Former Nets Coach Kenny Atkinson Believes Better Days Are Ahead in Brooklyn

Amid a lost season, the Brooklyn Nets have refused to throw in the towel.

Michael Porter Jr. is still getting regular playing time. Heck, he's now playing in back-to-back games after being held out of at least one of those games for much of the season.

However, the losses have been piling up for the Nets, no matter how "ethically" they've handled things amid this dark stretch.

Former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, can empathize with what current Nets coach Jordi Fernández is going through, with Atkinson reflecting back on his stint coaching near his hometown on Long Island.

“You definitely go through those moments," Atkinson said. "You love to stay process-oriented and stick with it, but you're going home after the game and you're taking that L after the game. It's hard, especially when they start stacking up. Everybody says, ‘Well, don't worry.' Of course, you worry if you're a competitor. But that's part of it, part of going through a rebuild and part of being a young coach.

"You see Charlotte right now, right, they went through it. That third year, when we broke through and made the playoffs, it was almost doubly rewarding, because you went through these real struggles and tough times."

Atkinson inherited a rough situation. The Nets had no young talent nor ownership of their own draft picks until 2019 due to the infamous trade that landed Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Brooklyn.

However, moves to acquire D'Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Spencer Dinwiddie, and a host of veterans helped the Nets get to the playoffs in 2019, the season before Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving joined forces in Brooklyn.

Despite being several years removed as Nets coach, Atkinson believes there is light at the end of the tunnel in Brooklyn.

“I'll never forget when we clinched the playoffs," Atkinson said. "It was like winning the championship. It was crazy, because you can look back at year one, I think we lost like 27 of 29. It was insane, like, ‘Are we ever gonna win another game?' That will happen here because they drafted really good talent. They've got a good coaching staff and a good front office. It'll break through. You're just waiting for that, like ‘When is that gonna happen?' And you look at it like, ‘Is it ever going to happen?' But they play so hard, it's eventually going to happen with the talent they have.”