The NBA’s top 5 landing spots for head coach Kenny Atkinson

Minnesota Timberwolves

With Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, the Minnesota Timberwolves believe they have the star power to return to regular playoff contention. What better coach to maximize Russell’s potential than Kenny Atkinson, under whom Russell made the leap from Los Angeles Lakers castoff to an All-Star guard?

With his athleticism, Towns appears to be a center who should be able to dominate on the defensive end. While his offense is at an All-NBA level, among the 66 qualifying centers he is dead last in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus-Minus. Atkinson’s experience in crafting reliable defensive schemes and improving his players’ reading of the game will be incredibly valuable to Towns.

Minnesota is another team that has relatively unheralded but promising young players. Jarett Culver, their 2019 lottery pick, leads this group, but recently acquired players Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez could thrive in a larger role as Dinwiddie and Joe Harris did in Brooklyn.

Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders was supposed to be one who would connect with and maximize his young stars’ talent. However, after some good early-season flashes, Towns and Andrew Wiggins regressed to some of their familiar bad tendencies. While a popular figure, Saunders has not shown much evidence on the court that he is the coach to turn the franchise around.

Gerrson Rosas, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations as of last summer, is known as a forward-thinking, creative executive. With Atkinson’s inclinations to prioritize analytics and make the most out of his team’s role players, he could be the perfect coach to execute Rosas’ vision to return Minnesota to the playoffs.