Kenny Atkinson is the reigning NBA Coach of the Year and there’s no doubt it was well-deserved. But this is a What Have You Done For Me Lately job and when it comes to that … well, let’s just say things haven’t been smooth for Atkinson and the Cavaliers.
They were expected to be among the top one or two teams in the East. As of this writing, they’re closer to ninth. That’s the bad news. The good news? There are still 50-plus games to go.
Still, trade winds are blowing around the Cavs and questions are being directed toward Atkinson.
“Kenny does a great job of building up a young team into a winning program. Does it stop there, though? He hasn’t shown he can take a contender over the top,” one source told Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal.
Afseth took that a step further.
“If the Cavaliers were to eventually move on from Atkinson, sources tell DallasHoopsJournal.com, that (Donovan Mitchell‘s) preferred interim head coach would be current assistant coach Johnnie Bryant,” Afseth wrote.
While that could be true, the Cavs are nowhere close to that with Atkinson. They continue to believe that when they have all or most of their key pieces together, a turnaround won’t be far behind.
In fact, it may not be far behind right now. All it takes is a four- or five-game winning streak, and suddenly the rumors go away. But until that happens, of course, they’re likely here to stay.
RELATED | Atkinson safe despite speculation
Looking for the latest NBA Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow Hoops Wire on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!
I agree with you Sam. Atkinson isn’t a bad coach. He’s probably not #1 but if you have the seventh best coach in the league, you don’t get rid of him unless a 1-6 is available. If you go down the league, there are actually very very few coaches who you would bet would ‘get you over the top’.
The NBA source is ignorant. If you’d going to hire him with that same reputation then give him just one year, there’s something wrong with you Then why hire anybody? If they can’t win a ring in their first year they don’t deserve to be here?
Is the NBA exec Kobi Altman? He’s the only one who can buy time by blaming Atkinson for this.
Atkinson’s coached one singular team with allstar talent. It’s the Cavs. For one year. And we won an amazing amount of games, and he won coach of the year.
It would be such a Cleveland thing to do to now stab him in the back after the success he’s added here.
This article doesn’t surprise me at all. This is Cleveland media. And this is scapegoat city.
Look everywhere but the obvious.. with the Browns.. and now with the Cavs too. Absolutely pathetic. Sitting out any narrative they’re fed.. Especially the old hits that were never really hits.. just rumored narratives that scapegoated for the Brooklyn big three. Kenny has that role here now too? SAD!