BREAKING: Kenny Atkinson Hired as Charlotte Hornets Head Coach
Friday evening, the Charlotte Hornets officially put an end to its coaching search as they have hired Kenny Atkinson on a four year contract to be the 12th head coach in franchise history. The Hornets also considered longtime NBA head coach Mike D'Antoni for the position as well as several others.
Atkinson is currently an assistant with the Golden State Warriors and was recently the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20. During his time with the Nets, Atkinson compiled a record of 118-190 and made one playoff appearance. Although the record may not look great, Atkinson didn't have the best talent to work with. For his first three years on the job, the best player he had was probably D'Angelo Russell. Kyrie Irving came to the organization in his final season, but only managed to play in 20 games that season.
Atkinson's background as a talent developer is what landed him the job with the Hornets. As an assistant with the New York Knicks, he helped Jeremy Lin go on that unbelievable run he had when he first joined the team. Lin would average 14.6 points per game that year which is pretty remarkable given that he wasn't expected to have much of a role in the rotation.
Aside from Lin, Atkinson also did a tremendous job with the young core of players in Brooklyn such as Jarrett Allen, D’Angelo Russell, Caris Lavert, Joe Harris, and Spencer Dinwiddie. Both Harris and Dinwiddie saw limited action before Atkinson arrived and eventually turned into key players for the Nets.
With the Charlotte Hornets, Atkinson will be tasked to take another young group of players led by LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges to the next level. When GM Mitch Kupchak spoke on the firing of James Borrego, he made it clear that a "new voice" was needed in order to take that next step as an organization.
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