Why coach Quin Snyder deserves heaps of credit for the Hawks’ turnaround

Quite possibly the worst way to evaluate the Hawks’ season is to compare the team’s 46 wins against the preseason over/under projection of 46.5.

It is a flawed measurement because it was primarily made for the pairing of franchise player Trae Young and All-Star post player Kristaps Porzingis — the star point guard finally matched with an elite big man.

Because of injuries, though, Young and Porzingis were on the floor together in just three games. That derailed the project and led to both getting traded.

Those deals were among the Hawks’ 13 transactions from the start of the season to the trade deadline — easily the most among the 20 teams that clinched playoff spots or made the play-in tournament.

The Hawks are like a meal prepared on one of those cooking shows where, halfway through the program, the chefs are told that instead of a French main course they’re now making a dish suitable for a tailgate, and they can use only an air fryer.

That has been coach Quin Snyder’s task this season. That the Hawks have navigated a multitude of pivots to advance directly to the playoffs (and not via the play-in tournament) for the first time since 2021 is indicative of the phenomenal work he has delivered.

The No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks will play the No. 3 seed Knicks in a first-round series beginning Saturday in New York.

“He’s done a great job just adjusting the personnel,” guard CJ McCollum said Tuesday. “We’ve changed and really looked at our team, how we play, how certain guys’ games have evolved over the course of the season, which also happens.

“We’ve added stuff, we’ve taken stuff out, we’ve kind of evaluated what works, what doesn’t work and what’s going to work for this group.”

Not every coach could handle the in-season transformation as adeptly as Snyder. He half-jokingly compared the experience to his years coaching in the D-League (the predecessor to the G League) with its ever-changing rosters and top players getting signed away by NBA teams. He said he has tried to embrace change.

“When you approach it that way, I think that’s the best way to try to maximize what you have and to adapt,” he said. “And I think our guys have done a really good job of it.”

McCollum might be the prime example. The 13-year veteran arrived from Washington in January as part of the trade for Young. McCollum had started every game he had played in since the 2015-16 season. Snyder wanted him to come off the bench, which, obviously, required McCollum’s buy-in.

McCollum recalled a roughly two-hour conversation with Snyder (a whiteboard was also involved) at the team hotel in San Francisco before his first game with the Hawks.

“I think we’ve all embraced that change is necessary sometimes,” McCollum said. “Sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s necessary.”

“There’s conversations that are easy not to have,” Snyder said. “Our guys were open to everything.”

McCollum came off the bench for 16 of the next 18 games before it became clear he was best suited to start. That decision, though, meant forward Zaccharie Risacher would come out of the starting lineup, not necessarily a comfortable switch for the first overall pick of the 2024 draft.

But Risacher has handled it professionally and has thrived in his new role.

“I’ll say in general, Quin’s done a great job making sure that we stick together and we don’t branch out and go rogue,” center Onyeka Okongwu said. “Him and his staff have done an unbelievable job just keeping everybody together.”

After the tumult that included a seven-game losing streak, the trade of Young and multiple iterations of the roster, the Hawks have become a force.

After the All-Star break, their 20-6 record was third-best in the league and best in the East. In reversing the record from four games below .500 at the break to 10 games above by season’s end, the Hawks became just the third team in NBA history to pull off that drastic a reversal.

Okongwu has had a career year in his first season as a full-time starter. Signed as a free agent to come off the bench, guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a candidate for the NBA Most Improved Player Award. A nightly triple-double threat, forward Jalen Johnson made his first All-Star appearance and is an All-NBA possibility.

All have thrived in new roles with Snyder.