Hawks finalize coaching staff, announce other staff changes

The Atlanta Hawks announced a few coaching hires and staff adjustments Friday afternoon as we quickly head into the offseason.

The recent reports were confirmed that Jamelle McMillan, former New Orleans Pelicans assistant and Nate McMillan’s son, along with Joe Prunty, a long time NBA assistant coach with lengthy stops with the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks, would be joining McMillan’s staff as assistant coaches.

Prunty has been in the NBA as an assistant coach for 23 years, and spent three of those years under Nate McMillan when the latter was the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers (2008-10). Chris Jent, Marlon Garnett and Matt Hill all return as assistant coaches.

Other moves announced by the team include:

• Promotion of Dipesh Mistry from video coordinator to coaching assistant and Paul Jesperson from assistant video coordinator to player development coach.
• Tim Dather hired as head video coordinator/player development. Dather served as video coordinator for the Indiana Pacers from 2016-2019.
• Marty Lauzon joins the Hawks as the team’s director of athletic performance and sports medicine, following an 11-year stint with the Atlanta Falcons. This follows the recent departure of Chelsea Lane.
• Takahiro Uchida joins the Athletic Performance Team as assistant athletic trainer following seasonal work with the team during the 2020-21 season
• Dotun Akinwale Jr. was promoted to senior director of player personnel
• Kira Tillinghast has been hired full-time as the player engagement coordinator after she worked as a seasonal front office assistant from 2019 to 2021

The Hawks can now fully turn their focus to the basketball roster, with the NBA Draft just days away and free agency officially opening Aug. 2.

Stay tuned.