It’s been almost five months since the Brooklyn Nets mutually parted ways with Kenny Atkinson, yet it’s still shocking that he won’t get the chance to coach a contender with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving after he helped the franchise climb out of an extended rough stretch.
But for those loyal to Atkinson, he’s expected to find a head coaching job elsewhere. He might even stay in New York.
Wherever he goes, Nets big man Jarrett Allen knows the franchise that signs Atkinson is going to like the return they get, which he explained on a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:
I came into the Nets and we weren’t making our mark in the NBA and you could see every year I was with him, and every year he coached us we kept getting better and better. And the players under him kept developing and developing, and bringing us more confidence. So whatever team he goes to, they’re going to get a hell of a coach.
Kenny’s one of a kind. All the active energy, all that he brought to the team, I don’t really need to say any more, we all know.
With Atkinson been linked to the New York Knicks head job, Allen could see him with some frequency in his future. No matter where Atkinson goes, seeing Atkinson standing in front of the opposing bench is going to be strange:
It’d be kind of weird playing against him but it’d kind of make you play harder against your old coach to show him how much you improved.