a little upset. Maybe I'll give you a chance to unwind and check on you later

[RandomFan]

For those questioning the timing, this excerpt from an Athletic article brings up a good point: 

Meanwhile, time was quickly becoming of the essence. With the smashed-together schedule of this season offering few real opportunities for practice or major strategic shifts, the upcoming week off during the All-Star break provides the only real opportunity for a new coach to get some traction. I suspect Minnesota was compelled by similar logic. I also won’t be shocked at all if this is the last coaching change until May because there is just no opportunity for a new coach to get rolling once most of the league tips off the second half on March 11.

Edited March 2, 2021 by RandomFan

[sturt]

Really disappointed by that presser. Not getting the sense that they actually know what they want, based on how Schlenk kept repeating "These things are never easy," followed by "Again, these things are difficult."

Translation "Hem. Haw. Hem. Haw."

If you're going to make a decision like this, don't then go in front of the cameras and seem like you still have no direction. Show some resolve. Talk as-if this wasn't just something that occurred to you this morning, or in the last 24-48 hours. This feels too spontaneous, too much like deciding to run to Vegas and get married.

[bleachkit]

2 minutes ago, sturt said:

Really disappointed by that presser. Not getting the sense that they actually know what they want, based on how Schlenk kept repeating "These things are never easy," followed by "Again, these things are difficult."

Translation "Hem. Haw. Hem. Haw."

If you're going to make a decision like this, don't then go in front of the cameras and seem like you still have no direction. Show some resolve. Talk as-if this wasn't just something that occurred to you this morning, or in the last 24-48 hours. This feels too spontaneous, too much like deciding to run to Vegas and get married.

That is not TS personality. He's kind of soft spoken, retiring type fellow. You arent going to get fire and brimestone.

[terrell]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Whats that got to do with anything?  He's not the only one ripping the Hawks for how this was handled.

Did any of these coaches speak out after Flip's kid was canned?

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, sturt said:

Really disappointed by that presser. Not getting the sense that they actually know what they want, based on how Schlenk kept repeating "These things are never easy," followed by "Again, these things are difficult."

Translation "Hem. Haw. Hem. Haw."

If you're going to make a decision like this, don't then go in front of the cameras and seem like you still have no direction. Show some resolve. Talk as-if this wasn't just something that occurred to you this morning, or in the last 24-48 hours. This feels too spontaneous, too much like deciding to run to Vegas and get married.

I don't think he said that.  He said that expectations of progress were not met...meaning that this year's team looked like last year's team even with better talent.  He acknowledged the injuries but then added multiple times that that wasn't why things were going so poorly.  He can't just flat out say that he made a mistake with Lloyd but he kinda did when he said that he hire him and expected to spend many year together with him.  It should be easy to read between the lines.

[MarylandHawk]

16 minutes ago, terrell said:

Dont forget about Cam..smh

Right...ridiculous. 

[Peoriabird]

30 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

CLP: Are you f'n kidding me? Let me tell you something ass hat. This roster is garbage. Gaaarrr-baaggeee. And the great Gallinari. Gallo has the lateral quickness of a cigar store indian. He makes the Pope look young. Did you exhume him from an ancient tomb? And Kevin, he softer than a baby's behind. Is he playing tiddlywinks out there? What about your boy Cam. This guys fumbles basketballs like they are covered in motor oil, he bricks threes like he's building an out house, probably for all these crappy players to go shit in. And Rondo. What the f---k is he even doing here.? You will never win with this team. Never!!!

 

Schlenk:  And yet these guys get all of the minutes.  You even take out Capela to play Gallinari in the 4th quarter.  No one makes you do that you know. Nate complains about your game management all of the time and we are just tired of hearing it from him.  By the way, he also thinks your challenges are all stupid.

[Hawkmoor]

The moment Nate McMillan was hired,  Pierce was on his way out. Travis bought himself at least three more years with that move,

[kg01]

11 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Schlenk:  And yet these guy get all of the minutes.  You even take out Capela to play Gallinari in the 4th quarter.  No one makes you do that you know. Nate complains about your game management all of the time and we are just tired of hearing it from him.  By the way, he also thinks your challenges are all stupid.

There's other threads for you to spew hateful nonsense.  Leave this one for the classy expressions of appreciation. 

[Gray Mule]

I'm sad that this has happened.

I'm happy that this has happened.

As I said previously, we couldn't fire the entire team.  They weren't preforming up to expectations.  They desperately need to wake up.  Sleepwalk?  Yep.  They did.  Over and over in the 4th quarter.

Nate Mc has been there and knows the players.  

[Bonkers]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Now that Bonker's life's dream has finally been realized, what will he do now?

I'm going to Disney World lol

[macdaddy]

I'm 10 pages behind but to me blowing your first HC hire and having to eat it this soon is way worse than swinging on a few free agents on 1 or 2 year deals.  And it's not like Rondo and Gallo weren't major contributors on playoff teams last season.  

Carlisle and Pop?  I think they said the same about Woody getting fired if i remember right.  There's never a good time.  They aren't going to wait for a thoughtful time to make basketball moves in their org. 

Bottom line is we have about 3 or 4 very good wins on the season.   the other 10 are against depleted or terrible teams.   That's the truth.  I hate to admit it.  Lots of injuries for sure.  

[bleachkit]

3 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I'm 10 pages behind but to me blowing your first HC hire and having to eat it this soon is way worse than swinging on a few free agents on 1 or 2 year deals.  And it's not like Rondo and Gallo weren't major contributors on playoff teams last season.  

Carlisle and Pop?  I think they said the same about Woody getting fired if i remember right.  There's never a good time.  They aren't going to wait for a thoughtful time to make basketball moves in their org. 

Bottom line is we have about 3 or 4 very good wins on the season.   the other 10 are against depleted or terrible teams.   That's the truth.  I hate to admit it.  Lots of injuries for sure.  

Coaches always go to bat for other coaches. I'm not surprised they spoke out,

[Atlantaholic]

5 hours ago, gHost83 said:

I call bs

Obviously, hilarious anyone would think Nate would give a nano second's thought to become head coach. There's loyalty and then there's stupidity. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Atlantaholic]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

Really disappointed by that presser. Not getting the sense that they actually know what they want, based on how Schlenk kept repeating "These things are never easy," followed by "Again, these things are difficult."

Translation "Hem. Haw. Hem. Haw."

If you're going to make a decision like this, don't then go in front of the cameras and seem like you still have no direction. Show some resolve. Talk as-if this wasn't just something that occurred to you this morning, or in the last 24-48 hours. This feels too spontaneous, too much like deciding to run to Vegas and get married.

Bro, he's just being courteous to LP. 

[Atlantaholic]

3 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

Just put yourself in their shoes.  When you see this guy butchering the roster the way he does, at some point you say enough is enough especially when he does the same thing over and over to blow 4th quarter leads.  And even why Nate took over and showed this guy what his rotations should be, LP still does what he does so they had no other choice.

We were instantly better with Nate save for that one game where the team outside of Trae shot like 5% from the field. The debacle in the Cav's game was the worst bit of coaching in the NBA I've ever seen, and that's not hyperbole. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

Quote

Meanwhile, time was quickly becoming of the essence. With the smashed-together schedule of this season offering few real opportunities for practice or major strategic shifts, the upcoming week off during the All-Star break provides the only real opportunity for a new coach to get some traction. I suspect Minnesota was compelled by similar logic. I also won’t be shocked at all if this is the last coaching change until May because there is just no opportunity for a new coach to get rolling once most of the league tips off the second half on March 11.

Nonetheless, it’s amazing to look at this season and see how much of this was mostly or fully beyond Pierce’s control. The Hawks went all-in for the playoffs by signing Kris Dunn, who hasn’t played a game, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is also injured, and Rajon Rondo, who might be the worst backup point guard in the league, and Danilo Gallinari, who has been the walking definition of toast. Is it any surprise, then, that they’ve been a disappointment?

Even the successes turned sour. The Hawks did a great job developing De’Andre Hunter, who was a strong candidate for Most Improved Player, and then he got hurt too. Atlanta has been so denuded by injuries and ineffectiveness that Solomon Hill, with his 7.0 PER, has become someone they count on. Subtract all the injured or ineffective additions, and these Hawks basically end up with last year’s 20-47 team plus Capela, which largely explains how aThe clock has now started ticking on this front office, led by general manager Travis Schlenk.

The Hawks’ mandate to make the playoffs this year precipitated a torrent of spending that has largely proven fruitless, as noted above, and while the injuries to Dunn and Bogdanovic were unfortunate, the Rondo and Gallinari additions have been clear failures.

Moreover, the depth pieces just aren’t there; there haven’t been any crafty minimum or low-dollar exception guys making up for the disappointments elsewhere. Look at Atlanta’s roster this season: six of the 11 players with at least 250 minutes played have a PER of 10.0 or below. Minor injuries or foul trouble have an outsized impact because the second-line players have been found so clearly wanting.

With all that said, interim coach Nate McMillan inherits some basic nuts-and-bolts of a good team as he tries to salvage at least a play-in spot, and the rest of the East isn’t exactly running away from them.

Nonetheless, the trade deadline looms and some important decisions are right on the horizon. Schlenk may only have one more offseason to get this right, and he has a lot of questions to answer in this second half of the season.

• Is John Collins part of the future? If so, is he worth a likely max contract? If not, can they trade him for something that they like better?
• Is the sixth overall pick, center Onyeka Okongwu, any good? If so, might they play him in a game at some point?
• Can they swing a trade or signing that finally addresses the carnage at backup point guard?
• Can they salvage something from Gallinari and limit his exposure on defense?
• Is McMillan part of the solution going forward, or a mere stopgap before the Hawks open a full coaching search this summer?

Figuring out the answers to those questions and similar ones (while we’re here, what’s up with Kevin Huerter?) over the next 12 months will likely define the future for the Schlenk regime. For now, we can say that if the Hawks weren’t all-in on their coach in the first place, they probably would have been better served doing this sooner and bringing in their first choice.