Brooklyn Nets’ and their head coach Kenny Atkinson parted ways today, as the franchise reports. This move shocked everyone, and it seems that nobody expected it to happen.
“After discussions with Kenny about the progress of the season, we mutually agreed that a coaching change would be in the best interest of the team,” Sean Marks, the General Manager of the Nets revealed in the statement released.
The Nets had high hopes from this season, but at the moment, it seems that it is going to be one huge disappointment. With the record of 28 wins and 34 losses, the Nets are in the playoff zone on the Eastern conference, but apparently, that didn’t satisfy the management of the organization.
We can’t say that this is a consequence of Atkinson’s bad work, because Nets had multiple problems with injuries. Two of their biggest stars acquired this summer, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, couldn’t help the team.
Durant didn’t play a single minute after a ferocious Achilles tendon rupture in the NBA finals last season. Meanwhile, Irving played just 20 games, but it appears that he only disrupted the chemistry the entire team created before his comeback to the floor. Having these two guys sidelined for the majority of the campaign would affect a much better team, and that is why many felt shocked after hearing the news about Atkinson’s departure.
The official reasons why the two parties decided to make this move are not revealed, and the closest information there is was brought by Adrian Wojnarowski, who wrote it on his Twitter account.
“Sean Marks and Atkinson had several conversations and the sense had been that a change was inevitable and both sides decided that there was no sense waiting on it. Both had felt that Atkinson and Nets had run course together. They have maintained a close relationship,” revealed one of the best and most prominent NBA insiders.
The 52-year old from Northport, New York, took over the head coaching duties in Brooklyn back in 2016 and managed to build a respectable team. During his first two seasons, the Nets recorded 48 wins combined and then went to a 42-40 record during the previous campaign. They would lose to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, but the overall impression was that the Nets turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises in the entire league.
And that was mostly due to Atkinson, who developed D’Angelo Russell to the All-Star level, and also invented a few players around him, such as Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jarrett Allen, etc.
According to Wojnarowski, Atkinson will be very popular during the upcoming free agency, and there will be numerous teams who would like to hire his services.
As for the Nets, Jacque Vaughn will take over Atkinson’s duties as the interim head coach. He was already in charge at Orlando Magic, but in three seasons, Vaughn recorded 58 wins and 158 losses. Right now, there is no information about the possible future moves of the franchise from Brooklyn regarding the head coaching seat.
