Atlanta Hawks stars get brutally honest about former HC Nate McMillan

Clint Capela Gets Real About Nate McMillan’s Messaging

Where Murray refused to venture, Clint Capela ventured a tad bit deeper, expressing his view of where things went wrong for McMillan in the locker room.

“It was tough news,” Capela said. “I learned about it yesterday, obviously. Nate took the hit but I think that the whole team got to take the hit. We haven’t been good enough. We haven’t been as good as we thought we could be and it’s on all of us. So, obviously, now we know that we have to take a step consistency-wise. You just have to be better. Personally, I think yeah sometimes preparation got to be better. You just have to look more into ourselves about what we can be better as an individual and that’s our push here.”

Capela, 28, had his best season as a pro under McMillan in 2021 – his first year in Atlanta – leading the NBA in rebounding with a career-high 14.3 boards per game to go with 15.2 points, just 1.6 points off his career-best mark set in 2019 with the Houston Rockets.

Injuries have taken their toll on his production over the last season-plus including this year with the big man missing 16 games due to injury putting him on pace for 66 appearances. His three seasons with the Hawks gave him the chance to see both the ups and downs of his former head coach.

“You can tell by our record it wasn’t consistent enough. Maybe his voice, maybe us, maybe the way we’re all approaching the game. It was not consistent enough, this is not what we wanted.”

Capela again said that it was not just on McMillan and called for more consistency from his team.

He also hinted that they need to handle success better.

“Sometimes where we get one win, we get a little bit too excited from my experience,” Capela said. “I don’t get excited after one win or two. I get more excited when I see that my team is getting better from wins and the way we are winning.”

This is not the first time Capela has alluded to a less-than-serious approach to some games, expressing similar thoughts earlier in the season as the team got off to a slow start.

But Capela’s rendition of the state of the Hawks was less critical than some.