The Cavaliers shouldn’t pursue Kenny Atkinson for HC position

While some fans may be calling for it, I don’t believe the Cleveland Cavaliers should pursue Kenny Atkinson for their head coaching job. Cleveland needs to give J.B. Bickerstaff plenty of time.

In case you haven’t heard, the Brooklyn Nets and now-former head coach Kenny Atkinson mutually parted ways on Saturday, according to a report first from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Based on that, some fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly are calling for Atkinson to eventually take the head coaching reigns for the Cavaliers.

I really don’t believe the Cavs should pursue Atkinson for their head coaching position, though. To confirm, there have been no reports of Cleveland being interested in pursuing Atkinson, but some Cavs fans, such as Forbes’ Cavs writer, Evan Dammarell, seem to be showing interest in that scenario, and he’s far from the only one in the Cavs’ Twitterverse.

Anyhow, the squad has been playing well and has seemingly been galvanized since J.B. Bickerstaff took over at head coach for John Beilein after the All-Star break, of which the Cavs have gone 4-5.

Plus, the Cavs have emphasized how Bickerstaff is not just their interim head coach.

So while some Cavaliers fans seem to be clamoring for Atkinson with the Nets being currently seventh in the Eastern Conference despite not having Kevin Durant at all nor Kyrie Irving much this year, and I get it, as Kenny is a heck of a coach, the Cavs’ players have taken to Bickerstaff.

Now, Atkinson did a really nice job developing the Nets’ players in the last few years, such as Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and former Cav Joe Harris, but Cleveland and most notably, owner Dan Gilbert, need to give J.B. plenty of time.

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While it wasn’t surprising that with the Memphis Grizzlies demoting prior general manager Chris Wallace at the end of last season and Zach Kleiman essentially taking over day-to-day operations as their executive vice president of basketball operations that Bickerstaff was then fired as Memphis’ head coach, Bickerstaff did a solid job last year with Memphis as their head coach.

With Bickerstaff in his second season as the Grizz’s head coach in 2018-19, Memphis saw an 18-game improvement in their record, and he did not have nearly the same talent that now-head coach Taylor Jenkins has at his disposal. Memphis now has the likes of Ja Morant, Brandon Clarke and others.

Anyway, the Cleveland Cavaliers, general manager Koby Altman and Gilbert should not pursue Atkinson for their head coaching position. This team needs stability.

For instance, Collin Sexton, who has been showing tremendous growth under Bickerstaff and has averaged 25.3 points, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game post-All-Star break, per NBA.com, has had four head coaches in not even two full NBA seasons.

Furthermore, while I admit that it’s unfortunate for Brooklyn that Irving reportedly “soured on Atkinson early,” according to Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, and prefers LA Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue, who obviously was Irving’s head coach on the Cavs in their 2016 championship win, to be the Nets’ next head coach, the Cavs shouldn’t pursue Atkinson. Atkinson’s message reportedly wasn’t getting through to the Nets the same way this year, for reference.

Moreover, Bickerstaff needs time, and the more time the Cleveland Cavaliers’ young pieces such as Darius Garland, Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr., Cedi Osman and seemingly Dylan Windler down the road have with Bickerstaff, the more they can gradually develop.

Though the sample size is nine games under the direction of Bickerstaff, the Cavaliers have gone 4-5 as previously mentioned, and they have moved the ball really well, as evidenced by them being sixth in the NBA in assist rate post-All-Star break, according to NBA.com.

Along with that, Cleveland has a somewhat-respectable net rating of minus-3.6, which is much, much better than their net rating of minus-8.1 on the 2019-20 season. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been dealing with so many injuries, too, to the likes of Andre Drummond, Tristan Thompson, Alfonzo McKinnie, Dante Exum and also Garland and Porter in the last few contests.

In summation, while Atkinson is a good head coach and has done commendable work helping the Nets return to relevance as they are now on track to make a second consecutive postseason appearance, I don’t want the Cavs to pursue Atkinson for their head coaching job. Realistically, there should be no internal conversation regarding this at all.

Plus, in a recent interview with The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears, Bickerstaff stressed how based on a conversation with Altman, that he “will be back next season with a long-term deal.”

That was encouraging to hear, too, as this team needs to establish some stability for the progression of young pieces in coming years, and Cavs’ players, including Kevin Love (though he could feasibly be traded this summer), seem to have a strong connection with J.B.

So please give Bickerstaff at least three years to build this thing back up, Dan Gilbert, and don’t seek out Atkinson prematurely in this scenario.

Now if you’re the New York Knicks or Chicago Bulls, perhaps, pursuing Atkinson would make plenty of sense.