With the start to the new NBA regular season on the horizon, the Cleveland Cavaliers will get an immediate (and way too early) indicator of who has the edge between themselves and the New York Knicks for Eastern Conference supremacy. The two are set for a matchup at MSG on Wednesday.
Granted, the Cavaliers will not get a perfect feeler for their team for quite some time. Darius Garland's exact return date from toe surgery is still unknown. Max Strus is expected back later into the season, working his way back from a Jones fracture.
Even with those two major injuries, the Cavaliers are certainly not going to count themselves out on opening night. One of the biggest reasons for that should be the obvious coaching advantage tilting in Cleveland's favor between the two sides. Kenny Atkinson takes the nod over Mike Brown any day.
The Knicks brought in the offensive-minded head coach after choosing to part ways with Tom Thibodeau during the offseason. Whether Brown will prove to be an upgrade is still unclear. Whether the seasoned bench boss is better than Atkinson already has a quick and simple answer—no.
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The reasoning for the Knicks pursuing Brown as their new head coach, after a handful of other failed attempts, was obvious. New York needed a better offensive system.
Despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks ranked 7th in the 2025 NBA Playoffs when it came to offensive rating (112.7). Their overall net rating was also -0.5, a troubling figure.
Thibodeau helped get the Knicks back to competency and relevance, but the organization thought there was enough evidence to suggest a different coach needed to be put in place to get them over the hump entirely. Their choice was Brown.
The former Sacramento Kings head coach started his duties there in 2022-23 with a promising 48-34 campaign. His time in California concluded with a 13-18 start in 2024-25 pushing the Kings to fire him.
Brown's most successful time as a head coach came with the Cavaliers, all the way back in the mid-to-late 2000s. The former Cavs coach had some sizable help in the form of LeBron James guiding the way.
Atkinson came close to rivaling Brown's highest win total with Cleveland last season without the guiding hand of arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. The new Cavaliers coach led the team to 64 wins in his first year.
Atkinson helped Cleveland become the most efficient offensive team in the NBA. The Cavaliers led the regular season and NBA Playoffs in offensive rating.
Perhaps it is because Brown has a more definitive past and sample size of his shortcomings as a head coach, but there is just much more optimism around what Atkinson should be able to do for a team in 2025-26. That clear advantage should help the Cavaliers feel comfortable about this head-to-head all season long.