INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — During his first interview for the Cavs’ head coaching vacancy, Kenny Atkinson didn’t give team decision-makers an opportunity to ask the first question.
He turned the tables. Wanted to make something clear.
“The first thing I said (was), ‘I want this job, I’m going for it and I’m gonna be aggressive,’” Atkinson recalled during his introductory press conference alongside Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman on Monday afternoon. “Because I knew all the great things that were in place.”
More Cavs coverage
Whether during his four full seasons as head coach with the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets, the pitstop in Los Angeles next to NBA champion Tyronn Lue or the most recent tutorial under Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Atkinson kept tabs on the ascending Eastern Conference squad and built relationships with various members of the Cleveland organization.
He could see the culture. He could see the camaraderie. He could see the identity. He could see the talent. He could see the potential.
He wanted to be part of it.
At this stage of his career, nearly five years removed from his only head-coaching gig and with a championship ring on his finger following three transformative seasons in the Bay Area, Cleveland was the right fit at the right time.
“It’s the next challenge,” Atkinson said. “This is a fantastic roster and the culture they built here is in place. I’m just coming here to give it a little more of a push.”
Oftentimes, a coaching change is made because something isn’t working. The new coach inherits a flawed roster years away from being competitive and it’s his job to build it, piece by piece, patiently, from the ground up. That’s what it was like in Brooklyn when Atkinson took over in 2016. That’s the situation Atkinson nearly stepped into again a few years ago, accepting the lead job in Charlotte before changing his mind.
That’s not Cleveland.
Thanks in large part to ex-coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who was hired by Detroit over the weekend, the Cavs have grown from an irrelevant 22-win group just four years ago to an East contender. They won 99 games combined the last two regular seasons, the fifth-most of any team in the NBA behind Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Philadelphia. They are coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, including their first series win without LeBron James in more than three decades.
Now it’s about taking the next step. The Cavs believe they can do it. With Atkinson.
“All roads led back to Kenny,” Altman said when discussing the lengthy process. “He is modern. He’s the right fit for this group. We loved his background. The head coaching experience, the international experience, his innovative approach to the game just really spoke to us.”
Atkinson arrives with a superb reputation for developing players, including Cavs center Jarrett Allen who began his career in Brooklyn. Atkinson also has a unique ability to connect — a trait spotlighted last week, when sources say a handful of Golden State Warriors players, including Draymond Green, reached out to various Cavs players and executives to express their support and confidence in Atkinson after the news went public.
Every stop he has made along this unpredictable and winding coaching journey has made him better equipped for this role.
“I think I’m a player advocate,” Atkinson said. “I know that sounds … shouldn’t every coach be a player advocate? But I love that more than anything. The interaction with the individual player. You’ve got to form a team and chemistry but getting that bond with an individual player and then seeing them grow, I think that’s why at the end of the day, that’s why we’re in this. Sure, love championships. Love it. Team success, great. But I want you to get that next contract, I want you to get paid. That’s really a big part of it.”
“My experience after Brooklyn, I think it was strategic the way I approached it. Getting with Ty Lue, definitely a different philosophy, a different approach than what I was used to. I soaked it in. It was just a great experience. Have the utmost respect for him. Then obviously going to Golden State and Steve Kerr, it was again a different take, a different way of doing it. That really opened my eyes. I sold that to Koby.
“I look back on Brooklyn like man, there’s so many things I could do better. Then I saw it live. How does Steve do it? How does Ty do it? I think it’s really going to help me. The league is changing like we talked about and just getting, can you get ahead of the league? What’s happening? How quickly is it happening? How are we shifting? I think that’ll be a strength of ours. We will be able to be right with the league or be a step ahead.”
That’s something Cleveland is banking on.
Although it’s the infancy stage of NBA free agency, there are salary limitations to what the Cavs can do when it comes to roster enhancement. The most pressing — and consequential — decisions come with their own.
Star guard Donovan Mitchell is eligible to sign a lucrative long-term extension. That’s the franchise’s top priority. There’s hope young forward Evan Mobley will accept a new deal — and become the two-way unicorn that everyone has predicted since he was drafted. Isaac Okoro is a restricted free agent. Allen is in line for an extension.
Things could change. Opportunities could arise. An unexpected offer could come. But barring a drastic reversal of thinking, or a massive trade return, the roster will look a lot like last year — despite incessant chatter about breaking up the supposedly ill-fitting Core 4 of Mitchell, Mobley, Allen and Darius Garland.
A big part of this franchise’s evolution will be tied to player development.
“That’s what they’re going to pay me for,” Atkinson said with a wide smile. “You have four All-Stars. Evan will be an All-Star. I think we all know that. You’ve got four All-Stars and we’ve got to make it work. I’ve already spoken to Darius multiple times and I am just a huge fan. I can’t tell you how many times he destroyed us when we were in Brooklyn. You have a lot of pieces, but the talent’s there so it’s just we’re going to work on tweaking this where we maximize those guys. I just love both of ‘em together quite honestly.”
Atkinson referenced the experience he had with Golden State’s undersized backcourt of Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole. He pointed to Green and Kevon Looney — a non-traditional pairing the Warriors utilized during their title run — as evidence that two non-shooting bigs can work.
Sources say Mobley, one of the franchise pillars, was a primary talking point during Atkinson’s many interviews with Cleveland’s brain trust — either over the phone, via Zoom or in person. Atkinson laid out a detailed plan for Mobley’s development and offensive usage, some of which Atkinson revealed Monday afternoon, saying that Mobley could perhaps one day become a top 5 player.
“He’s so multi-talented,” Atkinson said. “That was a big part of our discussion during the process, how to get him to the next level. He’s 22 years old so he’s just naturally going to grow. That’s exciting just with the talent. But I do think we can schematically get the ball in his hands more quite honestly. It’s going to be in multiple ways. I think when you have a guy that versatile, it could be him in transition bringing the ball up, it could be him handling in a five out situation or him handling in pick and roll. I think there’s creative things we can do to help him. I know I’ve spoken with him, and he’s excited about it, but there’s definitely just his general usage I think can go up and we have to figure out the best positions to put ‘em in. I can’t wait to get on that task. I know that’s a big, big part of us taking that next step.”
Given what’s already in place and the lackluster free agency options, Atkinson could end up being the most significant addition by the time summer turns to fall.
“That’s what’s great about this situation — is the roster that’s in place,” he said. “There’s enough. There’s enough to take that next step, no doubt about it.”
One of the most important lessons Atkinson learned during his one season under Lue and three as Kerr’s right-hand man — an experience he likened to “getting your doctorate in basketball” — was how to work with superstars and future Hall-of-Famers, something he didn’t get an opportunity to do in Brooklyn, being fired shortly after the arrival of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and amidst an ownership change.
“It’s a partnership,” Atkinson said. “Ty was great at it. Steve was a master at it. Sure, you’re the ultimate decision-maker, but you have talk that through. You have talked through it with your best players. They might say, ‘No, why don’t we do this in the pick-and-roll, why don’t we do this?’ So really, it’s a true partnership, and that means you better be a great listener when you do have those one-on-ones. You’re not taking maybe every idea they have, but you’re implementing some of ‘em and it’s gonna help the team.”
Atkinson had his first shot at that over the weekend, when a massive Cavs contingent, including Atkinson and Altman, spent a day and a half in Los Angeles visiting Mitchell at his “Spida Elite Camp” — a gathering of some of the best young guards in the country.
For the Cavs, it was another chance to sell their vision, discuss the possibility of a new deal and talk through various roster-related decisions with Mitchell.
For Atkinson, it was his latest opportunity to get to know the fellow New Yorker, trying to strengthen what will be the most significant relationship to his success in Cleveland.
“We had a great sit-down,” Atkinson said when asked about that chat with Mitchell. “We also have a little bit of East Coast, similar backgrounds. We didn’t grow up far from each other really, if you think about it. Right off the bat, felt a great connection. Talked about more personal stuff. Family, his family, my family. It was really a great get-to-know you session.”
Even though Mitchell is under contract for next season and has a $37 million player option for 2025-26, the Cavs would not want to go into Mitchell’s potential “walk season” without an extension in place.
If Mitchell surprises everyone, including rival teams across the league, by turning down a new deal for the second straight summer, Cleveland would look into potential trades, hoping to recoup some assets. No one is expecting that outcome.
Each time anyone in the organization has spoken about Mitchell’s future, even in the aftermath of an Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the NBA champion Celtics, there has been an aura of confidence.
“He’s invested,” Altman said of Mitchell. “He’s really invested in what we’re doing, and hopefully soon we’ll have more of a decisive answer on (a contract extension) for you. But he’s been great. He’s been super involved and super collaborative and very, very much pro-Cleveland.”
The first piece of Cleveland’s potential championship puzzle is in place. Atkinson is on board — after what he called a long, “exhilarating” process.
Once Altman received team chairman Dan Gilbert’s blessing to make the hire, Altman called Atkinson who was in Europe working as an assistant coach for the French National Team.
While going through an on-court drill with one of his players, Atkinson’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He was going to ignore it. He had other responsibilities. But he thought twice and noticed it was a 216 number.
After about the fifth ring, with Altman starting to worry the official decision would be delayed, Atkinson finally picked up.
He got the offer. The job he wanted.
“He’s kind of fumbling around. He gets out of the gym and I said, ‘Coach, are you in practice?’” Altman recalled. “He said, ‘Yeah, I’m in practice.’ I said, ‘I was worried I wasn’t going to get you.’ And he said, ‘No, I was going to take this one.’
“It’s totally on brand for me to call him and he’s in the middle of a practice. That’s Kenny.”
If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966 or the National Council on Program Gambling Helpline (NCPG) at 1-800-522-4700 or visit 1800gambler.net for more information. 21+ and present in Ohio. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.