Charlotte Hornets to hire Kenny Atkinson as new head coach, sources say

sonnyhill · Post #1 » by **sonnyhill** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:10 pm

It will be interesting to see how the Warriors restock the two top assistants' jobs this off-season.

Are we going to see Gentry-Walton 2.0 on the Warrior bench next to Kerr again next season?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34071018/charlotte-hornets-hire-kenny-atkinson-new-head-coach-sources-say

Charlotte Hornets to hire Kenny Atkinson as new head coach, sources say

Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson has agreed to a four-year deal to become the new head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday.

Atkinson will replace James Borrego, who was fired in April after going 138-163 in his four seasons with the team.

The Hornets had narrowed their search to Atkinson and Mike D'Antoni. Both candidates already had two meetings with management, including with general manager Mitch Kupchak, and then met with owner Michael Jordan this week.

Atkinson is the second Golden State assistant coach set to leave the Warriors and take over a new team. Mike Brown, associate head coach, was hired to coach the Sacramento Kings next season. Both are remaining with Golden State through the end of the NBA Finals.

Atkinson was 118-190 in three-plus years with the Brooklyn Nets, inheriting a full rebuild and showing improvement each season until he resigned after an injury-plagued 2019-20 season. He spent the 2020-21 season with the LA Clippers as an assistant before joining Steve Kerr's staff in Golden State ahead of this run to the NBA Finals.

Overall, he has spent nine seasons as an NBA assistant, including four with the New York Knicks, three with the Atlanta Hawks and one each with the Clippers and Warriors.

The Hornets have missed the playoffs in six consecutive seasons, the longest drought in franchise history and second-longest active streak behind the Kings (16). But Charlotte has several building blocks on a team that went 43-39 during the regular season to reach the play-in game, including All-Star LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, who is set to be a restricted free agent.

This past season, Charlotte struggled defensively, allowing 114.9 points per game, which was tied for 25th in the league. Atkinson improved the Nets' defensive efficiency in every season of his four-year tenure, taking them from 23rd in 2017 to ninth in 2020.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

whatisacenter · Post #2 » by **whatisacenter** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:27 pm

as someone in another thread pointed out that Vogel and Stotts could be attractive hires to replace Brown and Atkinson. Not sure if those two are looking for assistant gigs but they would good, experienced candidates.

KevinMcreynolds · Post #3 » by **KevinMcreynolds** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:27 pm

Gentry already took a job with Sac's front office and Walton is already on Cleveland's staff

GSWFan1994 · Post #4 » by **GSWFan1994** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:28 pm

Sad to see Atkinson go. I'd say he was instrumental to Poole's improvement this season.

Luke Walton was hired by Cleveland at the start of the month... link.

Scoots1994 · Post #5 » by **Scoots1994** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:48 pm

whatisacenter wrote:as someone in another thread pointed out that Vogel and Stotts could be attractive hires to replace Brown and Atkinson. Not sure if those two are looking for assistant gigs but they would good, experienced candidates.

My hope is it's Adrian Griffin.

Scoots1994 · Post #6 » by **Scoots1994** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:49 pm

GSWFan1994 wrote:Sad to see Atkinson go. I'd say he was instrumental to Poole's improvement this season.

Luke Walton was hired by Cleveland at the start of the month... link.

Most of Poole's growth happened before Atkinson was hired. Poole's big step this year was last year plus opportunity. I want to see him add better team defensive awareness and more consistency, so definitely need someone to keep pushing the kids development.