It solely took Kenny Atkinson one season to make a splash within the Japanese Convention, and he was rewarded handsomely because the Cleveland Cavaliers frontman was named the NBA Coach of the 12 months, it was introduced on Monday.
Atkinson, who guided the Cavs to 64 wins and the No. 1 seed within the Japanese Convention playoffs, beat out J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons and Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets. Apparently, Atkinson took over Cleveland after the group fired Bickerstaff final Might.
The Cavaliers recorded the franchise’s second-most regular-season wins underneath Atkinson, who joins Invoice Fitch (1976) and Mike Brown (2009) as the one Cleveland coaches to win the distinction. The 64 victories additionally tied for the fourth-most by a head coach in his first season with a group.
After Atkinson left an assistant coach place with the Golden State Warriors to take over in Cleveland, the Cavaliers gained their first 15 video games of the season to equal the second-best begin in NBA historical past. Additionally they strung collectively a team-record 16 wins spanning February and March.
As well as, Cleveland noticed Evan Mobley set up himself as a power down low, turning into the primary Cavalier to win Defensive Participant of the 12 months.