Rockets complete interview with former Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson

The Rockets interviewed the recent Nets coach earlier this week, according to The Athletic’s Alykhan Bijani and Kelly Iko.

The Houston Rockets have completed an interview with former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson, according to a Wednesday update by Alykhan Bijani and Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

Atkinson is one of many candidates still in the running to replace outgoing head coach Mike D’Antoni. Over three-plus seasons with the Nets, Atkinson went 118-190 (.383) — though he did lead them to the playoffs in his last full season. Their 42-40 mark in 2018-19 represented a dramatic improvement from 20-62 and 28-54 in the prior two years.

Here’s how we summarized Atkinson’s potential candidacy in our initial coaching hot board for the 2020 Rockets search.

Kenny Atkinson

Pros: The former Brooklyn head coach was immediately listed as a potential candidate by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, and he has prior experience with Houston as the team’s director of player development during the first season of Daryl Morey’s tenure. The 53-year-old is very analytics-minded, with a history of playing fast-paced, smaller lineups.

Cons: While Atkinson took over a disastrous situation with the Nets and clearly improved it, he only had one winning season in four years, and that was at 42-40. He hasn’t had proven success in the playoffs, and the Rockets are clearly in a win-now mode. Is he ready to go from a rebuilding situation, where expectations were fairly minimal, to the immediate pressure of a contender? There’s also no known connection between Atkinson and either James Harden or Russell Westbrook.

Besides Atkinson, other reported candidates include recent Los Angeles Clippers assistants Ty Lue and Sam Cassell; Dallas assistant Stephen Silas; Denver assistant Wes Unseld Jr.; Minnesota assistant David Vanterpool; Rockets director of player development John Lucas; and former head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who led Houston from 2003 until 2007.

There is no clear timetable for a hire. The search is being led by GM Daryl Morey, who historically has chosen to control the assistant hires, as well. As a result, it’s possible that some of those names could still be in play for the new coach’s staff, even if they are not picked for the head job.

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