Brooklyn fans, if you’re looking for an endorsement of your new head coach Kenny Atkinson, look nor further than Kyle Korver, one of the game’s best shooters and a member of the Atlanta Hawks (where Atkinson remains an assistant until they are eliminated from the playoffs).
Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did ask Korver about the Nets new boss and got this response about Korver’s free agency in 2013.“I didn’t know if I was coming back,” Korver said Monday. “That is something as a free agent, you don’t know what the team is going to be, what the coaching staff was going to look like. But he said he was going to be back (as part of Mike Budenhozer’s staff). And that was a starting place for me. Kenny is going to be here? Things are going to be OK....
“He has been awesome for us here in Atlanta,” Korver said. “I think our player development has been second to none the last four years. I think it has been amazing watching guys develop and grow and Kenny leads that.”
That’s also what the Nets need because they are going to spend the next few years trying to acquire and develop young players through what will be a slow rebuilding process (the Nets don’t control their own first round pick until 2019).
It’s the best sign about the hiring of Atkinson by new GM Sean Marks — they are clearly looking at the long-term and building for stability. Which is the exact opposite of what Billy King was forced to do as GM by owner Mikhail Prokhorov when he purchased the team. (That’s not to excuse some poor moves by King, but he was told to pursue a strategy doomed to failure no matter who was GM.)