Atlanta Hawks New Head Coach Lloyd Pierce Brings Needed Change of Culture
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Hawks are introducing their new Head Coach Lloyd Pierce today. Pierce has a lot of NBA experience and will bring a much needed new perspective to a Hawk’s franchise in need of a new approach.
Watching the Atlanta Hawks last season was a sight for sore eyes though not in the traditional sense. Watching the Hawks was hard, they had a team-first approach still while they only had two true scorers on the team.
A team-first approach is great when you have Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, and Jeff Teague. When you lose all of those players and have few scorers that approach is much less effective.
This isn’t taking a shot at former Hawk’s coach Mike Budenholzer just pointing out the facts. With the Hawk’s roster last season no coach would have been able to finesse their way into contention.
It was an almost talent free roster still giving up the basketball freely. Team first basketball works only when you have players who can score consistently.
Bringing in Lloyd Pierce is out with the old style and in with the new. Pierce has most recently spent time with Golden State and the last few years with the Philly 76er’s. He helped guide Philly’s young roster from the bottom of the NBA to contending in the playoffs this season.
He is relatively young at 42-years old and will bring a new approach to the Hawks. An approach that will focus on youth and focus on scoring more effectively.
Bringing in Coach Pierce is a good move for the Hawks. It isn’t one that vaults them into Eastern conference contention next season but it will speed up the rebuilding process.
With building blocks John Collins and Taurean Prince in place Coach Lloyd will have the ability to help the Hawks improve in the 2018-19 season.
It is time for a culture reset in Atlanta. A reset Coach Llyod will now oversee as the Hawks take another step forward in the rebuild. A rebuild that was just expedited with the addition of Lloyd Pierce.