Kenny Atkinson to Cavaliers is a Great Hire, Especially for Evan Mobley
Pictured: Kenny Atkinson and Evan Mobley (Atkinson photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images, Mobley photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly set to hire Kenny Atkinson, which would be a slam dunk hire.
It makes so much philosophical sense and there are going to be lots of winners, especially Evan Mobley.
Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert, if they remain on the roster, developed under Atkinson. Atkinson prefers to play with pace and space — even his 2016-17 Nets were first in pace despite having the worst roster in the NBA. The Nets, two years later, dropped to 11th, but that’s a vast improvement over the Cavs, who were 22nd this year and last the season prior.
Additionally, this hire should be Donovan Mitchell proof.
If Mitchell stays in Cleveland, as expected by many in NBA circles, including our own Matt Moore, then great.
But if Mitchell leaves, this is still a good hire.
What Atkinson did in Brooklyn is remembered fondly because of what that rebuild turned into over three years. The Nets went from being a 20-win team, which was a surprise given that they had the worst roster in the league and were injury laden all season.
Subsequently, the Nets won 28 games in 2017-18, and were that fun, young team that couldn’t close. They had 50 clutch games, which tied for second most in the NBA, but were -0.9 and 25th in the league in clutch point differential. Again: They were young.
Additionally, Jeremy Lin ruptured his Achilles on opening night and D’Angelo Russell missed 34 games. Brooklyn's best players were often 2024 buyout signee Spencer Dinwiddie and current Baloncesto Superior Nacional MVP candidate Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
The Nets made the playoffs in 2018-19, but that was in spite of LeVert breaking his leg after looking like an All-Star through the first 12 games of the season, and Dinwiddie breaking his thumb in January.
It was an attractive enough run to lure Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who then they wanted to change what Atkinson excelled at.
We know the rest.
The Cavs, even if Mitchell leaves, are on track for a quality (and quick) retool. Atkinson has more to work with in Cleveland than he ever had in Brooklyn, even without Mitchell. If Mitchell stays, that’ll be the best-case scenario.
The biggest winner here should be Mobley.
Hi, Evan, meet your new head coach.
He's the reason Al Horford and Brook Lopez became good 3-point shooters and he can do the same for you.
Atkinson was an assistant with the Hawks when Horford jumped from 0.5 3s attempted per game in 2014-15 to 3.1 in 2015-16. Since then, he’s never been lower and is now shooting as many 3s per game (4.4) as 2s (4.3) over the past five seasons.
“I used to fight, here he is, a good mid-range shooter, and these guys are big and strong,” Atkinson said of Horford in a piece I wrote about him turning Lopez into a shooter. “(I used to wonder), as big and strong as they are, why can’t they step out three more feet?”
With Horford, roughly 46% of his twos came from 10 feet and beyond in 2014-15, and just 3.7% of shots came from 3 (36 that entire season). Before that, his career-high in 3s attempted was 11. In 2015-16, he attempted 256 3s, which accounted for 24.4% of his shots. The mid-range shots from 16 feet on dropped from being 35.2% of his diet to 13.6% in 2016-17.
The 2016-17 season was Lopez’s last in Brooklyn, but was also a transformative season that prolonged his career.
Lopez shot about 34% of his shots from 10-24 feet (mid-to-long twos) in 2015-16, and overall, 98.8% of his shots were 2s. In 2016-17, less than 14% of his shots were from 10-24 feet, and his 2s dropped to 67%, meaning one-third of his shots — 33% — came from 3.
He hasn't shot 60% of his shots from 2 since.
“It gives us more space to play,” said Atkinson, who greatly prioritizes spacing. “I think we’re tops in the league in drives to the rim. (We’re trying to) open up our lanes, so we can get to the rim. It helps us with points in the paint. (Brook has) got a beautiful shot, you watch him shoot, it’s effortless.”
It was an idea Lopez and Horford bought in to, and it worked. Their shooting ability has made them both integral parts of championship teams since.
When it comes to Mobley, many want to believe there’s a shooter in there somewhere. His 2s from 10 feet on have dropped from 22% of his shots to about 16% to just over 9% this past season. But that’s not in favor of a big jump in 3s. Mobley has shot roughly 11% of his attempts from 3 in each of the past three seasons. He has 253 career attempts in 198 games, and last season, he was a career-best 37.3% from deep, though it was only on 22-of-59 shooting.
Still, that’s progress Atkinson could fine-tune and accelerate, and history suggests he’ll try. It also means the idea of “having to split” Mobley and Allen — the Cavs' current center — may be overstated given that Allen was an Atkinson favorite in Brooklyn.
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