Amid their second-round series against the Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson was just named the 2024-25 NBA Coach of the Year, winning the award in his debut season with the team. The Cavaliers claimed the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 regular-season record.
Cleveland has bigger priorities, down 2-0 to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Regardless, the award is still impressive, especially in his first season with the team. Atkinson was previously an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, but last led the sidelines as a member of the Brooklyn Nets.
Atkinson served as head coach of the Nets from 2016 to 2020, playing a part in Brooklyn getting back to the postseason in 2019. The team was then led by D'Angelo Russell, who made his first All-Star Game that season as the Nets went 42-40.
Much credit was given to Atkinson for propelling that team from the basement of the NBA to the playoffs, which is why fans were calling for Brooklyn to re-hire the 57-year-old before this past season. The Cavaliers ultimately swooped in and signed him.
Now, as Atkinson leads a title contender, having improved Cleveland from last season, there's speculation as to whether or not Brooklyn should've at least entertained giving him a second chance. This past season, the Nets' roster drew a few similarities to that memorable 2019 team, as they're now led by prolific young scorer Cam Thomas and a few other young pieces.
However, the Nets now have a new leader who is already surpassing expectations. Jordi Fernandez helped Brooklyn surpass its win total projection by February, and the team was in contention for the Play-In Tournament at one point late in the season. That in itself is a perfect reason to be excited for this first-year head coach.
Perhaps Fernandez can help replicate that fun era of Nets basketball, as there is no clear-cut superstar on this roster. Now that Brooklyn has plenty of assets for the future, this era has the chance to be even better than the one Atkinson coached in.
The Nets are perfectly fine where they're at, and there's no need to dwell on the past with Fernandez leading a young and exciting core with more pieces on the way.
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