Cleveland is a win-now team, making it a longshot that they would hire a rookie head coach to replace J.B. Bickerstaff. They want somebody who has sat in that chair before.
Enter former Brooklyn Nets coach and current Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, the early leader for the job reports Jason Lloyd of The Athletic.
Still hearing Kenny Atkinson as leader for Cavs job but don’t be surprised if Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant’s name emerges. Bryant was an assistant in Utah when Donovan Mitchell was there. Sounds like Dan Gilbert is heavily involved, more than I originally thought.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) May 26, 2024
When ownership is involved in a coaching search (or with player and roster decisions) things can swing a lot more unpredictably. That said, Atkinson would be a good hire.
Atkinson coached four seasons in Brooklyn and helped build a culture and turn the Nets into the kind of team Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would want to play on. However, Atkinson didn’t mesh with the two stars and he was quickly pushed out. He was nearly hired as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets in 2022 (agreeing in principle to take the job while the Warriors were in the NBA Finals), but the deal for him to go to Charlotte fell apart during final negotiations.
Cleveland still has the door open to a number of candidates as it heads into a summer of change.
The biggest tipping point for the Cavaliers this summer is whether Donovan Mitchell will sign a max contract extension — if he signs it the team could look to trade Darius Garland, as the Garland/Mitchell backcourt has not lifted this team up as hoped. If Mitchell does not sign the extension, the Cavaliers need to consider trading the All-Star rather than letting him walk out the door for nothing in the summer of 2025. Then there are questions about the frontline pairing of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, especially if Mobley is given a max or near-max contract extension this summer. Cleveland GM Koby Altman said he doesn’t expect major roster changes this summer, but there needs to be some if this team is going to compete at the highest levels of the East.
Whatever the roster looks like, the coach who is hired will face pressure to win now—those are the expectations in Cleveland going forward.
