Kenny Atkinson is the NBA Coach of the Year in his first year on the job.
The Cleveland head coach was named the winner of the award on Monday after leading the Cavaliers to a first-place finish in the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 record. Atkinson beat out the man he replaced for the award with 59 of 100 possible first place votes.
Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff finished second in voting (31 first-place votes) after leading a turnaround in Detroit from the worst record in the NBA to 44-38 campaign and No. 6 seed in the East in his first year on the job. Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets finished third (seven first-place votes).
Atkinson, 57, took the Cavaliers job last offseason after three season on the Golden State bench as an assistant to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. The job is his second as a head coach after a four-season run with the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20.
Atkinson replaced Bickerstaff, whom Cavaliers fired last offseason after a 48-34 campaign that ended with Cleveland’s second consecutive playoff appearance. Despite continued progress under five years of Bickerstaff’s leadership that concluded with a second-round playoff loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics, Cavaliers management saw fit for a change.
Kenny Atkinson led the Cavaliers to the No. 1 seed in the East and the second-best record in franchise history with the same core that won 48 games the previous season. (David Richard-Imagn Images)
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Atkinson delivered in his debut season as he oversaw an improvement of 16 wins in a Cavaliers campaign that got off to a 15-0 start, tied for the second best in NBA history. Cleveland never relinquished control of the East and finished the season with a three-game lead over the Celtics for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The Cavaliers made that progress over the previous season with the same core featuring Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Under Atkinson, Garland returned to All-Star form after a two-year absence.
Mobley made the leap to his first All-Star appearance in his fourth NBA season en route to winning Defensive Player of the Year. Mitchell was named an All-Star for a sixth-straight season, and Garland made his second career All-Star team.
The end result was a team that finished first in the NBA in offensive rating and eighth in the league in defensive rating. The 64-18 record is the second-best in franchise history, trailing only the LeBron James-led Cavs of 2008-09 that finished at 66-16.
The Cavaliers swept the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs via a 122-point combined margin of victory that was the largest in a single series in NBA history. Cleveland lost Game 1 of its second-round series at home Monday night to the Indiana Pacers as Garland watched injured from the sideline.
Garland missed his fourth straight game with a sprained toe and is questionable for Tuesday’s Game 2. Mobley and backup forward De’Andre Hunter are also questionable for Game 2 with injuries sustained in Game 1.
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