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Brooklyn Nets: Kenny Atkinson Faces Tough Road As Nets’ Coach

By Phil Watson

Feb 13, 2015; New York, NY, USA; World Team head coach Kenny Atkinson of the Atlanta Hawks (left) instructs World Team guard Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (22) during the second half against the U.S. Team at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2015; New York, NY, USA; World Team head coach Kenny Atkinson of the Atlanta Hawks (left) instructs World Team guard Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (22) during the second half against the U.S. Team at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Brooklyn Nets have another new coach, as veteran NBA assistant Kenny Atkinson will be tasked with leading the franchise out of the dark wilderness in which it finds itself.

Kenny Atkinson is no stranger to the underdog story, having led the University of Richmond to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament as a sophomore point guard as a No. 13 seed.

Atkinson, who will be 49 in June, will leave his current post as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks to become the new coach of the Brooklyn Nets when the Hawks are finished with this year’s playoffs.

He will become the sixth head coach for the Nets since 2012, when the franchise jumped across the Hudson River from New Jersey.

He follows Avery Johnson, who was fired around Christmas in 2012; interim coach P.J. Carlesimo; Jason Kidd, who was “traded” to the Milwaukee Bucks after what was reported to be a failed palace coup against former general manager Billy King; Lionel Hollins, let go in January when King was also fired; and interim coach Tony Brown, who posted an 11-34 record and was not retained.

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Atkinson played professionally for 14 years, the final 12 seasons in Europe after two seasons in the old Continental Basketball Association, where he signed after going undrafted out of Richmond in 1990.

He got his start in coaching abroad as well, spending two seasons as an assistant to Gordon Herbert with the now-defunct Paris Basket Racing—Tony Parker’s former team—in France’s Ligue Nationale de Basket Pro A.

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He spent the 2007-08 season as the director of player development for the Houston Rockets and joined the New York Knicks coaching staff under Mike D’Antoni in August 2008 before he was hired by Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta in August 2012.

It is through Budenholzer that the connection between Atkinson and Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks is made.

Marks played for the San Antonio Spurs from 2003-06 when Budenholzer was an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich.

This will be Atkinson’s first professional head coaching opportunity, although he was named head coach of the Dominican Republic national team in April 2015. Atkinson led the Dominicans to a 2-5 record at the FIBA Americas tournament last September in Mexico.

The move is a return home of sorts for Atkinson, who grew up in Huntington, N.Y., on the north shore of Long Island, roughly 35 miles from Brooklyn.

But it’s a risky move for Atkinson, who joins the NBA’s fraternity of head coaches in perhaps the league’s worst situation—a bad team with a bleak immediate future staring it in the face.

Brooklyn was 21-61 in 2015-16, the third-worst record in the Association, and doesn’t own its own first-round pick until 2019.

Their 2016 and 2018 picks are headed to the Boston Celtics, the radioactive fallout from King’s ill-fated trade for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry in July 2013, and the Celtics can swap picks with the Nets in the first round of the 2017 draft, as well.

But it’s worse than just that. The Nets will pick near the bottom of the second round, the 55th overall selection, as their own 33rd overall pick goes to the Los Angeles Clippers as the result of a July 2012 trade that netted Reggie Evans.

Brooklyn’s 2017 second-rounder goes to the Hawks as part of the lingering Joe Johnson deal, their second-round pick in 2018 will wind up with either the Charlotte Hornets or Philadelphia 76ers, their second-rounder in 2019 belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies and, just for good measure, the Nets’ second-round selection in 2020 will go to the 76ers.

On the plus side, the Nets will get Boston’s second-round pick in 2017 if the teams swap first-rounders, so there’s that.

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Brooklyn has former All-Star Brook Lopez—the last remaining link to the franchise’s days in New Jersey—under contract for two more years and Thaddeus Young has two years and a player option left on his deal.

Otherwise, the Nets get back veteran point guard Jarrett Jack from a knee injury—unless they opt to eat the $500,000 that is guaranteed on next year’s $6.3 million deal.

Also under contract for 2016-17 are Bojan Bogdanovic ($3.6 million), Shane Larkin ($1.5 million), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($1.4 million), Chris McCullough ($1.2 million) and Thomas Robinson ($1.05 million).

Wayne Ellington holds a $1.5 million option for next season and, of course, there is the $5.5 million in dead cap space from the Deron Williams buyout to account for.

So if the Nets’ cupboard isn’t completely bare, it’s not exactly overflowing with largesse, either.

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That is the future Kenny Atkinson inherits as the next coach of the Brooklyn Nets, but at least it seems likely he’ll get more than the 119 games Hollins was given—the longest coaching tenure in Brooklyn to date.

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