It appears new Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson is making progress in putting together his staff of assistants.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Cavs are hiring former NBA forward DeMarre Carroll as an assistant coach. Carroll joins Jordan Ott, previously an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers, as reported additions to Atkinson’s bench.
Carroll, 37, spent the past two seasons as an assistant under ex-coach Darvin Ham with the Lakers following an 11-year playing career. As a 6-foot-6 NBA player, Carroll played all three frontcourt positions — small forward, power forward, and yes, at times center as well.
He spent time with the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets, the last of those when Atkinson was head coach. Carroll retired as a player in 2021 and spent time under Mike Budenholzer (now of the Phoenix Suns) when Budenholzer coach the Milwaukee Bucks.
Atkinson, 57, was officially hired as Cavs coach at the end of June. He reportedly received a five-year contract.
“The way I look at it is we have two All-Star guards,” Atkinson told Hoops Wire and Fox 8 News of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. “It’s on the coaching staff to figure that out. You put that responsibility on yourself. And they have fit before. It’s just finding the schemes that work best, finding the rotations”
Atkinson shared similar thoughts on Allen and Mobley.
“We’ve got that defensive anchor,” he said of the Cavaliers bigs. “(On offense) it’s a little bit getting it figured out with the spacing.”
Atkinson coached the Nets from 2016-20 and went 118-170 in the regular season and 1-4 in the playoffs. He was fired just days before the season shut down as a result of the COVID pandemic in March 2020.
He then spent 2020-21 as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, before joining Steve Kerr and the Warriors as an assistant a year later. Atkinson takes over for J.B. Bickerstaff, fired as coach after five-plus seasons.
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