A month after being within the teaching candidate pool to show round a downtrodden franchise, Kenny Atkinson is among the many targets for a group on the opposite finish of the profitable spectrum.
The Warriors’ assistant is within the working for the Milwaukee Bucks’ prime job, in response to a report Wednesday from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Atkinson, who has spent the final two seasons on Steve Kerr’s workers, was listed among the many candidates for the Houston Rockets’ emptiness earlier than ex-Celtics coach Ime Udoka was named to the job late final month.
The Bucks fired coach Mike Budenholzer this month, simply two years after he helped lead the group to a title. Milwaukee, the NBA’s prime regular-season group, crashed out of the playoffs within the first spherical, dropping in 5 video games to the eighth-seeded Warmth. Atkinson was an assistant on Budenholzer’s workers in Atlanta from 2013-2016.
If Atkinson have been to be employed, he would inherit championship expectations in Milwaukee together with a roster that includes two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, although Bucks starters Brook Lopez (unrestricted free agent) and Khris Middleton (participant choice) could possibly be gone subsequent season.
Kerr has lauded Atkinson as a liaison between himself and the Warriors’ analytics workers, discovering methods to make use of statistical info to create on-court benefits.
“He’s received a good way of connecting the analytics with the tape and with the technique, and that makes for actually good dialog,” Kerr mentioned of Atkinson on Wednesday at Chase Heart earlier than Sport 5 of the Warriors-Lakers collection. “It was one of many causes I introduced him right here. I needed to enhance that a part of our operation.”
Different reported candidates for the Bucks’ job embody present Milwaukee assistant Charles Lee and former Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego, and The Athletic reported that the Bucks are contemplating candidates presently employed as head coaches elsewhere within the NBA.
Through the NBA Finals final 12 months, Atkinson reportedly agreed to go away the Warriors and turn into Charlotte’s head coach, however after the Warriors received the title, Atkinson reversed course to stick with Golden State.
Previous to his time with the Warriors, Atkinson was the pinnacle coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-2020.
He helped construct that group from a membership struggling within the wake of the future-mortgaging 2013 commerce for the growing old Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce right into a scrappy playoff group. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving deemed that progress worthy of their curiosity once they moved to Brooklyn in 2019 free company, however after a 28-34 begin to the following season that included some Irving and no Durant, the Nets moved on from Atkinson.
He spent one 12 months on the Clippers’ bench between his Brooklyn stint and becoming a member of Kerr’s workers.
“He’s nice on the courtroom,” Kerr mentioned. “He actually began his teaching profession working gamers out, so he likes to be on the courtroom with gamers. He’s an ideal man for improvement and easy methods to develop gamers. And as a head coach, his groups performed with nice power and chemistry, and you may really feel that coming from him. He’s received plenty of ardour for the sport and he works like loopy, so he’s been an ideal assistant for us.
“I really like having him right here. We’re completely satisfied for him that he’s getting some interviews on the market and we’ll see the way it performs out. But when not, we’ll be excited to have him again.”
Even with Atkinson’s about-face final summer time, the Warriors misplaced a significant assistant coach from the title-winning workers in Mike Brown, who led the Kings to a playoff berth this season.
