Kenny Atkinson went through a preseason without victories with the Cleveland Cavaliers and wondered if his team would be good.
It turns out that they were better than good.
And his coach: he was the best of the NBA this season.
Atkinson is now a winner of the NBA year coach, announced Monday night as this year’s recipient of the Auerbach Red Trophy. Atkinson took Cleveland to a 15-0 start in season one of three winning gusts of at least 12 games this season for his club and took the Cavaliers to the best record at the East Conference.
“I entered this,” Atkinson said. “I keep saying that, that I entered this. It’s also a bit of luck, right?”
JB BickerStaff was second in the vote, after getting Detroit from the basement to the playoffs. Ime Umoka was third, after guiding the Houston path to finish his five -year -old playoff drought.
The three did elite jobs this season. But none better than Atkinson.
They were all candidates for the coach of the year before. BickerStaff has now obtained votes in each of the last four seasons, Uudoka has Gods votes in the three seasons as a chief coach and Atkinson finished fifth in the vote for the 2018-19 season, when he trained Brooklyn.
This was the best final in the vote for each of this year’s finalists. And for Atkinson, it was a sweep: he also won the award for the coach of the year of the National Association of Basketball Trainers, one that is separated from the official NBA award and is voted by other chief coaches.
“I almost broke when I got that,” Atkinson said. “As, think (Rick) Carlisle voted for me, that (Erik) Spoelstra voted for me … that’s like the pinnacle.”
Atkinson won the NBA award, presented on Monday night at a TNT broadcast, for a comfortable 59 of the 100 votes of the first place and appearing in 99 of the 100 tickets. BickerStaff obtained 31 votes in the first place to finish second, while Umoka won seven votes of the first place to finish third.
Mark Daigneault by Oklahoma City (two votes first) was fourth. Tyronn Lue de los Angeles Clippers obtained the other vote of the first place and finished fifth, and JJ Redick of Los Angeles Lakers was sixth.
Atkinson went to the Cavaliers after spending the three most recent seasons as an assistant with Golden State under the Warriors Steve Kerr coach. Atkinson said he learned a ton of that experience, lessons that applied this season in Cleveland and obviously had great success.
Why CAVS could be problematic for Celtics | The first is the first
“My time with Steve, I call it the finished school,” Atkinson said in the TNT transmission. “It was your typical coach son with a hard core. And only bee around Steve and observed how he did the practices, how he communicated with his stars, how Hey Hey Hey Hey Heyly in his thinking process, it’s just thanks. Today.”
Atkinson and BickerStaff flourished in the year 1 of their current periods. Atkinson led Cleveland to a 64-18 record and seed number 1 in the east, doing so after BickerStaff was fired after a race to the second round in Cleveland last season. BickerStaff was hired by Detroit and converted a team of 14 wins into a team of 44 wins that won the number 6 of the East.
Umoka took Houston a 52-30 mark and seed number 2 at the West Conference.
The NBA year coach award, like several other honors, was voted by a world panel of 100 writers and speakers who cover the League and cast votes shortly after the end of the regular season.
Associated Press reports.
Why great stories delivered directly to your entrance tray? Create or log in to your Fox Sports account, follow the leagues, teams and players to receive a custom newsletter every day!
Get more from the National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to obtain information about games, news and more
