Netaman wrote:TheNetsFan wrote:Netaman wrote:I would take jv > atkinson personally. Atkinson gets lionized and while he was good at player development, his teams played zero defense.
i would however give atkinson a fat check to come back as a player development guru focused on fixing ben simmons.
Atkinson's teams greatly overachieved expectations. He didn't have any established, elite defensive players on his teams. Let's also remember, Vaughn was his main assistant & "defensive guru." I personally hate Vaughn's switch everything scheme, though we may finally have the personnel to make it work.
his teams didn't greatly overachieve anything. his first 2 years they were a last place 20 win team exactly as everyone expected (though they did get very bad injury luck).
his 3rd year they went 42-40 and lost in 5 games in the playoffs. that team had allen in year 2 plus a bunch of vets who could defend (carroll, ed davis, etc). levert and rondae (and rodi) had ability defensively but never developed. that was a good group that had a fun season and kenny deserves credit for it but there was nothing special about that coaching job and that team wasn't on track to go anywhere giving up 112 points per game (as had happened all 3 years he was there).
in his last year pre-resignation i blame kyrie for the team's underperformance (and kenny's subsequent resignation) more than kenny, but you are what your record is. they were 28-34, as always bottom half of the league giving up 112 ppg.
the most overachieving anyone did in those 4 years was Jv in the bubble without kyrie.
there's a reason kenny hasn't gotten another head coaching job.
The overall talent on those squads was still miserable, though, so I don't see how 42-40 wasn't a massive accomplishment. Plus, those squads hustled like nobody's business, and I feel like if there's something that fans can respect, it's working your tail off even if the results fall short-ish.
By comparison, many an NBA coach has had a weak roster, yet came nowhere near what Kenny did in getting them to play hard as hell.
there's a reason kenny hasn't gotten another head coaching job.
Yeah, but isn't he the #1 assistant on a dynasty team?
For all we know, after the stress and bad exit out of BRK, he's found his comfort zone, and has little desire to be the head guy for the time being. Imagine how much he's learning from the experience, too, something which should serve him nicely down the road.
Indeed, I'm not sure I've heard Kenny's name mentioned a single time as a HC candidate in the years since, which would be pretty fluffing unusual given his accomplishments and league-wide reputation. Seems far more likely instead that his agent is saying "thanks but no thanks" for the time being, no..?
All that said, I'm happy with JV, and feel he's totally earned next season's gig, at the least.
Which is all that really matters right now, yeah?