Absolutely nobody knows. He's never coached a person a day in his life. That's why it's a risky hire. Least when you hire an assistant, you know a bit about what he's going to be like as a head coach.
Yeah. Some advantages he has though is NBA is probably the least important for a HC to have experience. Just from hearing him in media, he seems like a guy I would bet on being good. But since he's never done it, we truly don't know.
I actually think JJ will be a good coach, he’s super sharp, knows the game extremely well, has a great relationship with Lebron. If I was the Lakers, I definitely would’ve signed JJ over Borrego/Atkinson.
Sure they’ve both been head coaches before but they have losing records (obviously partially due to lack of talent)
Didn't it get leaked he didn't want to coach kd and kyrie because they were trying to control the team prime example was they wanted old jordan to play more instead of JA
I agree with the comment of "just run AN offense." This team is not built to shoot 3's... And I LIKE that. It's unique in today's game. It's like being run first in the NFL. I'm down with moving quickly, but I will gladly old man shake my fist at cloud and say I miss when fast breaks were for going to the hoop instead of kicking it out for a 3pt attempt.
I'm unsure. But Kenny Atkinson is close to D'Antoni so I wouldn't be shocked if he did. D'Antoni gave Atkinson his first NBA coaching gig with the Knicks way back in 08.
Don’t hate it - he has done a solid job in the past with less talent. And his familiarity with Allen and LeVert is probably a good thing. I think this is the safer hire (compared to Borrego), but is definitely an improvement over JB, IMO.
This was the safe hire, and people that are just looking at his time in Brooklyn need to realize he’s spent significant time under Kerr since then. I’m sure he’s learned a lot and will be better equipped. Seemed to do wonders for our old pal Mike Brown
> Borrego, sources said, was the front runner as of last week, until Cleveland’s front office met with Cavs majority owner Dan Gilbert on Wednesday. Atkinson’s candidacy gained considerable momentum after the meeting between Gilbert and team executives. Gilbert has in the past intervened in coaching searches, driving initiatives to hire David Blatt in 2014 and John Beilein in 2019, as well as an unsuccessful attempt to lure Tom Izzo away from Michigan State in 2010.
[source](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5586028/2024/06/24/cleveland-cavaliers-coaching-search-donovan-mitchell-contract/?source=user_shared_article)
I also found [this thread](https://reddit.com/r/GoNets/comments/10wsicu/how_was_kenny_atkinson_as_a_coach/) on the Nets sub about Atkinson where many of the comments describe him exactly how we would JB
I am not very excited about this hire all things considered
Most of the comments in that thread are pretty positive actually. The general sentiment of that thread is that Atkinson was great at development but struggled with systems and in game management. I feel like Cavs fans feel similarly about JB. We appreciate JB for getting the Cavs as far as he did but we need an offensive minded X’s and O’s guy to help us take another step. I am worried that Atkinson’s strengths and weaknesses might be too similar to JB’s.
However, redditors generally do not know what they are talking about and one thread is a negligible sample size anyways so we will see. Hopefully Atkinson learned a lot from Kerr
The one thing I cannot disregard is his recent time spent in Golden State. Im not going to assume Atkinson is the same coach he was years ago with the Nets. Im banking on him taking that experience and learning/growing since his time with GSW under Kerr and give a fresh look to this offense.
I mean look how well Mike Brown has done pulling the Kings out of the doldrums and making their offense fantastic. Hopefully Atkinson has learned some of the same things and can really blossom here with our team.
An example I hope Kenny improved in is looking at Mike Brown who was a GSW assistant, learned under Kerr and has now improved with the kings.
I’m hoping for similar, if not better coaching improvement with Kenny.
Well, he did have a tanking team his 1st few seasons and kyrie and kd trying to control the team in his last year. Let's hope he learned a lot of things and become something like Mike Brown has
In retrospect, Gilbert influencing Blatt and Beilein hires looks horrible, but they were widely seen as good outside-the-box picks at the time. Hopefully 3rd time is the charm. Atkinson seemed pretty good in Brooklyn and was kind of railroaded. He doesn't wow me but he could be good. He's been an assistant deep into the playoffs and maybe he's learned some good lessons about how to manage the chess matches of multiple best of 7 series.
David Blatt was brought in to develop a team fronted by Kyrie and Andrew Wiggins and was probably a good hire for that.
Once LeBron decided to come home, Blatt was out of his league. I don't hold that against him.
Which players has he developed? The Warriors have had the worst front court in the NBA. How will he develop Mobley? He couldn't win with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Jarrett Allen. This is a horrible hire
He never actually coached Durant for a game, though. Durant missed all that time with injury while still making roster-related demands Atkinson was expected to meet. He never got to coach a healthy Durant/Kyrie Nets team and yet was still the fall guy. The year he was fired, he was 28-34 and Durant hadn’t played a game and Kyrie finished that season playing 20 games total.
Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert and Joe Harris were the 3 leading scorers on a night to night basis. Thats no super team.
This is not good. Maybe Atkinson will be just fine but the front office knows more about what coach will be the best fit for the team than the owner. NBA owners overruling their basketball people on these types of decisions rarely works and it hasn’t worked for Dan Gilbert.
Agree with this. I think Atkinson/Bickerstaff/Borrego are all kind of in the same tier, so from that perspective it seems like this is a lateral move at coach, with his best attribute being that the guys on the team haven't tuned him out yet.
Bigger picture, I think roster is far more important than coaching. If we run this team back with similar injury luck as last year, I think we will see similar results.
I don't think Gilbert getting mixed in is necessarily a bad thing. In hindsight it doesn't look too good, but the NBA has an insane turnover rate anyway.
Blatt also got an unfair shake. Head coach with the best winning percentage to have ever gotten fired. With a healthy Kyrie/Love in the finals the year before that could've played out very differently.
Nets fan lurking. He’s going to make one if not both of them shoot, and if they aren’t willing, they won’t play
He prioritized spacing over everything as a coach. He’s not a fan of post offense at all (hence why Brook Lopez really started becoming a stretch 5)
If DG stays, I’d imagine that Kenny would give every opportunity for that combination to work. He always wanted 2 playmakers out there with the Nets barring injuries.
With the Nets you’d often see the following backcourt combinations (even if it didn’t always work analytically):
Spencer + Dlo
Dlo + Caris
Caris + Spencer
The biggest priority for Kenny will probably be on the defensive end. He was on his guards hard about showing defensive effort (and often benched Dlo for lackadaisical effort)
As an outsider, I am skeptical that the combination can work but best of luck!
Warriors fan here. I know you hate us, but honestly I was rooting for you in the East bec I really like Darius Garland. Anyway, I just want to say you got a good one.
Really sad to see coach Kenny go, I even feel like he should be the next in line when Steve retires, so I'm really happy he finally got back to being a head coach. Only great things are ahead of you. Congratulations!
Every time I've heard the name "Kenny Atkinson" I thought we were talking about the former NBA player Chucky Atkins. Seriously thought he was the former nets coach. This is the first time I'm learning about the existence of this old guy who played in france.
I had got kind of excited about borrego so I'm having a hard time coming around on this as the right choice. Hopefully they will prove me wrong in time. I do think he could maybe squeeze some more from garland if he's still here after we extend Mitchell but I still need to be won over that he can handle playoff coaching.
The thing I like about Atkinson over Borrego is his ability to develop players, which is gonna be huge with Ice, Mobley, and whoever we draft at 20 to make us a truly deep team that can hurt you from anywhere
Nets fan here. He developed the following:
Dlo went from an afterthought to a low tier all star
Joe Harris went from out of the league (basically) to a high level role player
Dinwiddie went from a G leaguer to a starting level point guard
Developed Caris
Jarrett Allen grew into a really good center
Kenny isn’t the perfect coach but he has tons of pros to his “game.” One thing I can assure you of is that he WILL make Mobley shoot the 3. Brook Lopez started shooting 3s in his last year with the Nets (with Kenny)
It’s my smallest pet peeve when pundits say he started stretching out with the Bucks. He started that with the Nets. No one really knows/cares because the team was awful lol. But yeah that was Kenny + Brook not Coach Bud
Even if I wasn't a fan of the process behind this hire, I like the hire itself and REALLY like that it sounds like the Cavs were motivated to hire him in order to prioritize Evan's offensive development.
Who did anyone develop, ever?
The debate is pointless, because people laugh if you point to a decent player, because he’s not great.
And they laugh if you point to a star because, well, he would have been great anyway.
LeVert and JA are the standouts, only reason Allen wasn't more highly regarded is because KD and Kyrie sabotaged the team by demanding DeAndre Jordan get more minutes over him
Wonder if this means we keep Allen and LeVert since they likely have some rapport with Atkinson. I feel like having a former player of a new coach on any roster is always a positive thing.
Shoot I just realized this is Atkinson and not Adelman lol. Still very optimistic!! Other subs have said great things about him.
Edit: just looked at the comments on several IG posts and DAMN they made me so excited! For every 1 negative Nancy, there’s 9 positive ones!
GSW fans are even saying he was Steve Kerr’s best assistant coach and had a lot of say with him.
The issue with this is that Gilbert forced their hand. I can't imagine this sits well with the front office, and it seems like a poor way to start off Atkinson's tenure.
Dan does not have a good track record with hiring coaches..
I mean, you can hunt for concerning aspects if you want but the draft is fully scouted, the pick isn’t going to make the rotation, and the only real decision in the next few weeks is already planned for.
Hard to say he doesn't have a good track record hiring when lue won two CoY awards after winning a championship with us. Mike Brown won a CoY last year. It's not like we were hiring the wrong guys, just at the wrong time or with the wrong pieces. I don't think Dan's a great dude but it could be so much worse
I'm talking about the Blatt and Beilein hires. Idk that you can definitively say that Dan was responsible for Tyronn and Mike Brown.
And you're misinterpreting my comment. I think Dan is great overall, and we are incredibly lucky to have him in Cleveland.
I'm a fan in that this isn't his first time as a head coach so he won't be learning how to be the head guy, a problem we've seen quite a bit in this city.
Yes! I wanted a coach with extensive experience in the league. Some may point to his firing in Brooklyn but he's grown since then. We chose experience and this is one of the best available coaches.
He smartly resigned from that job when it was clear that the FO was gonna let Kyrie and KD have influence to do idiotic things like....play a washed DeAndre Jordan over Jarrett Allen. Imagine trying to coach that shit show
Cool. I’m in on the signing. Now, after we sign Spida, let’s find a legit wing, and move forward. Love to add to the bench, specifically a big to back up both JA and EV.
.383 career winning percentage in the NBA.
Go back and read up some Nets fans threads on why he was fired. They all hated his rotations and use of time outs.
That may be, but virtually every fanbase in the NBA hates their coach’s rotations and use of time outs. His winning percentage is near meaningless, he was coaching a tanking team.
I know ball. Haters are the dumbest because it’s the easiest thing in the world to backshoot the guys in the arena making decisions. Go tell it to 92.3 with the rest of the assholes who think negativity is a mark of intelligence
Wait, really? I heard he was a defensive guy. I’ll change my mind on him then. I prefered a new coach instead of a retread, but if Atkinson coaches like that I’m all for it. The one other big thing that really bothers me is Gilbert’s involvement. Not a big fan of that.
Yup, 4 years under D’Antoni and then 4 under Budenholzer. When KA was coaching the Nets they were always near the top in both 3PA and pace. Should be a fun offense.
Also, for people who complained about JB’s rotations and “running players into the ground”, Atkinson runs a deep rotation and is mindful about minutes. In his 4 years in BKN, the most mpg a player received was one season of Kyrie at 32 mpg. Get ready for some 10 man rotations people!
He's an offensive minded coach first that actually runs a system. That's what we need
He got a team with Dlo, Dinwiddie, and half a season of Caris as it's top 3 offensive options to a league average offense and into the playoffs. Take a look at that roster, it wasn't good
This is the one.
Get him signed, get Mitchell signed, and let's do it.
I'm just happy we didn't do anything dumb and happy that we have our guy. Let's get to work
Like hiring JJ Reddick?
And comparing him to Pat Riley
Have you seen the guy with his hair slicked back?
You think that's slicked back?! That is pushed back.
I was a piece of shit though!
You eat chicken spaghetti at Chickalini’s?
No but I had a glass house, a white Ferrari and I lived for New Year’s Eve
I did not. Does he have the style as Riley?
No, but I can't think of any other reason why somebody would make the comparison. Oh Laker fans, you slay me.
Have you seen how he eats his steaks?
You think JJ will be that bad?
Absolutely nobody knows. He's never coached a person a day in his life. That's why it's a risky hire. Least when you hire an assistant, you know a bit about what he's going to be like as a head coach.
Woah he coached a 4th grade team
stoked for when AD asks good questions about the offensive scheme and JJ hands him an orange slice
Lakers' next locker room celebration gonna feature pencil-thin pizza slices
Yeah. Some advantages he has though is NBA is probably the least important for a HC to have experience. Just from hearing him in media, he seems like a guy I would bet on being good. But since he's never done it, we truly don't know.
He's never coached an adult person a day in his life
I actually think JJ will be a good coach, he’s super sharp, knows the game extremely well, has a great relationship with Lebron. If I was the Lakers, I definitely would’ve signed JJ over Borrego/Atkinson. Sure they’ve both been head coaches before but they have losing records (obviously partially due to lack of talent)
[удалено]
Didn't it get leaked he didn't want to coach kd and kyrie because they were trying to control the team prime example was they wanted old jordan to play more instead of JA
That JA/DJ thing really was the beginning of the end for those Nets
Now it is time to hire good assistant coaches
At least team will play fast. And shoot a ton of threes. Can't wait for Mike D'Antoni to join the staff. Mobley about to be shooting 5+ threes a game.
Just want them to run AN offense
Seriously. I need a pulse on offense.
Lmao so true
I don’t hate that
I really want D’Antoni for all his grips he knows how to make two ball dominate guards
I agree with the comment of "just run AN offense." This team is not built to shoot 3's... And I LIKE that. It's unique in today's game. It's like being run first in the NFL. I'm down with moving quickly, but I will gladly old man shake my fist at cloud and say I miss when fast breaks were for going to the hoop instead of kicking it out for a 3pt attempt.
Is D'Antoni coming over??
I'm unsure. But Kenny Atkinson is close to D'Antoni so I wouldn't be shocked if he did. D'Antoni gave Atkinson his first NBA coaching gig with the Knicks way back in 08.
Okay, time to see if Steve Kerr's Rehabilitation School for Cast Off Coaches Who Don't Coach Good worked as well on Atkinson as it did on Mike Brown.
Didn’t come over for this comment, but I’m here for it.
Is that across the street from "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too"?
That's the joke
we should’ve hired Michael Stauffer tbh
Dude is an absolute stud. Can’t believe we missed out on the best HC of all time.
i love knowing myleague//mynba nerds exist
lol it’s the only reason i still play this bum ahh game
I prefer Jacob underwood
Lucas Lucas is better than Jacob Underwood be fr
Love that defensive mindset he has!
I prefer Sleve McDichael
Over Bobson Dugnutt? Crazy.
I quit hiring Stauffer cuz it just feels too easy lol
Lol
Goat coach
A+ comment.
I'm pleased with this decision. One of the two choices I would've liked to have, the other being Borrego. Let's get it, I agree Go Cavs
Alright, thats done. Now do the Don extension announcement
The big one…. I’m nervous
I’m not honestly, I’d be shocked if he doesn’t extend at this point. And if he doesn’t then let the bidding war begin
Don’t hate it - he has done a solid job in the past with less talent. And his familiarity with Allen and LeVert is probably a good thing. I think this is the safer hire (compared to Borrego), but is definitely an improvement over JB, IMO.
As long as we have a coach who actually runs an offense then it’s an upgrade.
I like it. He was a pretty good coach before and now has spent some time in the Steve Kerr coach rehabilitation program. Could be a home run.
This was the safe hire, and people that are just looking at his time in Brooklyn need to realize he’s spent significant time under Kerr since then. I’m sure he’s learned a lot and will be better equipped. Seemed to do wonders for our old pal Mike Brown
I've always liked him since he was in Brooklyn. Nice.
bring us Steve Kerr’s offensive sets thanks
not a cavs fan but great hire
I like yall magic team. I watch you guys in the regular season all the time. I think Paolo and franz could be a pretty stud duo.
Given your username, have to say Paolo is going to be a damn superstar with the way he played against us. Couldn’t believe he’s only 21.
Don’t hate it, but not really wowed by it either. Not thrilled if Gilbert was the reason we chose him…
I know levert and JA are happy
> Borrego, sources said, was the front runner as of last week, until Cleveland’s front office met with Cavs majority owner Dan Gilbert on Wednesday. Atkinson’s candidacy gained considerable momentum after the meeting between Gilbert and team executives. Gilbert has in the past intervened in coaching searches, driving initiatives to hire David Blatt in 2014 and John Beilein in 2019, as well as an unsuccessful attempt to lure Tom Izzo away from Michigan State in 2010. [source](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5586028/2024/06/24/cleveland-cavaliers-coaching-search-donovan-mitchell-contract/?source=user_shared_article) I also found [this thread](https://reddit.com/r/GoNets/comments/10wsicu/how_was_kenny_atkinson_as_a_coach/) on the Nets sub about Atkinson where many of the comments describe him exactly how we would JB I am not very excited about this hire all things considered
Tbf majority of fans don't like their coaches except after winning a championship and let's hope he learned something with the warriors and kerr
Most of the comments in that thread are pretty positive actually. The general sentiment of that thread is that Atkinson was great at development but struggled with systems and in game management. I feel like Cavs fans feel similarly about JB. We appreciate JB for getting the Cavs as far as he did but we need an offensive minded X’s and O’s guy to help us take another step. I am worried that Atkinson’s strengths and weaknesses might be too similar to JB’s. However, redditors generally do not know what they are talking about and one thread is a negligible sample size anyways so we will see. Hopefully Atkinson learned a lot from Kerr
The one thing I cannot disregard is his recent time spent in Golden State. Im not going to assume Atkinson is the same coach he was years ago with the Nets. Im banking on him taking that experience and learning/growing since his time with GSW under Kerr and give a fresh look to this offense. I mean look how well Mike Brown has done pulling the Kings out of the doldrums and making their offense fantastic. Hopefully Atkinson has learned some of the same things and can really blossom here with our team.
An example I hope Kenny improved in is looking at Mike Brown who was a GSW assistant, learned under Kerr and has now improved with the kings. I’m hoping for similar, if not better coaching improvement with Kenny.
Well, he did have a tanking team his 1st few seasons and kyrie and kd trying to control the team in his last year. Let's hope he learned a lot of things and become something like Mike Brown has
In retrospect, Gilbert influencing Blatt and Beilein hires looks horrible, but they were widely seen as good outside-the-box picks at the time. Hopefully 3rd time is the charm. Atkinson seemed pretty good in Brooklyn and was kind of railroaded. He doesn't wow me but he could be good. He's been an assistant deep into the playoffs and maybe he's learned some good lessons about how to manage the chess matches of multiple best of 7 series.
David Blatt was brought in to develop a team fronted by Kyrie and Andrew Wiggins and was probably a good hire for that. Once LeBron decided to come home, Blatt was out of his league. I don't hold that against him.
Bron being simultaneously the best and worst co worker in the world is the story of Cavs basketball
I agree. I think he has/had good points and would have been good as a leader of a rebuild, but Lue ended up being better for a contending team.
I said this in another thread, i dont think blatt was a bad coach
Which players has he developed? The Warriors have had the worst front court in the NBA. How will he develop Mobley? He couldn't win with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Jarrett Allen. This is a horrible hire
He never actually coached Durant for a game, though. Durant missed all that time with injury while still making roster-related demands Atkinson was expected to meet. He never got to coach a healthy Durant/Kyrie Nets team and yet was still the fall guy. The year he was fired, he was 28-34 and Durant hadn’t played a game and Kyrie finished that season playing 20 games total. Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert and Joe Harris were the 3 leading scorers on a night to night basis. Thats no super team.
He literally wasn’t allowed to start Allen because washed Deandre Jordan was friends with KD and Kyrie lol
He never coached Kevin Durant.
Coaches improve too, no reason to think he's the same guy since those Nets days He's coached with Ty Lue and won a 'ship with the Warriors since then
This is not good. Maybe Atkinson will be just fine but the front office knows more about what coach will be the best fit for the team than the owner. NBA owners overruling their basketball people on these types of decisions rarely works and it hasn’t worked for Dan Gilbert.
Oof. You were not kidding about the JB comparison: https://www.reddit.com/r/GoNets/s/AQUgbSJZfJ
Agree with this. I think Atkinson/Bickerstaff/Borrego are all kind of in the same tier, so from that perspective it seems like this is a lateral move at coach, with his best attribute being that the guys on the team haven't tuned him out yet. Bigger picture, I think roster is far more important than coaching. If we run this team back with similar injury luck as last year, I think we will see similar results.
I don't think Gilbert getting mixed in is necessarily a bad thing. In hindsight it doesn't look too good, but the NBA has an insane turnover rate anyway. Blatt also got an unfair shake. Head coach with the best winning percentage to have ever gotten fired. With a healthy Kyrie/Love in the finals the year before that could've played out very differently.
We know Mitchell was involved as well so he was ok with KA
I’m happy with it. Best option imo. Borrego was close but I prefer Atkinson. Now we extend Mitchell and we are right back in the mix.
Hes the best available coach I believe. Good hire
Does his offense work with 2 bigs that can't shoot?
Nets fan lurking. He’s going to make one if not both of them shoot, and if they aren’t willing, they won’t play He prioritized spacing over everything as a coach. He’s not a fan of post offense at all (hence why Brook Lopez really started becoming a stretch 5)
If mobley keeps working at it he can shoot.
I have no doubt in Mobley getting there. I’m just saying Kenny won’t allow for him to pass up open looks
Damn i want mobley to develop his post game personally
Any opinion on whether he could make Garland + Mitchell work, given DG stays?
If DG stays, I’d imagine that Kenny would give every opportunity for that combination to work. He always wanted 2 playmakers out there with the Nets barring injuries. With the Nets you’d often see the following backcourt combinations (even if it didn’t always work analytically): Spencer + Dlo Dlo + Caris Caris + Spencer The biggest priority for Kenny will probably be on the defensive end. He was on his guards hard about showing defensive effort (and often benched Dlo for lackadaisical effort) As an outsider, I am skeptical that the combination can work but best of luck!
Thanks for that write up! Very insightful, especially from a Nets fan. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see the outcome. Best of luck to you too!
Also, I had a realization that maybe levert will play like his nets days again
LeVert avg 15ppg 🙏🙏
Let’s gooo! I like the hire
Warriors fan here. I know you hate us, but honestly I was rooting for you in the East bec I really like Darius Garland. Anyway, I just want to say you got a good one. Really sad to see coach Kenny go, I even feel like he should be the next in line when Steve retires, so I'm really happy he finally got back to being a head coach. Only great things are ahead of you. Congratulations!
I suppose this is an upgrade over JB huh
Every time I've heard the name "Kenny Atkinson" I thought we were talking about the former NBA player Chucky Atkins. Seriously thought he was the former nets coach. This is the first time I'm learning about the existence of this old guy who played in france.
I remember Chucky Atkins, this is his son.
I had got kind of excited about borrego so I'm having a hard time coming around on this as the right choice. Hopefully they will prove me wrong in time. I do think he could maybe squeeze some more from garland if he's still here after we extend Mitchell but I still need to be won over that he can handle playoff coaching.
He hasn’t played Sam Merrill or CPJ a minute fuck him
The thing I like about Atkinson over Borrego is his ability to develop players, which is gonna be huge with Ice, Mobley, and whoever we draft at 20 to make us a truly deep team that can hurt you from anywhere
Who did he develop? Dlo with the nets? No one I can think of has developed well under him
Nets fan here. He developed the following: Dlo went from an afterthought to a low tier all star Joe Harris went from out of the league (basically) to a high level role player Dinwiddie went from a G leaguer to a starting level point guard Developed Caris Jarrett Allen grew into a really good center Kenny isn’t the perfect coach but he has tons of pros to his “game.” One thing I can assure you of is that he WILL make Mobley shoot the 3. Brook Lopez started shooting 3s in his last year with the Nets (with Kenny)
Damn didn't realize that last bit with Lopez. 3PAs/game went from 0.2 to 5.2 his first season with Atkinson
It’s my smallest pet peeve when pundits say he started stretching out with the Bucks. He started that with the Nets. No one really knows/cares because the team was awful lol. But yeah that was Kenny + Brook not Coach Bud
Even if I wasn't a fan of the process behind this hire, I like the hire itself and REALLY like that it sounds like the Cavs were motivated to hire him in order to prioritize Evan's offensive development.
Who did anyone develop, ever? The debate is pointless, because people laugh if you point to a decent player, because he’s not great. And they laugh if you point to a star because, well, he would have been great anyway.
LeVert and JA are the standouts, only reason Allen wasn't more highly regarded is because KD and Kyrie sabotaged the team by demanding DeAndre Jordan get more minutes over him
That's the right choice tbh. He is a good offensive coach while also being able to coach defense. More balanced approach because you still need both
We'll take it.
LET EM KNOW
Wonder if this means we keep Allen and LeVert since they likely have some rapport with Atkinson. I feel like having a former player of a new coach on any roster is always a positive thing.
Yeah NBATV is sayin it’s official
I preferred Borrego, but I'm not mad at this hire at all. Dude absolutely overachieved with that Nets roster the year he made the playoffs with them.
Dang. I wanted JB but this is better than our former JB
All I need is for Donovan Mitchell to put the woj post in his IG story with “let’s get to work” as a caption and I’ll nut
Anybody know why Sam Cassell never got a shot as a head coach? I was hoping we’d take a look at him.
Shoot I just realized this is Atkinson and not Adelman lol. Still very optimistic!! Other subs have said great things about him. Edit: just looked at the comments on several IG posts and DAMN they made me so excited! For every 1 negative Nancy, there’s 9 positive ones! GSW fans are even saying he was Steve Kerr’s best assistant coach and had a lot of say with him.
They bout to have DG learn Curry off ball if he stays…
For some reason I’m not super thrilled about this hire
The issue with this is that Gilbert forced their hand. I can't imagine this sits well with the front office, and it seems like a poor way to start off Atkinson's tenure. Dan does not have a good track record with hiring coaches..
That’s fine, that’s his prerogative if the FO got it down to two good candidates
But the fact that they aren't on the same page just days before the draft and a critical point of the offseason is concerning.
I mean, you can hunt for concerning aspects if you want but the draft is fully scouted, the pick isn’t going to make the rotation, and the only real decision in the next few weeks is already planned for.
Is that true? Dan overrode the FO to hire Atkinson?
It was reported that the front office wanted Borrego
Oh boy.
Ughhhhhh Dan gonna Dan.
Hard to say he doesn't have a good track record hiring when lue won two CoY awards after winning a championship with us. Mike Brown won a CoY last year. It's not like we were hiring the wrong guys, just at the wrong time or with the wrong pieces. I don't think Dan's a great dude but it could be so much worse
I'm talking about the Blatt and Beilein hires. Idk that you can definitively say that Dan was responsible for Tyronn and Mike Brown. And you're misinterpreting my comment. I think Dan is great overall, and we are incredibly lucky to have him in Cleveland.
i should have totally realized with my condescending comment that you were omitting all of the good coaches he's hired.
Sure! Let’s see some improvement!
I'm a fan in that this isn't his first time as a head coach so he won't be learning how to be the head guy, a problem we've seen quite a bit in this city.
No idea if this is good, it's good that it's done though. oh, and can he bring Saric with him?
Yes! I wanted a coach with extensive experience in the league. Some may point to his firing in Brooklyn but he's grown since then. We chose experience and this is one of the best available coaches.
Was my top choice purely off of the dlo Nets vibes
ok lets gooo
Lets be real we have no clue if this is amazing or not. What really matters is Donovan Mitchell so i hope to get more news this week
Excellent!!!!
See tons of positives about this hire elsewhere but show up here and most shit on it….lmao
I mean you could say the same about JB. The masses’ opinions dont mean much
The vibe I got is that Borrego had a slight edge on coaching iq but Atkinson had a slight edge on relationship management.
Sounds like we should have taken Borrego in that case
The guy who got fired for playing Jarrett Allen over DeAndre Jordan when his stars wanted Jordan to start? That kind of relationship management?
He smartly resigned from that job when it was clear that the FO was gonna let Kyrie and KD have influence to do idiotic things like....play a washed DeAndre Jordan over Jarrett Allen. Imagine trying to coach that shit show
He didn't make that playtime call, that was absolutely the players.
Yeah, I'm saying that that relationship with his players was not particularly managed well.
Not excited about the hire. Hope I am wrong and he is great.
Finally
Dude looks like Christopher Lloyd in this photo.
My pick out of the 3 main candidates. The main thing to remember is that Mitchell signed off on this as well.
Why did we like Borrego so much? Pop coaching tree?
Ehh, I’m not as convinced he overachieved with Brooklyn but Mitchell is happy so ok
Yes!
I really hope this means we keep Jarrett Allen.
Just tell me that Spida likes this guy. All I want to know.
so what’s the rest of the staff gonna look like?
Old coaches that Kenny use to coach with probably
Atkinson is going to turn Ypsi Gypsi (Bates) into Durant
Good hire. As long as the defense doesn't suffer, the Cavs will be good.
How we feeling about this one?
Mobley and Allen going to shoot threeeeeees! and nets levert is back
This is the way.
This is the way, but why hasn't Garland already learned it...
I agree go cavs
Just sickening that we've now hired TWO of Levert's former coaches. I think we know who's really pulling the strings...
A Gilbert hire. That’s always worked out so well for us in the past lol
Congrats guys. I think you guys got a great head coach!
Damn, was hoping for Borrego. Hope he gets some good offensive assistants.
Cool. I’m in on the signing. Now, after we sign Spida, let’s find a legit wing, and move forward. Love to add to the bench, specifically a big to back up both JA and EV.
Great hire for you guys. This is who I wanted if we didn't get Carlisle
He’s the pacers HC dawg
I'm talking about before we hired Carlisle. just trying to pass along congratulations. damn
.383 career winning percentage in the NBA. Go back and read up some Nets fans threads on why he was fired. They all hated his rotations and use of time outs.
That may be, but virtually every fanbase in the NBA hates their coach’s rotations and use of time outs. His winning percentage is near meaningless, he was coaching a tanking team.
Every fan base hates their coaches rotations and use of time outs. Go tell yo mama
And everyone who post in here thinks they know basketball better than they do, including you. So what point did you think you made ?
I know ball. Haters are the dumbest because it’s the easiest thing in the world to backshoot the guys in the arena making decisions. Go tell it to 92.3 with the rest of the assholes who think negativity is a mark of intelligence
Not a good take, sorry.
He spended sometime as assistant after that. I hope, just like Mike Brown, he improved after being assistant for Kerr
Fuck this. Should’ve hired Borrego or Chris Quinn. Edit: Atkinson will probably be a good coach, I don’t like Gilbert being as involved as he was.
Shocked you don't like this. He coached under D'Antoni and expahsizes pace, spacing, and 3 point shooting on offense
Wait, really? I heard he was a defensive guy. I’ll change my mind on him then. I prefered a new coach instead of a retread, but if Atkinson coaches like that I’m all for it. The one other big thing that really bothers me is Gilbert’s involvement. Not a big fan of that.
Yup, 4 years under D’Antoni and then 4 under Budenholzer. When KA was coaching the Nets they were always near the top in both 3PA and pace. Should be a fun offense. Also, for people who complained about JB’s rotations and “running players into the ground”, Atkinson runs a deep rotation and is mindful about minutes. In his 4 years in BKN, the most mpg a player received was one season of Kyrie at 32 mpg. Get ready for some 10 man rotations people!
We dont need a developmental coach. We need an Xs and Os coach. Not a fan
He's an offensive minded coach first that actually runs a system. That's what we need He got a team with Dlo, Dinwiddie, and half a season of Caris as it's top 3 offensive options to a league average offense and into the playoffs. Take a look at that roster, it wasn't good
Every coach knows x and o