CLEVELAND — Kenny Atkinson’s first stint as an NBA head coach ended with a sudden, unusual separation in Brooklyn.
He is hoping for a longer-lasting relationship in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers finalized a five-year contract on Friday with Atkinson, who spent the previous three seasons as an assistant with Golden State and now takes over a Cleveland staff coming off its second straight playoff look.
In selecting the revered Atkinson, the Cavs ended a monthlong search that started after the firing of J.B. Bickerstaff, who led the staff to 99 wins the previous two seasons. Bickerstaff was let go after Cleveland misplaced in 5 video games to Boston within the Japanese Convention semifinals.
“Kenny brings a wealth of expertise, a confirmed observe report of participant growth, and a relentless work ethic that aligns with the imaginative and prescient we’ve for this franchise,” Koby Altman, the staff’s president of basketball operations, stated.
“His familiarity teaching alongside among the NBA’s finest elevates this partnership and we’re excited that Kenny will information our staff and assist us obtain our targets each on and off the courtroom,” Altman added.
The Cavs plan to introduce Atkinson — the franchise’s twenty fourth coach — at a information convention on Monday.
“That is an unbelievable alternative to steer an already proficient younger roster with an equally shiny future,” Atkinson stated in a press release. “I’ve seen firsthand and needed to put together for this group as an opposing coach, and the duty was not simple. I am so excited to now be on this aspect of the ledger to assist proceed shifting this staff ahead.”
There was a delay in Atkinson signing his contract as a result of he was in France serving to its nationwide staff put together for the upcoming Paris Olympics. He’ll be again in Europe subsequent week for exhibition video games with the French staff.
Atkinson arrived in Cleveland on Wednesday and was within the staff’s draft room when the Cavs chosen Cal ahead Jaylon Tyson with the No. 20 total choose.
Atkinson’s hiring is one other important transfer in a pivotal summer season for a Cleveland staff that believes it has the required roster to compete for a championship. The subsequent step — and maybe an important — is getting All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to signal a long-term contract, which he’s anticipated to do.
The 57-year-old Atkinson is a secure, sound choose by the staff’s entrance workplace and chairman Dan Gilbert, who hasn’t all the time dealt with teaching searches with aplomb. Gilbert’s outside-the-box hires of first-time NBA coaches David Blatt and John Beilein backfired badly.
Atkinson is way much less dangerous.
He has the resume, highlighted by offensive success and a status for creating gamers. Atkinson started as an assistant underneath Mike D’Antoni in New York Knicks and has additionally been on staffs with Tyronn Lue and most not too long ago Steve Kerr.
Two years in the past, Atkinson briefly accepted the Charlotte Hornets’ head-coaching job earlier than altering his thoughts and remaining with the Warriors. Atkinson received a title with Golden State in 2022.
“Kenny is a good good friend,” stated Kerr, additionally the U.S. staff’s coach who inspired Atkinson to affix the French workers. “He is an important coach. That is the rationale Cleveland simply employed him. And I used to be very fortunate to have him the previous couple of years.”
The Cavs are relying on Atkinson to deliver out the very best of their younger gamers, notably 23-year-old ahead Evan Mobley, and take the staff additional than Bickerstaff might.
His expertise with the Nets undoubtedly formed Atkinson. Though his report wasn’t glowing (118-190), he received Brooklyn’s gamers to purchase in and the staff made incremental enhancements in every of his 4 seasons, making the playoffs in Yr 3.
Nonetheless, 62 video games into the 2020 season, Atkinson was pushed out amid an possession change and the ballyhooed arrivals of stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. His dismissal stays considerably mysterious, a kind of behind-the-scenes energy struggles that percolate all through the league.
The Cavs have been additionally drawn to Atkinson’s offensive ingenuity. Underneath him, the Nets have been on the forefront of enjoying sooner and capturing extra 3-pointers, a development that took off and was embraced by the champion Celtics this season.
Data from The Related Press was used on this report.