NEW YORK– Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has come a great distance since his tenure as head coach of the Brooklyn fillets apparently perpetually in the past. Atkinson went after spending time as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers (2020-21) and Golden State Warriors (2021-24) earlier than getting the prospect to educate the Cavaliers, however he had time to assume to his tenure as Brooklyn’s chief.
“It is at all times nice, at all times nice to return house. Most of my household lives right here. My seven brothers stay within the space. So it is nice. I like coming again right here,” Atkinson mentioned throughout his press briefing earlier than Monday’s match. 130-101 win at Nets. Atkinson spent almost 4 seasons as Brooklyn’s head coach (2016-20), however LEFT close to the tip of his fourth season as a part of a mutual parting methods with the group.
“I like the New York vibe, a basketball city. Brooklyn, I’ve at all times mentioned, breathes basketball,” Atkinson continued. Though Atkinson has converse about his matchup towards the Nets earlier this season in Cleveland, it was the primary time he was in a position to reply questions from the New York media that did not journey to Cleveland, making his press convention seem like earlier than -match to one thing he in comparison with a “highschool reunion.” by some means.
For somebody like Atkinson, his firing by common supervisor Sean Marks and firm is one thing that’s nonetheless debated at the moment throughout the Nets fanbase with reference to what in the end led to the mutual break up between the 2 events. Whereas Atkinson left Brooklyn with a 118-190 (.383) file, he led the workforce to a shocking 42-40 mark within the 2018-19 season, displaying that he was a superb coach who might have been fired for unrelated causes. to his sense of teaching.
“No, I do not see it. I do not see it that means. I simply see it as a part of the story, proper, a part of your progress. Good issues occur, you have got setbacks, and – it is like As a participant, how do I bounce again? And it was positively a bounce again. And I believe in the long term, like I mentioned, the journey after Brooklyn actually bought me. helped me develop as a coach. would not occur, possibly I am not in Cleveland I would not have improved as a lot as a coach if it did not occur, so I take a look at that extra as a optimistic,” Atkinson mentioned when? Nets Wire requested the 23-year-old about his success with the Cavaliers this season. -4 after Monday’s victory, it was a form of vindication for him.
This text was initially printed on Nets Wire: Former Nets HC Kenny Atkinson reacts to follow towards his former workforce